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Communiqué of the 1073rd meeting of the PSC held on 6 April 2022 on the Continental Early Warning and Security Outlook in Africa

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Adopted by the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) at its 1073rd meeting held on 6 April 2022 on the Continental Early Warning and Security Outlook in Africa:

The Peace and Security Council,

Recalling its previous decisions and pronouncements on the Continental Early Warning and Security Outlook, particularly Communique [PSC/PR/COMM.1014 (2021)] adopted at its 1014th meeting held on 26 July 2021, Communique [PSC/PR/COMM.(CMXIV)] adopted at its 914th meeting held on 5 March 2020, and Communique [PSC/PR/COMM. CMI)] adopted at its 901st held on 13 December 2019;

Faithful to all the provisions of the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), specifically Article 2 mandating the PSC as a standing decision-making organ for preventing, managing and resolving conflicts and Article 12 providing for the establishment of a Continental Early Warning System (CEWS) to facilitate the anticipation and prevention of conflicts;

Committed to the realisation of Agenda 2063 and its flagship projects to achieve inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development, especially Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2030;

Noting the opening remarks by H.E. Ambassador Willy Nyamitwe, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Burundi to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for April 2022, and H.E. Ambassador Adeoye Bankole, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security;

Also noting the presentations by H.E. Ambassador Zainab Ali Kotoko, Executive Secretary of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) and Dr. Alhaji Sarjoh Bah, Director, Conflict Management in the AU Commission’s Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS);

Reaffirming the solidarity of the AU with the Member States affected by various threats to peace, security, governance, and stability; and

Acting under Article 7 of its Protocol, the Peace and Security Council:

1. Expresses grave concern over the persistence of a myriad of threats to peace, security, stability and socio-economic development in the Continent, including political and electoral-related disputes, unconstitutional changes of government, ethnoreligious and sectarian violence, transhumance and pastoralist conflicts, secessionist agitations, armed rebellions, mercenaries and foreign fighters, human rights violations, violent extremism and terrorism, transnational organised crimes such as arms, drugs and human trafficking, piracy and cyber-crimes, trafficking of wildlife and endangered species, money laundering and other illicit financial flows;

2. Strongly Condemns the resurgence of unconstitutional changes of government in violation of AU normative instruments, particularly the Constitutive Act, the 2000 Lomé Declaration on Unconstitutional Changes of Government and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG);

3. Underscores the imperative of adopting a multidimensional approach to address structural causes of conflict, including governance deficits, economic inequality, exclusion, human rights abuses, and violent extremism and terrorism; and stresses the need to redouble efforts to invest in national peace infrastructures, build more effective and accountable institutions, and promote social cohesion;

4. Emphasizes, in line with the AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps for Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2030, the need for Member States and the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) to address the persistent denials of credible early warning reports of looming crisis and conflict situations on the Continent and the invoking of sovereignty by Member States, thus preventing timeous early action including deployment of preventive diplomacy and mediation;

5. Reaffirm the importance of collective security approaches in addressing the threats to peace, security and stability on the Continent, and in this regard, encourages Member States to further enhance inter-agency coordination and internal cooperation via information sharing and exchange, through existing AU-inspired mechanisms, including CISSA, the Nouakchott and Djibouti processes;

6. Underlines the importance of ensuring predictable and sustainable funding for the AU’s early warning and conflict prevention agenda and the AU Peace Support Operations (PSOs) on the Continent, and in this respect, encourages Member States to redouble their efforts in mobilizing the requisite resources and consider making more generous contributions to ensure timeous and effective responses and interventions;

7. Welcomes the efforts of the Commission to establish the Forensic Laboratory on Documents and Biometrics within the African Police Cooperation Organization (AFRIPOL) to address document fraud, Ballistics and Digital evidence, to facilitate secure communication, sharing of information and data collection among the police agencies of Member States;

8. While underlining the primary responsibility of Member States in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, encourages Member States to ratify, domesticate and implement all relevant African and international counterterrorism instruments, especially relating to legislative and judicial measures, border control, financial controls, weapon management and development of databases to mitigate illicit proliferation and circulation of weapons, sharing of information and intelligence, strengthening capacities of the relevant agencies, and cooperation and coordination at regional, continental and international levels;

9. In this regard, notably calls Member States to ratify the AU Convention on Cyber Security and the Protection of Personal Data (Malabo Convention) to have a continental harmonized approach to combating cybercrime and transnational crime; and, consequently, requests AFRIPOL to elaborate an African strategy paper on cybercrime in light of the increasing threats of cybercrime and cyber-attacks in the Continent;

10. Looks forward to the outcome of the Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government billed for Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on 28 March 2022;

11. Specifically requests the Commission to undertake the following:

i. Expediently implement the PSC decision adopted at its 901st meeting and organize the inaugural meeting between the Commission and the PSC Committee of Experts on early warning and conflict prevention, and submit the outcome of the meeting for the Council’s consideration;

ii. Provide support to Member States for the implementation of relevant instruments in the prevention of conflict, fight against terrorism and violent extremism, as well as transnational organized crimes;

iii. Establish a clear channel of communication on early warning with the Council, as well as RECs/RMs to ensure prompt deployment of preventive diplomacy, and redouble efforts to strengthen existing early warning systems of the Commission, RECs/RMs and Member States to provide improved flow of information and coordination of early action;

iv. Facilitate quarterly briefings to the Council by the Department of PAPS, Panel of the Wise, AFRIPOL, African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT) and CISSA to the Council, to ensure prompt conflict prevention;

v. Elaborate a trigger mechanism and indicators to facilitate the role of the Council in responding to early warning information on potential conflict or crisis situations, and urgently submit both for consideration by Council, in accordance with the Conclusions of the 11th Retreat of the PSC on the African Peace and Security Architecture Study and Working Methods held in Cairo, Egypt, on 29 to 31 October 2018;

vi. Mobilize necessary resources to capacitate the Commission, AFRIPOL and ACSRT to enable them to discharge their respective mandates more effectively; and

12. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.