Wednesday 7th May, 2025 – The 1278th Meeting of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) was held at the African Union Commission in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The key agenda for the meeting was the briefing on the African Union Support to Member States (The Gambia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, and South Sudan) on Security Sector Reform (SSR): Lessons Learned and Perspectives on the way forward. Upon Member States’ request, and in line with relevant PSC decisions, the Commission has provided SSR support in political transitions and in post-conflict contexts, including the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, the Gambia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, South Sudan and Somalia. The support ranged from assistance to design, implementation, to inclusion and coordination of nationally led SSR processes.
The meeting was chaired by His Excellency Ambassador Harold Bundu Saffa, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the African Union and Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union for May 2025.
An extraordinary feature of this meeting was the platform granted to the AU’s civil society partners to present the recommendations of the November, 2023 SSR Conference and the related study led by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and supported by the ASSN/Just Future. ISS’s Dawit Yohannes made the presentation on behalf of the civil society partners. It may be recalled that in November 2023, ASSN/Just Future and other partners supported the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the African Union Policy Framework on SSR with a two-day conference at the African Union Commission. ASSN was the AU’s key technical partner in the drafting of the AU Policy Framework on SSR and has since remained an instrumental SSR implementing partner.
ASSN/Just Future’s participation in the AU SSR Conference was motivated by the desire to present a strong case for grassroots voices or perspectives on Security Sector Reform, emphasizing a bottom-up, people-centred approach to SSR that empowers hitherto marginalized and excluded populations – rather than the power elite — and highlighting Just Future’s own work in its various countries of engagement. The case-studies selected for the conference presentations were each intended to demonstrate the variety of ways in which CSOs, CBOs, women, youth and IDPs through their own independent initiatives are already redefining SSR, and the search for peace, safety and security in often dangerous contexts.
The collective civil society recommendations presented to the PSC highlighted the following:
Governance
Appeal to the PCS to champion the full operationalisation of AU instruments that promote democratic oversight, the rule of law and human rights within security institutions;
Member states should embrace a security sector governance approach (both in law and in practice) to fully domesticate AU norms into national legislations and strengthening the mandate of civilian oversight institutions;
Deepening Genuine National Ownership
Encourage Member States with the support of the AU and RECs to adopt national SSR strategies that are inclusive in design;
Strengthening Financial and Institutional Capacity
Urge Member States to fully integrate SSR into national development plans and budgets;
Regional
Urge RECs and RMEs to appoint formal SSR Focal Points and develop regional SSR Strategies among others.