The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), coordinated by the Office of the Director General, held strategic discussions with key stakeholders on South Africa’s role in the African Union Commission and a renewed ‘Africa strategy’ for the Department. These discussions took place on 19 April 2021 and were a continuation of an earlier discussion which was held on 16 March 2021 in Pretoria, South Africa.
A key outcome of the March 2021 meeting was the need to develop an Africa-wide Strategy addressing the economic, political, and social aspects on the continent. It is expected that the strategy would outline the approaches to be undertaken with the relevant stakeholders that include the multilateral and regional bodies on the areas of peace and security.
At the follow up meeting in April 2021, Dr Vasu Gounden, Founder and Executive Director of ACCORD, and Mr Senzo Ngubane, General Manager: Research, presented their substantive contributions to DIRCO on the revised Africa Strategy, providing further inputs to the documents as well as elucidating possible key areas of support for national, regional, and continental efforts on peace and security.
ACCORDs undertaking in this regard contributes towards supporting the strategic and operational efforts of the AU, RECs/RMs, and DIRCO in conflict prevention and mitigation efforts on the African continent. Moreover, it contributes towards the harmonisation of work processes to ensure the complementarity of efforts of various stakeholders towards Africa’s common agenda.
