AU Peace and Security Commissioner visits CMI to discuss ongoing partnership

The African Union’s Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Smail Chergui, visited CMI’s office on 27 April to discuss the current security context in Africa and CMI’s ongoing partnership with the AU. Since the start of the collaboration with the AU in 2009, CMI has increasingly focused on providing mediation support to the AU’s peace mediation efforts on the continent.

Georg Charpentier, CMI Senior Adviser; Itonde Kakoma, CMI Head for Sub-Saharan Africa; President Pierre Buyoya, AU High Representative for Mali and the Sahel; President Martti Ahtisaari, CMI Founder and Chairman; Ambassador Smail Chergui, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security; Tuija Talvitie, CMI Executive Director; Antonia N’Gabala-Sodonon, AU Gender Peace and Security Programme Coordinator.

The cordial meeting focused on strengthening and deepening the two organizations’ operational partnership. President Martti Ahtisaari and Commissioner Chergui agreed on the need to enhance joint efforts in the area of peace mediation and conflict prevention, in particular. Commissioner Chergui was accompanied by President Pierre Buyoya, AU High Representative for Mali and the Sahel, and Ms. Antonia N’Gabala-Sodonon, AU Gender Peace and Security Programme Coordinator. CMI’s delegation, led by Chairman and Founder, President Ahtisaari, included Executive Director Tuija Talvitie, Senior Adviser Georg Charpentier, Adviser Minna Kukkonen, and Head for Sub-Saharan Africa, Itonde Kakoma.

Supporting regional organizations a key focus area 

 The core philosophy behind CMI’s work in Africa is our understanding that sustainable solutions to complex conflicts require regional efforts as well as the participation of all levels of society. Therefore, supporting regional organizations in collaboration with local civil society is a key focus area for CMI’s Sub-Saharan Africa team. In addition to its longstanding partnership with the African Union (AU), CMI has established institutional partnerships with the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

 CMI’s support to the AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) includes providing diverse mediation support to ongoing mediation efforts on the continent and strengthening the mediation capacities of the AU and the RECs. In the spirit of the principle of subsidiarity, CMI also supports the systematization and harmonization of AU-REC collaboration within the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).

 Since 2009, CMI’s support to the African Union’s Peace and Security Department has been financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.