On 30 April, SRSG Parfait Onanga-Anyanga participated as a speaker in a High-Level Policy Forum on the AU Peace and Security Council's (AUPSC) 20th Anniversary, organized jointly by Amani Africa, the AUPSC Chair for April, The Gambia, and the AUPSC Secretariat.

The dialogue brought together members of the AU, Representatives of Permanent Missions accredited to Ethiopia and the AU, and other representatives from the broader multilateral community and research institutions.

The discussion aimed to take stock of the progress achieved by the AUPSC over the past 20 years while reflecting on how the Council should re-position itself in the face of changing and increasingly challenging peace and security dynamics. Other panel members included Ambassador Emilia Ndinelao Mkusa, Permanent Representative of Namibia to the AU, and Ambassador Salvator Matata, Head of COMESA.

SRSG Onanga-Anyanga highlighted the AUPSC's prominent role as the continent's leading body on peace and security matters, as well as its significance within the global collective security architecture, underscored by the regular consultations that take place between the UNSC and the AUPSC. He also commended the recent meeting between the AUPSC and the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Committee in the margins of the High-Level African Counter-Terrorism meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, and encouraged similar initiatives with other Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

SRSG Onanga-Anyanga  also emphasized the need to strengthen the collaboration between the two Councils further, including through joint field visits and informal consultations between experts prior to key decisions of the UNSC. The AUPSC will convene a High-Level Anniversary Colloquium to reflect on the next two decades of peace and security on 25 May, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.