COMMUNIQUE

Adopted by the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU), at its 1320^th meeting on the Continental Early Warning System and Security Outlook, held on Tuesday, 16 December 2025.

The Peace and Security Council,

Recalling the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, particularly Articles 7 and 12 concerning conflict prevention, early warning and early action; Aspiration 4 of Agenda 2063; the AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps to Silence the Guns by 2030;

Also recalling its previous decisions and pronouncements on early warning and Continental security outlook, particularly, Communiqué [PSC/PR/COMM.1298 (2025)] adopted at its 1298th meeting, held on 27 August 2025, on Briefing on the Continental Early Warning System (CEWS) “Mapping Risks and Threats’’;

Taking note of the opening remarks by H.E. Ambassador Ennio Maes, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC  for the month of December 2025; and the introductory statement of H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, read on his behalf by Ms. Patience Chiradza, Director, Governance and Conflict Prevention;;

Also taking note of the presentations by Mr. Jackson Victor Hamata, Executive Secretary of the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA); by Mr. Lallali Idris Lakhdar, Acting Director, African Union Counter Terrorism Centre (AU CTC); and by the Representative of the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL); and

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

1. Commends the collaborative efforts of the AUCTC, AFRIPOL and CISSA and their continued provision of technical capacity building support to Member States in identifying early warning signs of potential conflict and crisis situations as well as other threats to peace, security and stability in the Continent and requests the AU Commission to continue providing necessary support to these AU specialized agencies;

2.In this regard, requests the AUC to accelerate the introduction of a new statute of the AUCTC and welcomes with satisfaction the decision of the 17^th STCDSS on the adoption of the statute of AFRIPOL and the proposal for its restructuring, as well as its call on the AUC to submit them to the AU organs, in line with the rules and procedures;

3. Expresses deep concern over the growing threats posed by transnational organized crimes, terrorism, violent extremism, and the resurgence of Unconstitutional Changes of Government (UCGs), the continued escalation of violent conflicts which are undermining peace, security, stability, and development efforts across the Continent;

4. Strongly Condemns all acts of terrorism and violent extremism, as well as the exploitation of communities and the use of illicit economies by armed groups,; also condemns the attacks against civilians and civilian property including educational institutions, including  abduction of school children, recruitment and  use of children in armed conflicts, in blatant violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL); and strongly warns the perpetrators that they will be held to account for their  deplorable and heinous  acts;

5. Underlines the need for a coordinated approach that addresses both security responses and the underlying structural root causes, including socio-economic and governance deficits that continue to give rise to and fuel and sustain violent conflicts and instability in the Continent; and encourages Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) to adopt inclusive, comprehensive, multi-dimensional whole of government-whole of society approaches in addressing the structural root causes and drivers of violent conflict in the Continent;

6. Underscores the importance of redoubling efforts in promoting good governance, inclusivity, responsiveness, accountability, rule of law, transparency,  as some of the critical success factors in conflict prevention and; in this regard, stresses the need for Member States to continue  strengthening public institutions, fostering citizen participation, social inclusion, and  to be responsive to the legitimate grievances of the population among others by implementing socio-economic empowerment programmes that specifically target women and youth as critical stakeholders in the promotion of peace, security and stability;

7. Reaffirms the centrality of early responses to early warning in enhancing the conflict prevention mandate of Council, and emphasizes that the Continental Security Outlook must trigger timely preventive, diplomatic, political, and humanitarian and security interventions in the continent, in order to contain conflict escalation;

8. Underscores the need for enhanced Member State engagement with AUCTC, CISSA, and AFRIPOL, particularly regarding information-sharing and the alignment of national early-warning systems with regional and continental mechanisms; and encourages further integration in the development of early warning indicators, scenario-building, and strategic foresight;

9. Requests the AU Commission to ensure that CEWS products—including Alerts, Situation Updates and Continental Security Outlooks—are systematically used to guide Council in agenda-setting and preventive diplomacy efforts, and also coordination with the RECs/RMs;

10. Encourages RECs/RMs to reinforce their early-warning capacities and deepen coordination with the AU Commission, in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity, complementarity and comparative advantage; and underlines the critical need to strengthen the analytical convergence between AUCTC, CISSA, AFRIPOL, and the RECs/RMs;

11. Directs AUCTC, CISSA, and AFRIPOL to submit to Council regular horizon-scanning briefings, covering, emerging and escalating risks; indicators requiring preventive action; cross-border contagion dynamics; and scenario options requiring the guidance of Council;

12. Reiterates the request to the AU Commission to collaborate with AUCTC, AFRIPOL, CISSA and APRM to introduce and institutionalize a dynamic tool for mapping risks and threats to peace and security in Africa, as adopted by the PSC through its communique PSC/PR/COMM.1298 (2025) of 27 August 2025, in order to enable Council to enhance its conflict prevention efforts;

13. Encourages the AU Commission to further strengthen collaboration with the United Nations (UN), including in developing harmonized early-warning frameworks or tools and joint scenario planning, ensuring full reflection of African assessments in global analyses;

14. Expresses concern over the growing challenge of exploitation of digital platforms by terrorist and violent extremist groups for fomenting radicalization and recruitment; and in this respect, underlines the need for enhanced collaboration, including intelligence and information sharing, joint exercises and joint operations between and among Member States, as well as with international partners, including technology firms, to more effectively counter  threats to peace, security and stability in the Continent;

15. Encourages international partners to align their support with AU and RECs/RMs early warning priorities, particularly regarding, the National risk-analysis capacities; Intelligence fusion; Cyber and digital-threat monitoring; and Compliance with AU counter-terrorism norms, including those prohibiting ransom payments to terrorist groups.

16. Expresses deep concern over illicit financial flows and other financial crimes, including crypto-currency thefts by malicious cyber actors and in this regard, reiterates the request for the AU Commission to thoroughly investigate the scourge of illicit financial flows, highlighting the networks and to report to Council as soon as possible;

17. Requests the AU Commission to establish a continental working group on illicit financing, which will ensure the mapping of hawala/mobile money networks used by extremist terrorist groups and networks and the launch of a cross-border early warning protocol for suspicious transfers linked to convergence zones;

18. Stresses the need to finalize the African Arrest Warrant and the AU Data Bank of terrorist groups and individuals supporting or facilitating the activities of terrorist groups/ organizations in order to further enhance judicial cooperation, cut terrorist lifelines and deny safe havens to terrorist actors who exploit jurisdictional gaps across borders;

19. Emphasizes the need to activate the PSC Sub-Committee on Counterterrorism and the PSC Sub-Committee on Sanctions;

20. Requests the AU Commission to circulate monthly reports on early warning to Member States in order to initiate and inform early responses; and underscores the urgent need for more technical and financial support to the Continental Early Warning System; and

21. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

COMMENTS