The Minister urged the forum to interrogate and proffer solutions to the most workable models of PSO interventions in Africa, bearing in mind that a single model will not necessarily be suitable for all the peace and security issues in the continent.
“For example, the AMISOM model in Somalia where the AU has partnered with the EU and the UN to significantly stabilise the country may not necessarily be suitable as it is different from the MNJTF model.
“The MNJTF model which Nigeria is proud to be a leading partner of, has significantly degraded the capacity of Boko Harm and its allied international terrorist group in the region”.
“There is thus need to ascertain how the ASF concept can benefit from the AMISOM, MNJTF and other models to enhance its full operationalization and utilisation”.
Onyeama also stressed that the meeting should look at the process and politics of mandating PSOs in the continent as well as the oversight of such operations.
“In particular, this forum should bring workable proposals for prompt force generation, mission start-up, command and control, exit strategy/liquidation of missions and transition from PSO into post conflict reconstruction and development (PCRD) efforts and initiatives”.
“Given that AU PSOs tend to operate in theatres of asymmetric warfare, the need to conduct operations in compliance with all applicable international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international best practices in conduct and discipline is crucial”. He added.
In his introductory Remarks, the AU Commissioner for Political, Peace and Security, Amb. Bankole Adeoye explained that the Inaugural Lesson Learned Forum is the culmination of a personal desire to ensure that Continent continuously enhance its tools and mechanisms to address conflict, peace and security.
He said: “This interest came about when, as a member of the PSC, our deliberations and field visits revealed that the challenges, opportunities and context across the missions we oversee are the same”.
“Thus, I have always been eager to ensure we learn lessons on how to enhance the effectiveness of AU PSOs, together with those conducted by RECs/RMs and Coalitions of State”.
“This is therefore the opportune time to bring together experts from field missions and Headquarters as well as relevant national institutions and partners to discuss the commonalities, differences, opportunities and challenges of Africa-Led PSOs to enhance our effectiveness”.
“About 20 years after the adoption of the Protocol Establishing the PSC, the AU and RECs combined have conducted about 27 PSOs and facilitated 2 support missions to curb the Ebola virus disease”.
“From these experiences, the AU have demonstrated its capacity to maintain peace and security on the continent and have made clear that Africa is the first responder to its conflict situations, as have been demonstrated by the number of PSOs deployed since 2003, among others”