COMMUNIQUÉ

Adopted by the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) at its 1364th meeting held on 24 August 2026 on Coordination between AUCTC-APRM-CISSA-AFRIPOL on CEWS: Validation of the Continental Threats Assessment and Risks Mapping Tool and APRM Early Warning System (EWS)

The Peace and Security Council,

Recalling all previous decisions and pronouncements on early warning, peace, and security in Africa, particularly Communiqués: [PSC/PR/COMM.1320 (2025)] adopted at its 1320^th Meeting held 16 December 2025, [PSC/PR/COMM.1298 (2025)] adopted at its 1298^th meeting held on 27 August 2025, and [PSC/PR/COMM.1251 (2024)] adopted at its 1251^st meeting held on 17 December 2024;

Reaffirming the central role of the Continental Early Warning System (CEWS) in conflict pre-vention under the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the vital necessity of analytical convergence among AU specialized institutions and the Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs);

Taking note of the opening remarks by H.E. Ambassador Dr. Mohamed Khaled, Permanent Representative of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria and Chairperson of the PSC for August 2026, and the introductory remarks by H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Polit-ical Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS);

Also taking note of the presentation by Mr. Mohamed Lamine Nait Youcef, Expert of the Peo-ple’s Democratic Republic of Algeria and Chairperson of the CoE for the month of August 2026; and by Mr. Lallal Idriss Lakhdar, Acting Director, AU Counter Terrorism Centre (AUCTC);

Further taking note of the statements by H.E. Ambassador Marie-Antoinette Rose-Quatre, Chief Executive Officer of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), read by Mr. Batlokoa Makong, Advisor to the APRM CEO; H.E. Ambassador Jackson Victor Hamata, Executive Secretary of the Com-mittee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA); and H.E. Ambassador Jalel Chelba, Acting Director of the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL);

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

1. Commends the AU Commission, in particular the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, AUCTC, AFRIPOL as well as CISSA and APRM, for their inter-institutional collaboration in streamlining data, intelligence, and risk indicators to present a unified early warning perspective;

2. Validates the prototype of the Continental Threats Assessment and Risks Mapping Tool as an institutionalized decision-support tool designed to strengthen proactive conflict prevention, rapid risk detection, and response capabilities across the Continent; stresses that this technical tool will enhance the effectiveness of AU action response, the EWS, and its conflict prevention efforts; and, in this re-gard, requests the AUC to proceed on the remaining steps of its finalization process and to present the finalized tool to the PSC for consideration prior to its launch;

3. Validates the AU Trigger Model for Early Warning and Early Response, while taking into con-sideration, PSC Member States amendments, and calls upon the AU Commission to expedite the fina-lization of the Implementation Framework protocol, and submit prior to the official launch to the Council for its consideration; and notes that this milestone marks a critical step forward in enhancing the CEWS by strengthening joint threat assessments and harmonizing capabilities across the AUCTC, APRM, CISSA, and AFRIPOL;

4. Recalls the role and mandate of the APRM as an intergovernmental and independent mecha-nism centered on peer learning and sharing of experiences; in this context, welcomes and validates the prototype of the APRM EWS on Governance and requests the APRM to prioritize its finalization and launch it as an internal Early Warning system on Governance; and underlines the critical necessity of interconnecting the APRM EWS with the AU Continental Early Warning System (CEWS), as well as with the Continental Threats Assessment and Risks Mapping Tool;

5. Takes note with appreciation of the APRM’s proactive initiative in developing peace agree-ment mapping; in this regard, requests the APRM, in close collaboration with the AU Commission, in particular the Political Affairs, Peace and Security Department, to work towards the refinement, fina-lization and technical validation of the report relying mainly on primary and official AU sources, and to subsequently submit to the PSC for consideration and adoption;

6. Requests the AU Commission to fully interface these tools with Regional Early Warning Sys-tems (REWS) to ensure continental-to-regional data sharing; and, in this respect, directs the AU Com-mission, through its institutions, AUCTC, APRM, and AFRIPOL, as well as in collaboration with CISSA, to further refine, finalize, and fully operationalize the Continental Threats Assessment and Risks Map-ping Tool, ensuring its seamless technological and functional integration within the CEWS framework prior to their official joint continental launch;

7. Mandates the AU Commission to ensure its interoperability with the AU CEWS and the AU Trigger Model, thereby establishing a functional bridge between continental threat and risk assess-ment, early warning, defined escalation thresholds, and timely decision-making and response by the relevant AU policy organs;

8. Underscores that early warning must incorporate governance indicators, illicit financial flows, transborder organized crime, and terror-financing networks alongside conventional conflict metrics;

9. Emphasizes that risk mapping must explicitly link clear early warning indicators with concrete early action triggers to prompt timely intervention by the Council and Member States;

10. Endorses the institutionalization of the Technical Working Group consisting of the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, AUCTC, APRM, CISSA, and AFRIPOL as a permanent inter-de-partmental and inter-agency technical coordination mechanism for the continued development, im-plementation, and periodic review of the Tool; and requests the AU Commission to expand its com-position, when the need arises and as appropriate, to incorporate other relevant AU organs, depart-ments, institutions, and specialized bodies dealing with security, governance, economic, health, envi-ronmental, climate, and other transnational risks, while establishing appropriate working arrange-ments, standard operating procedures, and information- and data-sharing protocols;

11. Reaffirms the fundamental necessity of maintaining the trust and confidence of Member States in the operationalization of the CEWS; and, in this regard, underscores that the integrated an-alytical tools, namely the Continental Threats Assessment and Risks Mapping Tool and the APRM Early Warning System, must operate strictly as collaborative, intra-African mechanisms rooted in national ownership and transparency;

12.  Stresses that these coordinated mechanisms, led jointly by AUCTC, APRM, CISSA, and AF-RIPOL, are designed to complement national capacities for structural conflict prevention rather than act as an external monitoring or punitive instrument; and, in this context, directs the AU Commission,in close collaboration with AUCTC, APRM, CISSA, and AFRIPOL, to finalize the continuous matrix of risks and threats and present annual consolidated continental threat assessments to Council;

13. Reiterates the centrality of consultation with and full participation of Member States in the implementation of all aspects of the tools and models and the need to maintain the integrity of infor-mation and independence of analysis in order to improve credibility and urges the AU Commission to ensure transparency and a consultative approach guided by Pan-African solidarity;

14. Requests the AU Commission and collaborating Organs/Institutions to ensure continuous con-sultation with Member States to dispel any perceptions of external oversight and uphold the sover-eignty and primary responsibility of States in safeguarding peace and security;

15. Mandates the Commission to establish a structured, institutionalized, and regular consulta-tion framework with all AU Member States to facilitate continuous information-sharing and feedback on early warning outputs; and, in this regard, urges Member States to designate dedicated national focal points within their respective competent authorities to coordinate directly with the joint AUCTC-APRM-CISSA-AFRIPOL technical committee and guarantee effective two-way communication;

16. Recalls the previous commendable initiatives that yielded substantive results and requests to resume both the monthly informal breakfasts meeting between the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security and PSC Ambassadors and the briefings by the Panel of the Wise to the PSC, both focused exclusively on the Early Warning System;

17. Calls upon Member States to provide the technical, financial, and human resources needed to sustain, update, and operationalize these dynamic threat-mapping tools; and

18. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

COMMENTS