President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday launched into a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with 14 other members of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), a standing organ of the Africa Union (AU) for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
The meeting came ahead of today’s formal opening of the 30th AU Summit.
The PSC deliberation, according to the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, focused on the persistence of violent conflicts and crisis situations in parts of the continent, upsurge of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees, climate change and its consequences as well as the issue of the derailment of national development programmes.
Of particular interest were the situations in Somalia, South Sudan, Libya, Guinea Bissau, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Also top of the agenda of the meeting were the situation in the Lake Chad Basin, the regional efforts to combat Boko Haram as well as the situation in Mali and the Sahel region, which continues to be a source of deep concern despite efforts by the countries of the region and the United Nations.
Shehu said: “the PSC’s major duty is to “conduct early warning and preventive diplomacy, facilitate peace-making, establish peace-support operations and, in certain circumstances, recommend intervention in Member States to promote peace, security and stability.”
