On 11 November, UNOAU participated in the UN Peacebuilding Commission (UNPBC) and the AUPSC fourth Joint Annual Consultative meeting. The meeting was chaired by the Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the UN, Ambassador Osama Abdel Khalek, as Chairperson of the UN Peace-building Commission (UNPBC), and co-chaired by Ambassador Mohammed Omar Gad, the Permanent Representative of Egypt to the AU as the AUPSC Chair of the month of November.

The meeting received briefings, remarks and statements from the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Bankole Adeoye, UNOAU’s Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) Hanna Tetteh and other stakeholders. In their introductory remarks, both the Chair and co-Chair commended the continued collaboration between the UNPBC and the AUPSC and noted the UNPBC’s increasing investment on the continent in support of gender equality, justice and security reforms and political transition among others. They emphasized the need to invest in initiatives that promote prevention and mitigate conflict. Commissioner Bankole elaborated on the interlinkages between peace enforcement, peacemaking and peacebuilding, and concluded that peacebuilding initiatives hold the key for building strong and resilient nation states across Africa. He stressed that in order to silence the guns in Africa and achieve Agendas 2030 and 2063 goals, it was imperative to enhance synergy between the UN peacebuilding agenda and the AU PRCD policy framework.  

In her statement, SRSG Tetteh underscored the need to leverage on the enhanced UN-AU joint partnership framework on peace and security and the development framework to advance peacebuilding interventions and support to Africa. She stressed the primacy of inclusive consultations with member states that recognize the role of women and youth and foster national ownership and buy-in for UNPBC initiatives. Underscoring the new dynamism of global conflict and the complexities imposed by COVID-19, climate change and terrorist wars, she encouraged actors to realign UNPBC interventions with the review of the AU PCRD policy framework to achieve outcomes that will protect fragile countries from relapsing into conflict. In the interactive session, PSC members and participants emphasized the critical role of Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs), civil society and the private sector in peacebuilding consultations and interventions. They also underscored the primacy of prevention, inclusivity of women and youth during UNPBC pre-intervention consultations, national ownership and predictable financing for peace support operations.