AU moves to silence guns on continent
Adopts roadmap to attain peace
THE AU Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) has concluded its three-day retreat in Lusaka, with the adoption of an AU Master Roadmap on practical steps for silencing the guns in Africa by 2020.
Making his closing statement on Wednesday at the end of the retreat, Ambassador Chalwe Lombe, permanent secretary at the Zambian Ministry of Foreign Affairs echoed the commitment of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu to strive for a peaceful, integrated and prosperous continent.
“Zambia shall remain committed to the cause of the African Union and the Spirit of Agenda 2063, which spells out our common desire to achieve a peaceful, integrated and prosperous Africa as envisaged by our founders,” he said. “As a member of the African Union Executive Council, I am looking forward to mobilising support for the roadmap to get the full support of our heads of state and government in January 2017.”
In conveying the message of the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security (AU PSC), Ambassador Smail Chergui, the acting director for Peace and Security, Dr Admore Kambudzi, praised the participants for their commitment to the process of developing the master roadmap.
He further noted that it was evident, their efforts during the retreat were not calculated to gain recognition or reward but were a demonstration of their selfless desire to transform this ambitious goal into practical actions at national, regional and continental levels.
“Your commitment in coming up with a working and implementable document that addresses our peace and security challenges demonstrates your resolve to charting the course for our future generations and leaving behind a legacy of peace.”
The retreat brought together all 15 members of the AU PSC, participants from the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution, as well as ECOSOCC and African Civil Society Organisations through an inclusive and collaborative approach to confronting common peace and security challenges on the continent.
During his briefing to the press at the close of the retreat, the chairman of the AU PSC Retreat, Ambassador Osman Kamara, of Sierra Leone, noted that over the last decade, conflict has continued to cause immense destruction in Africa.
He added that the AU Master Roadmap emanating from the retreat laid out practical steps for ending these conflicts and tackling the emerging threats such as proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons, transnational organised crime, drug and human trafficking, terrorism, piracy and climate change, as well as other persistent threats to peace and security on the continent.
“Based on these trends and with the adoption of the AU Master Roadmap as a driver of African peace, security and economic development, it is possible to envision an Africa in which violent conflict is to be effectively eliminated by the year 2020,” he concluded.