The Peace and Security Council (PSC) is scheduled to meet on six occasions in April and is currently chaired by Mozambique. The meetings include briefings on elections, Ebola in West Africa, and early warning and preventive diplomacy, and three country/regional situations. Additionally, the PSC has allocated one session for consultation with representatives of members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Western Sahara and two sessions for consideration of the African position on the review of UN peace operations. It will also consider the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson’s report on the AU’s post-conflict reconstruction architecture. At the end of April the PSC will brief the Permanent Representatives Committee about its activities. 

At its first meeting for the month, held on 8 April, the PSC considered and adopted the monthly programme of work and was briefed on elections in Africa. The briefing, delivered by the Director of the Department of Political Affairs, Dr Khabele Matlosa, dealt with elections that had been held during the first quarter of 2015 and those expected to be held in the coming two months. Matlosa reported that four elections had been held since the beginning of the year – in Zambia, Comoros, Lesotho and Nigeria – all of which were considered not only peaceful but also generally free and fair.

Four elections have been held since the beginning of the year, all of which were considered peaceful, free and fair

The director commended outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan and president-elect Muhammadu Buhari for their leadership in ensuring peaceful and transparent elections in Nigeria. Emphasising the importance of elections for both democracy and peace, the briefing urged the PSC to keep a close eye on elections (such as those in Ethiopia and Sudan) coming up in the next two months. The guidance of the PSC was also sought on the deployment of election observers to Sudan following the conclusion of a pre-election assessment report of the AU that the conditions for holding free elections were lacking. Voting in Sudan started on Monday 13 April and ended on Thursday 17 April. An AU observer team was lead by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.

On 14 April, the PSC exchanged views on Western Sahara with members of the UNSC through their representatives in Addis Ababa. This meeting was meant to be a follow-up to the PSC’s communiqué of 27 March 2007 in which the PSC urged the UNSC ‘to take all necessary decisions to ensure progress in the search for a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara’ and encouraged the UNSC to act on ‘the recommendation of the Secretary-General’s report of 10 April 2014 for a comprehensive review of the framework it provided for negotiations … in April 2007’. It appears that this consultation means to present and discuss the AU’s renewed effort towards the resolution of the Western Sahara issue with a view to informing the UNSC meeting scheduled for this month week.

At its next meeting, scheduled for 20 April, the PSC is set to address two agenda items. The first is the consideration of the report of the AUC chairperson on Libya. The report is expected to cover the latest developments in Libya, offering updates on the prevailing security situation, the humanitarian situation and the internal political dynamics. It will also highlight the efforts aimed at resolving the crisis with a focus on the UN-led peace talks and the AU’s efforts. These include the activities of the special envoy of the AUC chairperson and the recent meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya.

The second item on the agenda is a briefing on early warning and preventive diplomacy. With the relapse of some countries into conflict and the outbreak of new conflicts over the past few years, early warning and preventive diplomacy continue to attract the PSC’s attention. The briefing is expected to review the AU’s recent experiences and discuss ways in which to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of its early warning and preventive diplomacy.

The following day, 21 April, the proposed agenda of the PSC involves a briefing on the situation in Sudan, with a focus on national dialogue and Darfur, and on the situation between Sudan and South Sudan, with a focus on Abyei. Despite the fact that the national dialogue that was launched in 2014 is viewed as a unique opportunity to comprehensively address the multiple crises in Sudan, little progress has been made in its implementation, with some opposition groups boycotting it. The AU High-Level Implementation Panel’s efforts to hold a pre-dialogue meeting in Addis Ababa on 30 and 31 March to unlock the impasse over the national dialogue was indefinitely suspended following the decision by the government and its affiliate parties not to attend.

Early warning and preventive diplomacy continue to attract the PSC’s attention

On 23 April the PSC is set to discuss the African position on the review of UN peace support operations. As Africa has become both the largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping operations and the host of most of these operations, the review being undertaken by the Secretary-General’s High-Level Independent Panel on the Review of UN Operations is of significant interest to the AU and its member states. When the high-level panel visited Addis Ababa in mid-February, the AU informed the panel that a common African position on the review of UN peace support operations would be articulated and shared with it.

The following day, 21 April, the proposed agenda of the PSC involves a briefing on the situation in Sudan, with a focus on national dialogue and Darfur, and on the situation between Sudan and South Sudan, with a focus on Abyei. Despite the fact that the national dialogue that was launched in 2014 is viewed as a unique opportunity to comprehensively address the multiple crises in Sudan, little progress has been made in its implementation, with some opposition groups boycotting it. The AU High-Level Implementation Panel’s efforts to hold a pre-dialogue meeting in Addis Ababa on 30 and 31 March to unlock the impasse over the national dialogue was indefinitely suspended following the decision by the government and its affiliate parties not to attend.

The other agenda items of 23 April involve two briefings. The first is on Boko Haram and presents an opportunity to review the efforts of the countries in the region to combat the Nigerian terror group and the state of operationalisation of the Multi-National Joint Task Force. The second briefing is on Ebola and post-Ebola recovery in affected countries. This will be an opportunity to assess the fight against Ebola and review the follow-up to previous decisions, including mobilisation of support for post-Ebola recovery.

For the last scheduled meeting of the PSC for the month, set for 29 April, there are two agenda items. The first is consideration of the comprehensive report of the AUC chairperson on the AU post-conflict reconstruction architecture. The other is an update on the situation in Mali, which is likely to address the much-awaited conclusion of the peace talks in Algiers.

Although no date has been fixed, the programme also envisages the possibility of a briefing on the Central African Republic. 

The provisional programme of work of the PSC for April

CREDIT LINK:  http://www.issafrica.org/pscreport/on-the-agenda/psc-provisional-programme-of-work-for-april-2015

The article was first published by The Institute for Security Studies (http://www.issafrica.org) and is republished with permission  granted to www.oasesnews.com