Peace and Security Council of the African Union, in its meeting held today at the level of Heads of State and Government, adopted the proposal of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, aiming to establish a continental civilian capacity for disaster preparedness and response with the aim of ensuring effective and timely provision of support to the affected African countries.
This proposal was presented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad, Mr. Ramtane Lamamra, who participated in the meeting as a representative of the President of the Republic, where the Minister indicated that the painful experiences that many countries of the continent went through as a result of disasters proved the necessity of crystallizing and adopting a continental approach and setting up a joint mechanism in order to counter the negative effects of natural disasters. In this context, Ramtane Lamamra highlighted the importance of bearing in mind the lessons learned from past experiences that have demonstrated that emergency responses are often fragmented or too late, if not completely absent.
Representatives of the member states in the Council welcomed the proposal of the President of the Republic, which was adopted unanimously, with the commission of the African Union to initiate preparations for the realization of this initiative, which is much expected, especially in light of the increasing severity and frequency of natural disasters and extreme weather phenomena on the countries of the continent.
As a reminder, under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Mozambique, Mr. Filipe Nyusi, Peace and Security Council of the African Union held today a summit-level meeting devoted to addressing the topic “Disaster Risk Management in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for the Protection of Human Security”. This meeting, which was held via remote videoconferencing technology, recorded a high-level participation of the member states of the Council, as well as representatives of the African Union Commission, the United Nations, as well as the European Union.
ENTV 28/10/2021