PSC Program of Work for the Month of October 2018

Date | October 2018

Congo assumes the role of the monthly chairpersonship of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) for the month of October when the monthly program of work of the PSC commences on 1 October. The provisional program of work does not include any agenda on specific country situation. It envisages one open session and a retreat of the PSC. Much of the substantive agenda of the provisional program reflect sessions from the AU Commission.

The October PSC program of work starts on 1 October with a briefing on the continental framework for structural conflict prevention in line with the 502nd meeting of the PSC that took place on 29 April 2015. Proposed from the AU Commission, the meeting will look at developments with the Country Structural Vulnerability and Resilience Assessments (CSVRAs) and Country Structural Vulnerability Mitigation Strategies (CSVMS) elements of the framework.

The second agenda item on 1 October is dedicated to the discussion on the preparation for the annual joint consultative meeting between the AU PSC and the EU Committee on Peace and Security (EU CPS) that will take place from 22-24 October in Brussels. On 2 October 2018, the PSC has three agenda item. In the first agenda of the session from the AU Commission, the PSC will hold a briefing session on the establishment of a Mediation Support Unit in the AU Commission. The session will examine the mandate, capacity and structure of the support unit and its working relations with the Panel of the Wise (PoW), the mediation component of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).

Under the second agenda item, the PSC will consider and adopt the draft provisional program of work of the PSC for November 2018. The third item of the session will review the preparation for PSC retreat scheduled from 29-31 October 2018. After a week-long absence, the PSC will convene
again on 10 October to receive a joint briefing from the Smail Chergui, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security and Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.

The briefing by Chergui and Lacroix will follow their joint visit to South Sudan planned for 9 October. This joint filed mission builds on the precedent that the joint field visit that the two AU and UN senior leaders had to CAR and Darfur in mid-April in an attempt to enhance collective action.

Following the joint briefing, the session will also consider the reports of the PSC field missions to Guinea Bissau (28-31 July 2018) and Lesotho (26 to 29 of August 2018) to examine the political and security developments in the two member states. On 15 October, the PSC will receive a briefing on the Joint Summit of Heads of States of ECCAS and ECOWAS held in Lomé on 30 July 2018. This is a session that the PSC Chairperson of the month, from the ECCAS region, initiated. The meeting will also evaluate the agenda and the preparation for the annual joint consultative meeting between the AU PSC and the EU CPS (Brussels).

On 17 October, the Council will receive a briefing on the situation in the Great Lakes Region. The session is expected to focus on peace and security dynamics in the region with attention on Burundi and DRC. The only Open Session of the month will take place on 19 October on the Celebration of the Resolution 1325, the landmark resolution on Women, Peace and Security of the United Nations Security Council. Initially proposed in August and