On 2-3 July 2024, the fourth edition of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development was held in Cairo, Egypt. The Forum was organised by the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA) and the National Coordination Committee headed by the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The event brought together approximately 600 stakeholders working in the field of peace and security in Africa, ranging from high-level diplomats within United Nations (UN) agencies, African Union (AU), Regional Economic Communities (RECs), think tanks, national governments and civil society organisations. The theme of the fourth edition of the Forum was ‘Africa in a Changing World: Re-envisioning Global Governance for Peace and Development’. The various breakout sessions focused on themes such as rising extremism, the future of peace operations in an evolving African landscape and advancing post-conflict reconstruction and development (PCRD). In addition to these robust discussions, the Forum also saw the launch of initiatives like the African Network on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Conducive to Terrorism, to be led by the CCCPA.
As a participant in the Forum, ACCORD contributed to a panel on Re-envisioning Peacebuilding at the Summit of the Future and Beyond. This provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on its work in the Peacebuilding Architecture Review and share African perspectives on strengthening multilateralism and international cooperation for peacebuilding. ACCORD also participated in an informal policy dialogue on the AU’s Network of Think Tanks for Peace (NeTT4Peace), as a strategy group member of NeTT4Peace.
