At the end of April, the United States (US) may cut a substantial amount of its development support budgets, including up to 40% of its contribution to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping, and 30% of its overall foreign aid. Whether or not the US Congress approves the proposed budget cuts, this has put organisations like the UN and the African Union (AU) on high alert.
The US is a large funder of both AU and UN peace operations. It contributed around US$2 billion to the UN peacekeeping budget in 2016; and has funded hundreds of millions of dollars to AU missions like the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Decreasing funding to such vital global mechanisms can reduce the ability of international organisations to deploy peacekeeping operations, and even to sustain existing missions.
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