Opening Of African Union Peace And Security Council Retreat

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STATEMENT BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, GCFR, REPRESENTED BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA, AT THE OPENING OF THE AFRICAN UNION PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL RETREAT, ABUJA, NIGERIA, 14^TH SEPTEMBER, 2015.

PROTOCOLS

Let me also welcome you Mr. Chairman and distinguished Ambassadors, and Members of the African Union Peace and Security Council to Abuja on this important occasion. Your retreat is all the more important because of its theme which addresses strengthening cooperation between your distinguished Council and our respective Regional Economic Communities in the promotion of peace, security and stability in Africa.

Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the PSC, your Council has come a long way since its operationalization in 2004 in providing Africa with an effective mechanism for the management of peace and security issues. Indeed, the PSC has been a novel African initiative in many respects, one that has proven an effective tool in conflict management. The achievements of the Council in its 11 years of existence have set it out as an outstanding best practice, worthy of emulation by other regions in the world. I congratulate you Mr. Chairman and distinguished Members of the Council for this remarkable African achievement.

The PSC has among other achievements, provided Africa with a standing structure for the implementation of the ideals set out in the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). In this respect, the Council has been our Union’s lead response agency in tackling numerous conflicts and other security challenges in all respects, ranging from political crisis, armed conflicts to humanitarian crisis as exemplified in the Council’s handling of the recent Ebola Virus Disease in some of our countries through the establishment of the African Union support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa known as (ASEOWA).

As we would recall, the Regional Economic Communities are conceived to be the pillars of our continental integration as provided in the Constitutive Act of the AU. The envisaged relationship between the AU and the RECs covers all aspect of the activities of the Union including Peace and Security. Thus while the PSC as an organ of the Union exercises continental oversight on all issues of peace and security in respective Member-States, it is the RECs that often exercise initial management responsibilities on all crisis whenever they occur.

Thus, the importance of the two having stronger coordination and synergy of functions can never be overemphasized. Indeed, if the AU is to deliver on the goals set out in the Constitutive Act, closer cooperation and synergy with the RECs is one requirement that is absolutely imperative.

Nigeria has always advocated for the proper conception and implementation of closer cooperation and collaboration between the AU and the RECs. With about the most successful example of regional cooperation in ECOWAS, we have always believed that the position of the RECs as the basis of our future development is long assured and no chance should be missed to further strengthen it.

The Abuja Retreat is timely. As it is being convened in a season of conflicts on the Continent. Today on an embarrassingly regular basis there is a fresh conflict situation or a relapse of post-conflict situations. At the same time, terrorism and violent extremism present fresh problems, including large numbers of IDPs and refugees going across the borders of neighboring countries. The sheer variety and complexity of these challenges oblige the PSC and the RECs to more effectively coordinate and harmonize their efforts in a complementary manner in order to address them more effectively.

In wishing you every success in these collective efforts for peace and security in Africa, I would like to remind you that attention should be focused on how the PSC and the RECs can enhance effectiveness and efficiency using their comparative advantages and various capacities within the context of subsidiarity and complementarity in the areas of early warning and early action, conflict prevention, peacemaking, post-conflict peace-building, reconstruction, and development, strengthening of democratic practices and good governance, as well as in combatting terrorism and violent extremism. It is if and when all of these are comprehensively addressed that all the weak linkages and gaps that often pose the risk of parallel initiatives will be eliminated thereby achieving our delineated objectives under APSA.

Excellencies, with these few remarks I have the honor to declare open the “PSC Retreat on the Enhancement of Cooperation between the AU Peace and Security Council and Regional Economic Communities in the Promotion of Peace, Security and Stability in Africa” Open.

I thank you for your attention.