Peace and Security Council of the African Union: Tunisia has consistently been a positive force for proposal

As it leaves the AU PSC, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, Tunisia renews its commitment to work alongside new member states, as well as African Union officials and its various institutions and structures, with the aim of preventing conflicts, restoring peace, supporting the foundations of stability in Africa, and dedicating efforts to development and reconstruction.

Tunisia’s mandate at the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) ended yesterday, March 31, after two years during which the country occupied one of the two seats for the North African region within this important African structure, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released yesterday.

“A task that Tunisia undertook with the same determination and commitment that has always characterized its foreign policy and contributions to international peace and security in general and in Africa in particular,” the statement reads. As it leaves the AU PSC, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, Tunisia renews its commitment to work alongside new member states, as well as African Union officials and its various institutions and structures, with the aim of preventing conflicts, restoring peace, supporting the foundations of stability in Africa, and dedicating efforts to development and reconstruction.

Tunisia was elected to the Council for the period 2022-2024, during the elections held at the 40th session of the African Union Executive Council, held in Addis Ababa in February 2022. This was the second time it has sat on the AU PSC since its creation in 2004.

Promoting a new concept of security

“Throughout these two years, during which the world and Africa have faced unprecedented challenges at all levels, Tunisia has consistently been a positive force of proposal, continuing to work to strengthen collective African action, cooperation, and solidarity among the different brotherly African countries, and to promote a new concept of collective security and common destiny based on the universal values and principles of the United Nations Charter as well as the African Union Constitutive Act,” the statement says.

During its mandate, Tunisia also worked to promote the path of political and peaceful conflict resolution, strengthen preventive diplomacy, and enhance the Council’s role and responsibility in maintaining security and peace on the continent.

During its presidency of the Council in April 2023, Tunisia put forward its vision to find peaceful, just, and sustainable solutions to various issues, with the aim of making Africa a safe, stable, and prosperous continent.

Strategic air transport and cybersecurity in Africa

Tunisia also sought to strengthen the Council’s role and support its efforts to prevent conflicts, establish peace, support the pillars of stability in Africa, and dedicate efforts to development and reconstruction.

The Tunisian presidency’s program included a series of meetings focusing on monitoring reconciliation efforts in Libya, supporting countries going through transition processes, evaluating the African Union’s transition mission in Somalia, and a meeting on the progress of political transition processes in Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, and Guinea.

Furthermore, Tunisia included on the AU PSC’s agenda for April 2023 several topics of common interest, such as strategic air transport and cybersecurity in Africa, raising awareness about the importance of preventing mines, genocide, and hate crimes on the continent.

Tunisia hosting the 15th annual Council retreat in November 2023 was an opportunity for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration, and Tunisians Abroad, Nabil Ammar, to highlight the importance of providing the AU PSC with the necessary tools to achieve adequate solutions to African problems.

In December 2023, Tunisia also hosted an expert meeting dedicated to discussing a common African position for the application of international law in the field of information and communication technology use in cyberspace.