COMMUNIQUE?

Adopted by the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) at its 1375th meeting, held on 30 October 2026, on the briefing by the Secretary General of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).

The Peace and Security Council, 

Recalling all previous decisions and pronouncements on transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, illicit financial flows, particularly the most recent Communiques such as Communique [PSC/PR/COMM.1345 (2026)] adopted by Council at its 1345^th meeting held on 6 May 2026; Communique [PSC/PR/COMM.1279 (2025)] adopted at the 1279^th meeting of Council held on 14 May 2025; as well as Communique [PSC/PR/COMM.1082 (2022)] adopted at its 1082^nd meeting held on 6 May 2022 and Communique [PSC/PR/COMM.1 (DCCCXLV)] adopted at its 845^th meeting held on 25 April 2019;

Also recalling the 2003 AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (Maputo Convention); the AU Plan of Action on Drug Control and Crime Prevention (2019-2025); the Ouagadougou Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children (2006); the AU Strategy on the Control of Illicit Proliferation, Circulation and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons, anchored in the Bamako Declaration (2000);

Deeply concerned by the growing interconnections between transnational criminal syndicates and terrorism, including the unprecedented use of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), drones and cryptocurrencies, by these terrorist groups and transnational criminal syndicates;

Further recalling the AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps to Silence the Guns in Africa by the Year 2030 (Lusaka, 2016); the Continental Guidelines for Sharing Information and Intelligence to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (Kampala, December 2024); and the Gaborone Strategic Framework for Action on Strengthening Continental Responses to Address Illicit Synthetic Drug Production, Trafficking, and Related Transnational Organized Crime (August 2025); and Aspiration 4 of Agenda 2063 envisioning a peaceful and secure Africa;

Taking note of the opening remarks by H.E. Ambassador Churchill Ewumbue-Monono, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cameroon to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for October 2026; and also taking note of the Introductory Statement delivered by Ms. Jocelyne Nahimana, Head Defense and Security Division (PAPS) on behalf of H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security; and the briefings by Mr. Valdecy Urguiza, Secretary General of International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL); and by H.E. Ambassador Jalel Chelba, Ag. Executive Director, African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL); and

Acting under Article 7 of its Protocol, the Peace and Security Council:

1. Commends both, AFRIPOL and INTERPOL for their sustained efforts in discharging their respective mandates in preventing and combating transnational organized crime in Africa, including through coordination of operations and provision of technical capacity building assistance to the law enforcement agencies of Member States, as a contribution to the efforts towards the promotion of peace, security and stability in Africa; and encourages strengthened collaboration between the two institutions and between them and national regional, Continental and international organizations with similar mandates, including the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA), the AU Counter-terrorism Centre (AUCTC) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC);

2. Commends, in particular, AFRIPOL for its steady engagement in contributing towards effective combating organized transnational crimes and calls on Member States to support the adoption, during the upcoming Specialized Technical Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, of the revised AFRIPOL Status, that was adopted by its General Assembly on 28 November 2024, which is also in line with the recommendation of the 17^th meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee on Defence Safety and Security held in 2025;

3. Welcomes the increased representation of Africa within the structures of INTERPOL and calls for further efforts to strengthen and enhance Africa’s representation and participation;

4. Encourages Member States to further strengthen the institutional capacities and capabilities of their national law enforcement agencies and institutions, including through acquisition of relevant equipment and technologies, such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, and enhanced technical expertise, particularly in cybercrime investigation and digital forensics with a view to strengthening their intelligence-gathering and analysis capacities to prevent and address the growing threats posed by transnational organized crime and terrorist groups; as well as to also further strengthen legal frameworks for combating terrorism and crime, border security, including in the maritime domain;

5. Reiterates the call on Member States to strengthen collective and integrated approaches to criminal intelligence, including enhanced inter-agency intelligence sharing and joint operations involving police, customs, financial intelligence, and cyber units;

6. Once again urges Member States to harmonize national operational plans of action and performance indicators in sectors covering issues related to arrests made, criminal networks and infrastructure dismantled, illicit financial flows intercepted, traced, recovered and returned in different regions of Africa and, in this connection, calls on the Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) that have not yet done so, to consider, as soon as possible, adopting mechanisms for mutual legal assistance and extradition of criminals;

7. Also reiterates the call for Member States to develop targeted programmes against all forms of trafficking, radicalization and criminal recruitment, taking into account the root causes and structural factors fuelling them, and integrating good governance, infrastructural development, and socio-economic dimensions into strategies for countering the activities of organized criminal networks;

8. Encourages responsible use of biometric identification, digital technologies and artificial intelligence in counter-terrorism operations, supported by appropriate safeguards for personal data, privacy and the prevention of discrimination;

9. Further encourages Member States to strengthen mechanisms for protecting civilians, investigating allegations of abuses and ensuring accountability in accordance with national law and applicable international obligations;

10. Reiterates its directive to the AU Commission to undertake a study on the financing sources of criminal networks in Africa, within the available resources, with a view to considering targeted measures aimed at drying up these sources and consequently reducing the operational capacity of such criminal networks to report to the council within six months;

11. Encourages the AU Commission, in collaboration with Member States and international partners, to develop a more predictable and sustainable framework for financing continental and regional counter-terrorism initiatives, which should include targeted support for AFRIPOL, national law enforcement agencies, forensic and intelligence capabilities, secure communications, biometric identification systems and modern border surveillance infrastructure;

12. Calls for the strengthening of the institutional capacity of AFRIPOL, including through scaling up resource mobilization efforts to enable its analytical, operational and capacity-building activities across the Continent; building on the results of Operations OTAPI and OTAPI II (Cross-Border Operation Against Illicit Products) so that the continental response to terrorism and transnational organized crime does not depend on external funding alone;

13. Encourages AU Member States to systematically and in a timely manner share law enforcement data, including biometric information, and to make full use of INTERPOL’s databases and notices to further strengthen the detection of criminal and terrorist suspects, as well as to enhance cross-border security cooperation in accordance with applicable national laws and data protection standards while safeguarding the right to privacy and prevention of the misuse of personal data;

14. Also encourages Member States, Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms to further strengthen coordination between security interventions and preventive measures addressing the conditions that facilitate terrorist recruitment and expansion;

15. Urges Member States to further strengthen integrated border management through improved coordination among immigration, customs, police, intelligence and other relevant authorities, particularly in remote and conflict-affected border areas;

16. Emphasizes the promotion of coordinated cross-border and regional operations against terrorism and transnational organized crime, and in this regard, calls upon AU Member States to further strengthen operational cooperation through INTERPOL and AFRIPOL, particularly in addressing terrorist financing, arms trafficking, illicit gold mining and the links between terrorism and cybercrime. In addition, the PSC also encourages closer coordination between national law enforcement agencies and relevant AU mechanisms;

17. Stresses that Africa's counter-terrorism response must be African-led, adequately resourced, intelligence-driven and firmly grounded in the principles of the United Nations Charter, the Constitutive Act of the African Union and applicable international law;

18. Also encourages the institutionalization of cooperation between the PSC, the AU Commission through AFRIPOL, and INTERPOL, including regular strategic and operational consultations, exchange of threat assessments and identification of joint priorities to ensure that continental counter-terrorism policies translate into practical law enforcement action, particularly in vulnerable border areas, as proposed by the Chairperson of the Commission at the 27^th INTERPOL African Regional Conference in Cape Town in August 2025;

19. Reiterates the request for the AU Commission to engage with INTERPOL to ensure that the priorities of AFRIPOL, based on the needs of Member States, are reflected in the areas of intervention, programming and budget for the Regional Operational Coordination and Communication Activities (ROCCA) Programme, in line with the principles of partnership and African ownership;

20. Once again encourages AU Member States to support the adoption of the African Secure Communication System (AFSECOM) Data Processing Regulations, and to connect their National Liaison Offices to AFSECOM, in complementarity with INTERPOL’s I-24/7 system;

21. Commends the Kingdom of Morocco for hosting the 93^rd INTERPOL General Assembly in Marrakech, from 24 to 27 November 2025 and takes note of the adoption, on that occasion, of INTERPOL’s Strategic Framework for the period 2026-2030;

22. Looks forward to the successful hosting of the 27^th INTERPOL Africa Regional Conference in 2027 and the 96^th INTERPOL General Assembly in 2028, in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; and

23. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

COMMENTS