Tomorrow (16 October), the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will hold their 10th annual informal joint seminar, ahead of the 19th annual consultative meeting taking place on 17 October.

The informal seminar and the consultative meeting are expected to be jointly chaired by the Chairperson of the PSC for October and the President of the UNSC for October, respectively. Ahead of the seminar and the annual consultation, the AUPSC Committee of Experts and the UNSC Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa held a preparatory meeting on 13-14 October 2025 on the agenda and the draft joint communiqué prepared by the PSC as host of this year’s consultative meeting at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting also addressed working methods issues, most notably, as highlighted in the 2024 edition of Insight on the PSC dedicated to the annual consultation, monitoring and review of implementation of joint commitments undertaken during annual consultations, by designating a mechanism for follow-up, building on the commitment they made from the 2024 annual consultative meeting.

This year’s informal seminar has three agenda items: Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, terrorism and violent extremism in Africa, the status of implementation of Security Council resolution 2719 (2023) on the financing of AUPSOs.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), a landmark resolution that laid the foundation for the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Namibia, then a member of the Security Council, played a key role in facilitating its adoption. The AU has actively promoted the WPS agenda and worked to integrate gender perspectives into its peace and security initiatives. 2025 marks the 15^th anniversary of the decision of the PSC to have the WPS agenda as a standing thematic agenda of the Council. On 26 August, AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf appointed Ambassador Liberata Mulamula of Tanzania as the new AU Special Envoy on WPS, who succeeded the inaugural Special Envoy, Bineta Diop. The AU also established FemWise-Africa, a network of women mediators aimed at enhancing the meaningful participation of women in mediation, election observation, and other peace processes across the continent. In 2017, the AU, in collaboration with the UN, launched the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN), which serves as a platform for advocacy, mentorship, and capacity-building for women leaders.

On 6 October, the Security Council held an open debate on the WPS agenda. Secretary-General António Guterres, addressing the meeting, highlighted ‘troubling trends in military spending, more armed conflicts, and more shocking brutality against women and girls,’ as outlined in his annual report on the WPS agenda. The AUPSC is scheduled to hold an open session on 28 October. The 25th anniversary of the WPS agenda presents an important opportunity for both Councils to reflect on the progress made and the ongoing challenges in its implementation, with a particular focus on the African context.

The growing threat of terrorism continues to affect multiple conflict zones across Africa. In April, the AUPSC held a meeting focused on deradicalisation as a leverage for the fight against violent Extremism in Africa. The meeting expressed grave concern over the alarming surge in terrorist activities across the continent, which has resulted in devastating consequences, including loss of life, destruction of livelihoods, and population displacement, creating a severe humanitarian crisis. In this regard, the meeting underscored the need to holistically address the deep-rooted structural causes of terrorism and violent extremism, as well as the factors that fuel and facilitate them, based on the nexus between peace, security, and development. It also emphasised the importance of enhancing collaboration between and among all critical stakeholders at all levels: local, national, regional and continental as well as international. The discussion with UNSC members at the joint informal seminar is expected to advance this objective. The informal seminar is also expected to reflect the outcome of the PSC meeting in August and welcome the non-binding principles on preventing, detecting, and destroying the use of the new and emerging financial technologies for terrorist purposes as adopted by the UNSC Counterterrorism Committee in January 2025, referred to as the Algerian Guiding Principles.

The financing of AUPSOs has remained a recurring topic at the joint informal seminar in recent years. It is expected that the two sides would reaffirm the importance of AU-UN cooperation in peace and security and the critical role of AU-led PSOs and UN PKOs in advancing peace and security. This year, AUPSC proposed its inclusion again, with a specific focus on following up on the implementation of resolution 2719. Although the AUPSC specifically proposed a discussion on Somalia and the financing of AUSSOM, the agenda item faced opposition in the Security Council from Somalia itself, while European members advocated for its inclusion. Due to this disagreement, the Security Council proposed to address it within the broader context of enhancing and supporting AUPSOs. Nonetheless, AUPSC members held that while the reference to Somalia could be removed, there is a need for a dedicated section on the deployment of AUSSOM, inclusive of its financing, particularly given the fact that AUSSOM personnel have gone without allowances for the past 15 months. Despite recent pledges at a high-level meeting on AUSSOM financing held on 25 September in New York, on the margins of the UN General Assembly, the total amount committed remains far short of the $196 million required to cover troop allowances.

17^th Annual Joint Consultative Meeting

On 17 October, the AUPSC and members of the UNSC will hold their 19th joint consultative meeting. Conflict situations in three regions in Africa will be on the agenda: the situation in the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin; the situation in the horn of Africa, including Sudan, South Sudan and Abyei (not sure if the AUPSC has accepted its inclusion); and the Situation in the Great Lakes, particularly the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The security situation in the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin has markedly deteriorated this year, with a surge of attacks by armed groups and terrorists operating in the regions. The threat of terrorism is increasingly spreading from the Sahel states to coastal West Africa, with cross-border attacks affecting several countries. The escalating security situation has further worsened the humanitarian and human rights crisis in the region, with civilians bearing the brunt of increasing violence and instability.

Sahel countries have been undergoing political transitions amidst these security dynamics, which constitute a very challenging context for the effective pursuit of the transitional process. Although there had been tensions between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the three Sahelian States─Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali─ that decided to withdraw their membership from the regional bloc, ECOWAS has been seeking to maintain constructive engagement with them. The ECOWAS Summit in June decided to appoint a Chief Negotiator to lead the discussions with the three countries to ensure an orderly withdrawal.

The AU has also been promoting renewed engagement with the Sahel countries. In July, the Chairperson of the AU appointed President Évariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi as Special Envoy for the Sahel. Additionally, the Chairperson of the AU Commission appointed former Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara as his Special Representative for Mali and the Sahel, and Head of the AU Mission in Mali and the Sahel (MISAHEL), based in Bamako. On 30 September, the AUPSC held a ministerial-level meeting to receive a briefing on the latest developments in the Sahel. During the annual consultations, the two Councils are expected to explore how to reinvigorate joint UN-AU efforts in addressing the root causes of the crisis in the region and stem the tide of terrorism. In this regard, they may reiterate their continued support to the implementation of the regional strategies for the Sahel as well as for the Stabilisation, Recovery and Resilience of areas affected by Boko Haram activities in the Lake Chad Basin.

On the Situation in the Sudan, the AU has been insisting on a Sudanese-led and Sudanese-owned inclusive political dialogue, as the only viable pathway forward for resolving the current crisis. The AU High-Level Panel (HLP) on the Resolution of the Conflict in Sudan is leading the AU’s efforts aimed at resolving the conflict in Sudan in coordination with other regional and international partners. However, the raging conflict in Sudan does not show any sign of abating, and the involvement of external actors has complicated the situation. The parties to the conflict appear determined to pursue a military solution, with the escalation of fighting in Darfur and South Kordofan. This has exacerbated the humanitarian situation on the ground, including in El-Fasher, which remains under siege. Two-thirds of the Sudanese people need urgent humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.

During the high-level week of the UN General Assembly last month, the AU, together with other bilateral and multilateral partners, convened a ministerial meeting which brought a spotlight on the dire humanitarian situation in the Sudan. The meeting urged the warring parties to resume direct negotiations to achieve a permanent ceasefire and implement a humanitarian pause in El-Fasher. Recent efforts by the US to revive the peace process through the convening of a Quad meeting, comprising Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have drawn attention. The foreign ministers of Quad countries issued a joint statement on 12 September that called for a humanitarian truce, for an initial three months, to enable the swift entry of humanitarian aid to all parts of Sudan, to lead immediately to a permanent ceasefire, then an inclusive and transparent transition process should be launched and concluded within nine months. This had no bearing on the conflict.

The situation in Sudan has had a significant impact on security in Abyei, contributing to growing instability in the region. The A3+ proposed adding the issue of Abyei to the agenda. In November, the Security Council is expected to review the situation in Abyei and renew the mandate of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). However, it has been some time since the AUPSC formally addressed the issue. Although a meeting was scheduled for March last year, it did not take place as the Sudanese representative in Addis Ababa sent a letter requesting that the AUPSC not proceed with the meeting.

On South Sudan In August, members of the AUPSC conducted a visit to South Sudan in response to the escalating political and security crisis in the country. During the visit, they engaged with South Sudanese authorities and other key stakeholders on the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), as well as preparations for the general elections scheduled for December 2026—critical steps toward completing the country’s transitional period. On 7 October, the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) convened an extraordinary meeting in Juba to address the growing difficulties facing the R-ARCSS, amid escalating political and security tensions. It warned that the risk of relapse back to conflict has heightened, and it could materialise unless there is a change of course in the situation in the country. In light of these developments, preserving the R-ARCSS and averting further instability in South Sudan is likely to feature prominently in the annual consultations.

On Great Lakes and the DRC, despite progress in ongoing mediation efforts to address the situation in eastern DRC—including commitments made during the Washington and Doha talks—the security situation on the ground remains largely unchanged. In recent months, a number of meetings have been held to facilitate the implementation of the 27 June agreement signed between the DRC and Rwanda. Further follow-up meetings between the two sides are expected later this month. A key issue remains the neutralisation of the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) and the lifting of Rwanda’s defensive measures. On 10 October, the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) issued a communiqué calling on all FDLR factions to disarm and surrender in accordance with the 27 June agreement. Meanwhile, negotiations between the Congolese government and the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23) rebel group had stalled, but reports indicate that talks are expected to resume this week. Amid externally driven mediation efforts, African-led processes appear to have been overshadowed. Against this backdrop, efforts have been made to merge regional and continental initiatives and to ensure that external mediation efforts are aligned with a unified, African-led approach. AUPSC members may emphasise this issue during the annual consultations. It is anticipated that the two sides would express concern about the situation in Eastern DRC, focusing in particular on the fighting involving the M23. In this context, they may affirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC and reject the establishment of parallel regional administration. They may also call on the parties to honour the commitments they have made under the recent mediation process in Washington, DC and Doha.