African Union, United Nations launch independent panel on international engagement

The United Nations in collaboration with African Union (AU) the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have formally launched the Independent High-Level Panel in New York, United States of America (USA)

Penpushing reports that, the high level event on the Sahel was held on 22 September 2022 on the margins of the 77th United Nations General Assembly, under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU) Commission, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Group of Five for the Sahel (G5 Sahel).

The Chairperson of the African Union(AU) Commission, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, the Executive Secretary of the G5 Sahel, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations(UN) launched the panel

Penpushing further reports that, the Independent High-Level Panel is led by former President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou, and will take strategic stock of the broader international engagement in the Sahel and make recommendations on how to improve overall effectiveness.

They highlighted the underlying challenges in the Sahel, including the surge in violent extremism, growing fragility of the economies of the region due to the impact of climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, as well as complex political transitions.

Penpushing also reports that, they called for coordinated international, regional and local efforts in the Sahel and in the broader region to address the current security, governance and development challenges and adopt people-centred security approaches based on inclusive political strategies.

The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, the Executive Secretary of the G5 Sahel, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) called on the international community to scale up responses commensurate to the needs in the region, including by providing much needed technical, financial, material, and logistical support.

Penpushing reports that, they reaffirmed the support of the four organizations to the work of the Independent High-Level Panel led by  Mahamadou Issoufou, former President of Niger, and looked forward to the emerging findings of the Independent Strategic Assessment being presented during the 36th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government in February 2023.

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