Jonathan Leaves For Kenya To Attend AU Meeting

President Goodluck Jonathan will today, Monday, 1 September, 2014, travel to Nairobi, Kenya to attend a meeting of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council.

This is according to a statement released on Sunday by the Special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.

Abati informed that the Nairobi meeting, “which is a follow-up to talks by President Jonathan and other African leaders at Pretoria, South Africa in May this year on joint action against terrorism, will receive and consider the report of the chairperson of the African Union Commission on Terrorism and Violent Extremism in Africa.

“Deliberations at the Nairobi Summit and the adoption of the African chairperson’s Report by President Jonathan, President Uhuru Kenyatta and other participating Heads of State are expected lead to more collaborative actions by Nigeria and other African countries to rid the continent of acts of terrorism and violent extremism.”

The statement further noted that the president, who will be accompanied to the Nairobi Summit by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed, the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) as well as other advisers and aides, will return to Abuja at the conclusion of the meeting on Tuesday, 2 September, 2014

It was gathered that about 14 other African leaders are also billed to attend the African Union Peace and Security Council meeting which is a crucial department of the regional body saddled with the responsibility of preventing, managing and resolving conflicts in Africa.

Top on the matters to be discussed at the meeting is the ongoing Boko Haram terrorist attacks in Nigeria, the insurgency in Mali as well as other terror- related activities going on in the continent.

The summit will be chaired by Chad’s Idriss Deby, in his capacity as Chairman of the Council.

The Peace and Security Council (PSC) is the African Union’s (AU’s) standing decision-making body responsible for the maintenance of continental peace and security and it came into existence officially on the 26th of December, 2003.

It has 15 members, elected by the AU Executive Council on regional basis (three from Central Africa; three from East Africa; two from North Africa; three from Southern Africa; and four from West Africa).

Members are elected for three-year (five members) or two-year (ten members) terms and can be re-elected immediately for another term. While there are no permanent members and no veto, PSC chairmanship rotates on a monthly basis, in alphabetical order of the English-language names of member states.