Pan-African grouping launches its own security council

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2004

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — The African Union, a pan-continental body, launched a new Peace and Security Council which it hopes will become a robust guarantor of stability in Africa, much like the United Nations Security Council.

Heads of state and government from at least eight African countries were attending a ceremony to inaugurate the new PSC at the African Union's headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Participants at Tuesday's ceremony included the acting president of the AU, Joaquim Chissano.

Officials have vowed that the new council will act to intervene in African conflicts, setting the two-year-old AU apart from its largely toothless predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity.

"The AU has more mandate than before. We are going to start intervening in...