Provisional program of work for the month of September 2019

Automatic Heading TextDate | September 2019

Morocco assumes the role of the monthly chairpersonship of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) for the month of September. The provisional program of work includes some seven meetings, which includes two open sessions, one country specific session and a ministerial meeting on the margins of the UN General Assembly.

On 3 September the PSC is expected to hold its first session of the month and it will consider three agenda items. First, the PSC is expected to interact with the AU Commission particularly the Departments of Peace and Security and of Political Affairs. Second is the initial preparatory meeting for the PSC ministerial session on the margins of the 74th UN General Assembly in New York. Third, the PSC is also expected to adopt its program of work for the month of October.

The first open session of the month is scheduled to take place on 5 September. Convened as part of commemorating the annual Amnesty month, the open session is expected to discuss the ‘Progress
made on the implementation of the AU Master Roadmap on Silencing the Guns by 2020: challenges and perspectives, with a particular focus on the Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Africa.’

The second open session of the month is expected to be held on 10 September. It is expected to focus on climate change and its impact on island states in Africa. On the same day, the PSC is expected to hold a preparatory meeting for both the annual joint AU PSC and EU Political and Security Committee meeting and AUPSC and UN Security Council meeting.

On 12 September, the PSC will consider two agenda items. In the first part of the session it is expected to receive an update on the situation in the Central African Republic with the particular focus on transitional justice. In the second agenda, the Council is scheduled to receive a briefing on mediation and prevention of conflicts in Africa.

The following day on 13 September the PSC is expected to have a session with three agenda items. First it will consider the return of foreign terrorist fighters and the threat to peace and security in Africa. Following this, it is expected to consider the report of the AUC Chairperson on the harmonization of the ACIRC within the ASF. And lastly it will have a review of the preparation for the ministerial meeting of the PSC expected to take place on the margins of the UNGA.

The 74th session of the UNGA is expected to take place from 17-29 September and on the 25 September the PSC will hold a ministerial meeting on the ‘Interdependence between peace, security and development: towards a pact of collective responsibility’.

The last session of the month will be held on 30 September. The agenda of the session is the fight against the recruitment of children in armed groups in Africa.

In addition to these agenda items, the provisional program of the month also envisions in footnotes a videoconference of the PSC Troika with the Chair of the Security Council in preparation for the annual consultative meeting between the PSC and the UNSC. Moreover, meetings of the committee of experts and military staff committee are also expected to take place in the course of the month.