I. INTRODUCTION

1. The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) held its 14th Retreat on its Working Methods in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, from 17 to 19 November 2022. The Retreat was chaired by Ambassador Emilia Ndinelao Mkusa, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Namibia to the AU, in her capacity as the PSC Chairperson for November 2022. H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, delivered a statement on behalf of the Chairperson of the AU Commission.

2. The Retreat was officially opened by Honourable Dr. Frederick Shava Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

3. All 15 PSC Members participated in the Retreat. Fourteen (14) Member States were represented at the level of Permanent Representatives (Ambassadors), namely Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Djibouti, The Gambia, Ghana, Kingdom of Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, while Tanzania’s Permanent Representative was represented by an officer from the Embassy. The Members of the PSC Committee of Experts also attended the Retreat. Attached to these Conclusions as an Annex is the list of participants.

4. With a view to enabling the Council to effectively discharge its mandate of promoting peace, security and stability in Africa, within the framework of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and African Governance Architecture (AGA), as embodied in the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union ( herein after referred to as ‘PSC Protocol’), the Retreat came as an additional important step by the PSC in its efforts to review and further strengthen its working methods.

5. The Retreat focused on five major segments namely:

a. Presentation on the Peace and Security Council Working Methods: progress, challenges and way forward by the Acting Secretary to the PSC, Ms Neema Chusi.

b. Presentation and Consideration of the Final Draft Africa Consensus Paper on Predictable, Adequate and Sustainable Financing for African Union Peace and Security Activities, by the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, H.E. Adeoye Bankole.

c. Presentation on the use of PAPS Repository and the Peace and Security Council Application, by Mr. Terence Odongo.

d. Update on the Term of Reference of the Ministerial Committee on Counter Terrorism and Peace and Security Council Sub-Committee on Sanctions by the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, H.E. Bankole Adeoye and the Acting Secretary to the PSC, Ms Neema Chusi.

e. Presentation on the Draft Indicative Programme of Activities of the Peace and Security Council for 2023 by the Acting Secretary to the PSC, Ms Neema Chusi.

II. SUMMARY OF KEY OUTCOMES

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6. Following extensive discussions on the working methods, activities and solutions to challenges facing the Council, the Retreat agreed as follows:

a) On Assessment of Implementation of PSC Monthly and Annual Indicative Programmes (AIP) of Work / 2022 Budget Execution and Consistency in discharging its mandate

7. The PSC was briefed on the frequency and convening of PSC meetings in 2021 and 2022, country and regional consideration in 2022, thematic consideration against the AIP and field missions from 2007 to 2022. In this regard, the PSC noted that, by the time the 14th Annual Retreat was being held, approximately 76% of all activities on country/region-specific, statutory and thematic issues that were planned for the year 2022 were implemented. However, the PSC further noted that, while some of the decisions related to undertaking field missions were implemented, namely, to South Sudan, Burundi and Somalia, as well as Togo on commemoration of the African Amnesty Month, others were not implemented due to a combination of factors ranging from political, and security reasons. These include the field missions to Sudan, the Great Lakes Region and Libya. In this regard, it was agreed that these pending field missions could be undertaken early in 2023.

8. The Retreat further noted that the PSC Monthly Provisional Programmes of Work could benefit from rationalizing the activities, reducing repetitions, and rebalancing the predominant focus from thematic issues towards the primary mandate of Council, namely, early warning, conflict prevention, management and resolution, as well as post-conflict reconstruction and development. As such, during the discussions that ensued, the general consensus of the PSC coalesced around the following:

i. The need to ensure that all activities proposed in the PSC Monthly Provisional Programme of Work are well aligned with the core mandate and the objectives of the Council;

ii. The need for the Commission to continue to assist the incoming PSC Chairpersons in developing a monthly programme of work that is more populated by pending and more pertinent issues that are at the core of the Council’s mandate;

iii. The need for proper scheduling of meetings in a manner that is focused on single Agenda item, instead of lumping several items on a meeting Agenda. In this regard, Council’s Draft Agenda must be focused on a single item for the morning session and another item for the afternoon session. This is to ensure that each meeting and its outcome communique/summary carries their unique numbering, thereby making cross referencing of citation simple. In this connection, Council can only hold two meetings on only two Agenda items in a day, except in emergency circumstances;

iv. The need to address the persistent challenge of frequency of meetings, among others, through full compliance with the provisions of the PSC Protocol (Article 8.2) and paragraph 12 of the Manual of PSC Working Methods, in order to allow space for meetings on emergency situations;

v. The need for the PSC Chairperson to effectively take the responsibility of coordinating the day to today operations of the PSC.

vi. The need to use Troika as a Bureau of the PSC, composed of the Chair of the month, the incoming Chair, the outgoing Chair. The outgoing one in the capacity of Rapporteur while the following one playing the role of Vice-President to ensure synchronization of the PSC Monthly Provisional Programme of Work with the Programme of Work of the Permanent Representatives Committee, as well as to avoid overlaps/clashes of meetings and activities of the PAPS Department with those of other Departments;

vii. In line with paragraph 12 of the PSC Manual on Working Methods, the Committee of Experts needs to consider and rationalize the Draft Monthly Provisional Programme of Work before its submission for adoption;

viii. The need to reduce frequency of PSC activities outside the Headquarters, notably during the last quarter of the year. They also encouraged the scheduling of PSC activities outside the Headquarters evenly in each quarter of the year;

ix. The need to rationalize the meetings on similar thematic issues in the Annual Indicative Programme, in order to avoid unnecessary repetitions/ duplications.

x. The need for thorough preparations for Ministerial and Heads of State level meetings, in conformity with the Manual on PSC Working Methods;

xi. The need for in-person/physical meetings on all country-situations, in order to ensure confidentiality of PSC meetings and, relatedly, the need for strict adherence to the accreditation system for all PSC meetings consistent with the provisions of paragraph 39 of the Manual of PSC Working Methods;

xii. The need for continuous monitoring and evaluation of implementation of Assembly and PSC decisions, in this regard agreed for the PSC Committee of Expert with the support of the PSC Secretariat to review the implementation of all decisions and report to the Council.

xiii. Reiterated the need for regularizing monthly early warning briefings between the PSC and the Chairperson of the Commission in line with the Manual of PSC Working Methods and the Mombasa PSC Retreat Conclusions;

xiv. The need for the PSC to engage the Cabinet of the Chairperson with a view to expedite the recruitment of PSC Secretariat Staff, in line with the approved Structure of this important organ. It was also agreed that the PSC would include this matter, as part of the Recommendations in the Report on its Activities and the State of Peace and Security in Africa to be submitted to the next Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly in January/February 2023;
b) On Feedback on AUC Engagements with other AU Organs/Stakeholders on African Peace and Security

i) The need for enhanced collaborations/ interactions between the PSC and other AU Organs, including, the Pan-African Parliament and ACHPR;

ii) The need for the PSC to further enhance collaboration with the Peace and Security Policy organs of RECs/RMs, including organizing separate meetings with each REC/RM in order to ensure more focused engagements and productivity of the meetings;

iii) The need to revive the annual joint consultative meetings/engagements between PSC and the Peace and Security Council of the League of Arab States as part of upscaling implementation of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA).

c) On Institutionalization of Permanent Venues for PSC Meetings/Activities - Impact and Implications;

i) The need for the PSC to adhere with the provisions of Article 8.3 of the PSC Protocol, which stipulates that all PSC meetings are to be held at the Headquarters in Addis Ababa bearing in mind that there is no provision in the PSC Protocol for the PSC to establish Permanent venues for its activities/meetings outside AU Headquarters.

ii) The need for the PSC Secretariat, as the repository of the PSC institutional memory to always advise Council on existing standing decisions on modalities for certain PSC activities.

iii) However, for statutory activities such as Retreats, Seminars and Induction Training, the PSC may decide on venues outside the AU headquarters;

iv) Similarly, for other PSC-Related activities, the PSC shall always guide/decide on venues;

d) On Management of PSC Working Documents and the Silence Procedure;

i) The need to ensure that all draft working documents for PSC meetings and other related activities are circulated at least three days before the meeting in all agreed AU working languages in line with the PSC Rules of Procedure ;

ii) The need to ensure that, immediately after each PSC meeting, the PSC Committee of Experts Troika and the PSC Secretariat expeditiously draft the outcome document for consideration and adoption through Silence Procedure.

iii) The need for both, the Commission and all PSC Members to protect and ensure the confidentiality of PSC-related information and documentation, in order to ensure the integrity of the functioning and outcomes of the PSC.

e) On PSC Interface with AU Members States under Suspension;

i) The need to continue to be guided by existing AU normative instruments, namely, the 2000 Lomé Declaration on Unconstitutional Changes of Government, the AU Constitutive Act and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, and the PSC Protocol and its Rules of Procedure, particularly Rule 16, which provides for Informal Consultations;

ii) In line with Article 9 (11) of the PSC Protocol, the PSC may hold informal consultations with AU Member States under suspension in order to gather first-hand information from the concerned Member State(s) on the situation on the ground and finding durable solutions.

f) On Regular PSC Engagement with the Chairperson of the Commission and the improved effectiveness of Informal consultations;

i) Consistent with the Manual on Working Methods, the need for regularization of interactions between the Chairperson of the Commission with the PSC;

ii) The need for regular feedbacks by the Chairperson of the Commission/ CPAPS, on the use of his ‘Good Offices’;

iii) The need for Incoming and Outgoing PSC Chairpersons to interact more regularly with the Chairperson of the Commission.

i) On Activation of the PSC Committee of Experts, Military Staff Committee and Ministerial Committee on Counter Terrorism; and PSC Sub-Committee on Sanctions;

ii) The need for frequent meetings of the Military Staff Committee and the Committee of Experts, at least once every two weeks.

iii) The need for all AU Member States to comply with the Provisions of the Protocol in Article 13.8 on the Military Staff Committee;

iv) The need for the PSC Committee of Experts and the Office of the Legal Counsel to urgently meet and expeditiously work on the Consensus Paper on Financing AU Peace Support Operations, Terms of Reference for the Ministerial Committee on Counter-Terrorism and the Sub-Committee on Sanctions and to submit to Council for consideration, as soon as possible.

j) On the Final Draft Consensus Paper on Predictable, Adequate and Sustainable Financing of African Union Peace and Security Activities

i) The need to strategically tap into the AU Peace Fund for its immediate utilization on the Strategic Priorities already identified by the PSC under the three windows;

ii) The need to encourage Member States, who have not paid their contributions to the peace fund to do ; and commended the Government of Senegal, as well as all other Member States that are making voluntary contributions to the Peace Fund;
iii) The need to involve the African private sector, as well as African financial institutions in the financing of the fund in order to achieve the final objectives set.

k) On the Indicative Annual Programme of Work of the PSC for 2023

i. The need for the PSC Committee of Experts to urgently review and streamline the Indicative Annual Programme, in order to harmonize thematic issues, ensure comprehensiveness and ensure that there are no duplications and repetitions, as well as to ensure the proper harmonization of the topics;

ii. The need to include African Peace Support Operations in the Annual Indicative Programme of Work of the PSC.

9. The PSC also expressed deep appreciation to the two facilitators, namely, H.E. Paul Bulus Zom Lolo, former Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the AU and Dr. Admore Mupoki Kambudzi, former Director for Peace and Security and former Head of the PSC Secretariat and requested the AU Commission to convey an invitation to them to participate at the next Induction Training Programme for newly elected PSC Members in order to gain their insights, experiences and lessons.

III. CONCLUSION

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10. The PSC moved a vote of thanks that was delivered by H.E. Abdi Mahamoud Eybe, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Djibouti to the AU, to the Government and the people of the Republic of Zimbabwe, for hosting the Retreat and for the warm reception and hospitality accorded to the PSC Delegation. The PSC also expressed deep appreciation to relevant partners for supporting the participation of PSC Committee of Experts Members at the Retreat. The PSC also expressed deep appreciation to the two facilitators, namely, H.E. Paul Bulus Zom Lolo, former Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the AU and Dr. Admore Mupoki Kambudzi, former Head of the PSC Secretariat and former AU Director for Peace and Security and requested the AU Commission to convey an invitation to them to participate in the next Induction Training Programme for the newly elected PSC Members in order to gain their insights, experiences and lessons.

11. Council took note of, and welcomed, the offer made by Tunisia to host the next Retreat of the PSC on the Review of its Working Methods from 27 to 29 April 2023. In this regard, the PSC stressed the need to ensure that there are no clashes with other AU Activities during the same period of the Retreat.

12. The PSC also took note of the impending end of tour of duty in Addis Ababa, of H.E. Taonga Mushayavanhu, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Zimbabwe to the AU, commended him for his sterling work and wished him success in his future endeavors.

13. Adopted on 19 November 2022, in Victoria Falls, in the Republic of Zimbabwe.

COMMENTS