The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), in partnership with ACCORD and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) convened a High Level Meeting to reflect on challenges and prospects for silencing the guns in Central Africa. The meeting took place from 14-15 October 2022 at the Collège des Hautes Etudes de Stratégie et de Défense (CHESD) in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As part of a series of events taking place at ECCAS’s First Biennale for the Culture of Peace in Central Africa, from 10 — 18 October 2022, the meeting sought to adopt a strategy on the development and promotion of culture in Central Africa, and broadly looked at strengthening the nexus between Peace, Security and Culture.
The two-day meeting provided an opportunity for high-level delegates to share their perspectives on various issues relating to Africa’s place in the world. They shared views on the evolution of its peace and security agenda, the importance of deepening and advancing the human security agenda in Africa, as well as priority issues that ECCAS, the AU, and other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) need to consider as part of their contribution to building a conflict-free, stable, and economically viable Africa. Policy makers and peace practitioners re-evaluated the design and approaches of existing/ conflict management tools and systems to aide regional bodies, specifically ECCAS on ways in which to strengthen their regional mechanisms for conflict prevention and conflict mitigation efforts. The knowledge and expertise that emanated from the discussions will inform ECCAS on the existing mechanisms and frameworks that need to be re-designed for effective conflict prevention and conflict mitigation responses.
ACCORD’s Senior Advisor, Ambassador Welile Nhlapo, presented during the session discussing Africa’s peace & security trends in a volatile and complex world order. The session focused on Central Africa’s peace and security in a complex and evolving global world order, where multilateralism is being challenged by inter alia a multiplicity of developments such as climate change, rising inequalities, unemployment, and the absence of a global consensus to tackle global emergencies such as COVID-19. ACCORD’s Research fellow, Dr Anlsem Adunimay, also contributed to the session on exchanging lessons and sharing experiences on regional peace and conflict prevention interventions. Dr Adunimay presented on the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)’s responses to regional crises.
ACCORD’s support and participation in the high-level meeting is in line with ACCORD’s strategic objective to enhance the institutional response of the AU and RECs to complex conflict.
