By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
Nigeria has called for a stronger, better-funded and self-reliant African peace and security architecture to address the continent’s evolving security challenges, including terrorism, transnational organized crime and illicit financial flows.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, made the call on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the Consultative Forum on Strengthening the Functional Performance of the African Union Peace and Security Architecture in Abuja.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who highlighted growing regional security threats, pressure on multilateralism and gaps in continental security frameworks, urged African countries to take greater responsibility for addressing the continent’s security challenges.
She expressed concern over the growing threat of terrorism in Africa, noting that armed groups were increasingly deploying new technologies and financing their activities through proceeds of transnational organized crime and illicit financial flows.
To strengthen Africa’s peace and security framework, the minister called for improved continental early warning systems, stronger African-led mediation initiatives and enhanced use of the African Peer Review Mechanism.
She also emphasised the need to establish sustainable national peace infrastructures, improve intelligence-sharing among African countries and address underlying causes of conflict, including local grievances and youth unemployment, while strengthening community resilience.
The minister further advocated increased support for rehabilitation and reintegration programmes and encouraged African countries to leverage the African Union Counter-Terrorism Centre to coordinate continental efforts against terrorism.
On funding, Odumegwu-Ojukwu stressed the importance of complementarity between the African Union Peace Fund and international funding commitments, including those of the United Nations.
She called for predictable and sustainable financing for African Union-led peace operations, alongside improved peace support operations through the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2719.
The minister also urged the full operationalization of the African Standby Force and regional standby forces to strengthen the continent’s capacity to respond effectively to emerging security threats.
Expressing optimism about the two-day forum, she said it would generate practical and implementable recommendations to improve Africa’s collective capacity to prevent conflicts, respond to emerging threats and promote sustainable peace and security.
The forum is focused on four key priorities: mediation and preventive diplomacy, early warning and response, counter-terrorism, and peace support operations.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Oluwafemi Adeniyi, the meeting is expected to produce recommendations to improve security coordination across Africa, strengthen financing for peace initiatives and enhance the capacity of African institutions to respond effectively to the continent’s security challenges.
