PSC Program of Work for the Month of September 2018

Automatic Heading TextDate | September 2018

In September, Angola assumes the role of the monthly chairpersonship of the Peace and Security Council (PSC). Unlike the previous consecutive months, the PSC is not expected to have a field mission. Although the monthly provisional program of work envisages an open session marking the amnesty month, indications are that this is now changed into an event. This would mean that there would be no open session during this month.

The program of the month starts with the event marking the amnesty month, initially scheduled for 4th September but expected to take place on 5th September. Following the designation at the July 2017 AU summit of the month of September of each year till 2020, as ‘Africa Amnesty Month’ the PSC launched the amnesty month during the open session of its 716th meeting held on 4 September 2017. The amnesty month is dedicated to the surrender and collection of Illicit Weapons and was initiated as part the AU Master
Roadmap for Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020.

On 6 September the PSC has three items on its agenda. It plans to have a preparatory meeting on the annual consultative meeting between the PSC and the peace and security organs of the Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) and is expected to consider and adopt its program of work for the month of October.

The third but substantive agenda of the 6 September PSC session involves a briefing on Burundi. This is the first time for the PSC to have Burundi on its agenda since its 727th meeting held on 27th October 2017. The reemergence of this situation on the PSC agenda is done on Angola’s initiative. The briefing is expected to provide the PSC updates on the situation in Burundi covering not only the peace process but also the human rights and socio‐economic situation in the country. The Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui and the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission and Head of the AU Liaison Office in Burundi, Mr. Basile Ikouebe, are expected to brief the PSC.

On 18 September, the PSC is scheduled to have two agenda items. First is the status of the RCI‐LRA. While the mandate of the RCI‐LRA was extended for three‐ month period in May 2018, with no change in the operational and financial situation of the mission, this session is expected to decide on whether the current conditions warrant continuing with further extension of the mandate of RCI‐LRA. The second agenda item involves the annual consultative meeting between the PSC and the peace and security organs of RECs/RMs. This follows the conclusions of the 8th retreat of the PSC held in Abuja, Nigeria, which provided for the institutionalization of such consultative meeting. Such meeting is also one of the institutional measures stipulated in the AU Master Roadmap for Silencing the Guns.

Like the annual consultative meeting between the PSC and the UN Security Council, this meeting with peace and security organs of the RECs/RMs is meant to offer useful framework for both achieving shared understanding on items common to the respective agenda of the PSC and RECs/RMs and enhancing coordinated action. It also offers the basis for shared perspectives on aligning the decision‐making process and initiatives for prevention, management and resolution of conflicts between PSC and RECs/RMs. Given the plurality of the peace and security organs of RECs/RMs and their different organizational structure and format, the format of meeting with such diverse grouping may not be ideal for achieving these objectives.

On 19 September, the PSC is expected to receive briefing on the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR). During the same session, the PSC plans to have a briefing on the harmonization of the African Standby Force (ASF) and the African Immediate Crisis Response Capacity (AICRC).

On 20 September, the PSC session will have two items on its agenda. The first is a preparatory meeting for the ministerial session expected to be held on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly. This item is subject to confirmation. The second involves a ‘briefing on comprehensive study on APSA and AGA implementation’. Apart from offering updates on the implementation of the APSA and the AGA, this briefing is expected to present the PSC analysis done on the AU reform relating to the PSC.

The last substantive item on the PSC program of work for September is the plan for ministerial meeting tentatively scheduled for 24 September. The focus of this session is not specified. The program of work indicates that this session is subject to further confirmation.

Finally, on 27 September the Chairperson of the PSC for September, Angola’s Ambassador in Addis Ababa Arcanjo Nscimento, is scheduled to brief the PRC on the activities of the PSC.