A communiqué issued at the end of Ninth AU High-Level Retreat on the Promotion of Peace, Security and Stability, urged the AU Commission, the Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (REC/RMs) and Member States to focus on initiatives to hasten implementation of the AU policy of Silencing the Guns by 2020.

This includes the acceleration of the signature, ratification and domestication of relevant AU instruments – such as the 2007 African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance as well as the 2014 African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralisation, Local Governance and Local Development – as well as the implementation of sustained sensitization and popularization activities.

The Ninth Annual High-Level Retreat of Special Envoys and Mediators on the Promotion of Peace, Security and Stability in Africa was convened in Accra, from 25 to 26 October, on the theme, “Strengthening African Union’s Conflict Prevention and Peacemaking Efforts”.

The Retreat, which was organised by the AU Commission and hosted by Ghana, was under the auspices of Finland and Germany, with the African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) providing technical support in situ.

The communiqué urged AU Member States to swiftly implement the Continental Free Trade Area Agreement as well as other relevant decisions in order to hasten their efforts towards integration, stop the vicious cycle of violence, and enable the advancement of well-being and prosperity for the majority of their peoples.

Participants expressed concern about those Member States that invoked the principle of sovereignty to prevent the engagement of the Union, and recommended to fully respect the 2000 AU Constitutive Act and the 2002 Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council.

The Communiqué urged the AU to ensure that instruments which address peace and security as well as democracy and governance challenges were applied consistently across Member States.

It recommended for the AU Commission to continue assisting its efforts to strengthen the capacities of Member States to analyse, prevent and respond to peace and security challenges.

It urges the AU Commission to further strengthen conflict prevention and mediation as cross-cutting and collaborative activities, and continue its shift towards a focus on service delivery to Member States and REC/RMs, with a specific aim of enhancing their capacities and ability to respond to these challenges.

Participants highlighted that the principle of subsidiarity was important in guiding the relations between the Union and the REC/RMs and that, where appropriate, mediation efforts should be led by the REC/RMs.

The Communiqué said all stakeholders concerned must enhance their support for the full operationalisation of ground-breaking direct prevention initiatives such as the Pan-African Network of the Wise (PanWise) and very particularly the Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation (FemWise-Africa), and strengthen the operational links between these networks and the REC/RMs, including elaborating plans of action and implementing deployments plans.

It called for the promotion of increasing opportunities for experience sharing and communication between the AU Special Envoys, High Representatives, Mediators and Members of the Panel of the Wise as well as representatives of the RECs/RMs;

Enhance strategic and operational coordination of conflict prevention, resolution and mediation efforts by the AU, the RECs, the UN and other international and local actors to strengthen the efficacy of conflict prevention and resolution efforts and further African-led solutions to peace and security based on subsidiarity and comparative advantage.

With regard to structural conflict prevention, participants strongly encouraged AU Member States to follow the example of Ghana, and to systematically engage with the existing Union mechanisms of structural conflict prevention.

In a special ceremony, the 9th AU High-Level Retreat posthumously bestowed the AU Peace Award to two outstanding Africans who throughout their long career in African and international institutions have hugely contributed to the advancement of peace, security and stability on the African continent.

The duo was the late Mr Kofi Annan, the Seventh UN Secretary-General and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, who passed away on 18 August; and the Nigerian-born scholar and diplomat Professor Margaret Aderinsola Vogt who passed away on 23 September 2014.