The main objective of the Stellenbosch seminar was to assess the progress being made in
peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peace building by the African Union (AU) and Africa’s regional economic communities (RECs) – the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU). The meeting also sought to assist these bodies in building peace in countries emerging from conflict. The Cape Town meeting aimed in particular to explore issues of conflict prevention and peacemaking; the peacekeeping relationships between Africa’s regional organisations and the United Nations (UN); the role of the United States (US), France, and Britain, and their contributions to African peacekeeping efforts; and the regional and international dimensions of the challenges to peace building, state-building, and post-conflict reconstruction. The seminar also considered the lessons from UN peacekeeping and peace building cases in Africa and how these could inform the establishment of an effective division of labour between Africa’s fledgling security organisations, which require urgent strengthening, and the UN.
