In January, Uganda will be chairing the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC), as a stand-in chair. The provisional program of work for the month envisages five substantive sessions. All of the sessions planned to take place during the month will be addressing thematic issues. The PSC Committee of Experts (CoE) will also convene meetings during the month.

On 6 January, the PSC will consider and adopt the draft provisional programme of work for the month of February 2023.

Consecutively on 17 and 18 January, the CoE will meet to consider the annual Report of the PSC on its activities and on the state of peace and security in Africa, as well as the Report on the implementation of the ‘AU Master Roadmap on Practical Steps on Silencing the Guns in Africa’.

The first session of the month will be taking place on 20 January. The session will be dedicated to the PSC’s consideration of the Report of the AU Commission Chairperson on Elections conducted in Africa from July to December 2022 and outlook for elections to be conducted in 2023. This is in line with PSC’s 791^st meeting convened in August 2018 which decided to institutionalise and regularise the holding of sessions to review the conduct of elections in various member States. General elections conducted in member States such as Angola and Kenya as well as the parliamentary election in Senegal and the referendum as well as parliamentary and local elections in Tunisia are expected to feature in the Chairperson’s report for the second half of 2022. In terms of outlooks for upcoming elections in 2023, the report may provide some highlights on Nigeria’s presidential election and Zimbabwe’s general elections planned to take place during this year and the AU’s efforts in assisting member States in their preparations.

The second session is scheduled to take place on 24 January and the PSC will be considering the revised/updated policy framework on post-conflict reconstruction and development (PCRD). The review of the PCRD policy framework took place in the context of the 1047^th PSC session which underscored the need to ensure ‘urgent review of the AU PCRD Policy Framework in order to ensure that it is re-aligned and adaptable to the emerging challenges in the Continental peace and security landscape’ as well as the decision of the 35^th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly [Assembly/AU/Dec. 815(XXXV)] which requested the AU Commission to ‘review the 2006 AU PCRD Policy Framework and submit the report for consideration by the next ordinary session of the Assembly’. The PSC may endorse the reviewed/updated policy which is expected to be tabled at the upcoming 36^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly.

On 26 January, the PSC will convene its third session of the month to consider and endorse two reports ahead of the 36^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly – the PSC Report on its activities and on the state of peace and security in Africa, as well as the Report on the implementation of the ‘AU Master Roadmap on Practical Steps on Silencing the Guns in Africa’. Having been endorsed by the PSC, the two reports will be submitted to the upcoming ordinary session of the Assembly in accordance with Article 7 of the PSC Protocol.

The fourth session planned for the month will be taking place on 27 January and will be a Joint briefing of the PSC, the Committee of Fifteen Ministers of Finance (F15), the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) Sub-Committee and Board of Trustees on the AU Peace Fund. It is to be recalled that on 16 September 2022, the PSC held a joint briefing with the PRC Sub-Committee on Budget Matters along with the Board of Trustees of the AU Peace Fund where the status of operationalisation of the AU Peace Fund was discussed. The upcoming joint briefing is expected to discuss updates since the deliberations of the previous joint engagement, particularly on aspects related to the status and modalities for contribution to the Peace Fund and the status of finalisation of consensus African position on accessing UN assessed contributions for financing AU peace and security activities.

On 30 January, the CoE will meet once again to consider a draft Engagement Mechanism between the PSC and the African three members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council (UNSC) or the A3. Establishing mechanisms for enhanced coordination between the PSC and A3 was one of the key decisions emerging from the 983^rd PSC session which took place on 4 March 2021, under the title ‘Unified role of the African Members in the United Nations (UN) Security Council (A3) in the UN Security Council’. The development of a draft manual for engagement between the PSC and A3 undertaken during 2021 is a welcome progress on which the PSC Secretariat reported to the most recent high-level seminar in Oran, Algeria that took place in December 2022.

The fifth and final session of the month will be an open session dedicated to inauguration of Africa reconciliation day, scheduled to take place on 31 January. The session will be held in line with the decision of the 16^th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly [Ext/Assembly/AU/Decl.(XVI)], which decided to institutionalise the annual commemoration of ‘Africa Day of Peace and Reconciliation’ every 31 January. The coming session may serve to welcome, commend and support reconciliation efforts in various member States and encourage relevant partners to lend their support to reconciliation works in Africa.