Commission for Africa - About The Commission

Peace and Security

Nancy Kassebaum Baker Tidjane Thiam

The Commissioners responsible for this theme were Nancy Kassebaum Baker and Tidjane Thiam.

The aim of the Commission's work on peace and security was to produce recommendations that would provide practical means of improving conflict prevention.

The Commission recognised that without greater peace and security there can be no hope of achieving sustained growth and development in Africa. Work under this theme was divided into three areas: how to address the root causes of conflict and improve the management of tensions at the national level; how to support the work of the African Union and regional organisations – for example, in achieving more effective early warning, mediation and peacekeeping; and how to promote effective post-conflict peacebuilding.

The Commission understood that tackling the root causes of violent conflict, and supporting African societies’ capacity to manage tensions, is the only way to build durable peace and security. With governance, poverty, and inequality being central causes of violent conflict, achieving this objective would involve all the Commission’s themes. But we also looked at what specific recommendations we should make on aid and the prevention of conflict, small arms, natural resource management and conflict resources, and the role of business in conflict.

We identified strengthening regional and international organisations ability to prevent and resolve violent conflict as another important priority. We examined the strengths and weaknesses of the current system – and how it could be made better at prevention. It was clear from the start that we needed to give particular attention to the role of African organisations, such as the African Union, as promoters of peace and security. We drew on the work of the UN High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, in considering how the UN’s performance could be improved.

Finally, we looked at how national and international actors could improve support to post-conflict peacebuilding to prevent a relapses into violent conflict.