African leaders have agreed on measures to strengthen the continent's response to peace and security challenges, with a focus on sustainable financing, early intervention, and rapid response to conflicts.
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah outlined some of these key outcomes upon her arrival at the airport following the 21st Extraordinary Session of the African Union Assembly in Luanda, Angola.
The Head of State was accompanied by the Minister of International Relations and Trade Selma Ashipala-Musavyi.
Dr Nandi-Ndaitwah described the Luanda Plan of Action, which introduces a more structured approach to implementing decisions on peace and security, as one of the key outcomes of the summit.
"Now, what was more unique for this Summit or what has come out which has never happened before, is the Luanda plan of action, and there are even matrices that exactly say what should be done, who should do it, when it should start, and the money; if there is money available, it's mentioned how much, and why that has been done is because many of our projects or programmes we do not implement because the decisions are taken when there is no budget for it. So this time around, it is made clear that first we must determine what we have and what source of funding for that particular programme, so that we can move forward.”
The President said the new approach is aimed at ensuring that programmes are backed by resources while also calling attention to the need for greater African ownership of peace initiatives.
“We have to make a decision that we cannot continue to allow Africa's peace programs to be only depending heavily on outside funding; we have to strengthen our own peace fund, and to strengthen it, we must also try to look for resources within the country and not just look at governments but also look at the private sectors that are working or operating in Africa to contribute also to the operationalisation of the Africa rapid response to any crisis.”
A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between the African Union and Regional Economic Communities to strengthen coordination and allow regional structures such as SADC to play a greater role in responding to crises within their respective regions.