ACCORD through the Training for Peace Programme (TfP) continued to contribute to the collective support by the traditional partners of the African Union (AU). ACCORD attended and participated in an African Governance Architecture (AGA) and the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) Seminar which took place on the 9th October 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that aimed a developing synergies among AUC departments.
The African Governance Architecture (AGA) is a platform for dialogue between the various African stakeholders who are mandated to promote good governance and strengthen democracy in addition to translating the objectives of the legal and policy pronouncements of the AU’s shared values while the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) is a key tool of the AU as provided for in the AU Constitutive Act (2000) and the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the PSC (2002). APSA provides a framework for the modalities available for the AU, RECs/RMs’ conflict prevention, management and resolution. The APSA also provides a radical shift from the policy of non-interference to non-indifference when crimes are being committed.
As part of its effort to tackle the continent’s challenges, the AU has been strengthening the APSA and AGA synergies, while both are considered equally important, there is still not enough collaboration between the two frameworks.
During the Seminar the Norwegian funded TfP Program presented research findings that proposed enhancing the linkages between the AGA and APSA structures of the AUC. The findings emphasised the strengths and opportunities at the disposal of the two structures and how they can harness, leverage and synergize their relationships. The seminar also provided an opportunity for sharing experiences and identifying common challenges while offering recommendations to the AU and African states on how AGA and APSA should work together in the interest of all Africans.
This ACCORD/TfP is also in line with the TfP Programme’s strategic goal of significantly improving the civilian capacity of African states, REC/RMs and the AU.
ACCORD/Training for Peace (TfP) Programme is an initiative funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
