Rabat - Morocco, which was elected at the 35th African Union (AU) Summit in February 2022 as a member of the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) for the period 2022-2025, will assume the chairmanship of this decision-making body of the Union for one month from October 1, 2022, a Moroccan Foreign Ministry statement said on Thursday.
The Moroccan presidency of the AU-PSC is part of the continuity of the Kingdom's commitments to a peaceful, stable and prosperous Africa and constitutes a consecration of the Kingdom's diplomatic efforts at the level of the African continent in favour of peace, security and stability in Africa, the statement said.
In an innovative approach aimed at outlining a new strategy of the Pan-African Organisation, in order to meet the challenges related to peace and security, Morocco aims to generate collective responses to several global and regional issues, the same source said, noting that terrorism, child soldiers, climate change, food security, the situation in the Sahel and the Central African Republic will be topics on the agenda of several meetings at the level of ministers, ambassadors and experts.
The Moroccan presidency also plans several statutory meetings, including those involving the UN Security Council, as well as the examination of reports, including those on the state of peace in Africa and the implementation of the AU's main roadmap for silencing arms in Africa, the statement said.
Based on its commitment and determination to serve the continental peace and security agenda, according to a holistic and multidimensional approach, Morocco will host, during its chairmanship of the PSC-AU, a political conference in Tangier, from 25 to 27 October 2022, on "Promoting the Peace, Security and Development Nexus, a regional integration perspective", in partnership with the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the African Union.
The Moroccan presidency will also be marked by the organisation of two ministerial meetings devoted to the following themes: "Development and de-radicalisation as levers to combat terrorism and violent extremism" and "Climate change, peace and security: building resilience and adaptation for food security in African island states".
Since its return to the African Union in January 2017, Morocco has served on the AU-PSC as a member for a two-year term (2018 to 2020).