Africa faces unprecedented threats from violent conflicts, and the continent needs conflict prevention to achieve peace and security, UN special representative to the African Union, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, has said.

Mr Onanga-Anyanga was speaking at a Security Council meeting focused on the key issues facing Africa and cooperation between the UN and the AU.

The UN envoy also stated that conflicts in Africa cannot be resolved through military solutions. According to him, peace and security on the continent “demands a proactive preventative” approach.

He warned that “concerns remain in some parts of the continent about the number and complexity of conflicts”.

He said these conflicts were often worsened by “weak or ineffective state authority, violent extremism conducive to terrorist activities, and the inequitable management of natural resources”.

The other reasons fuelling violent conflicts, he said, are “organised crime, the impact of climate change, acute food insecurity and, in some cases, denial of fundamental human rights”.

Conflicts in the Horn of Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, and the Great Lakes region, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have caused widespread displacement and multiple humanitarian emergencies.

“No military solution whatsoever can resolve underlying causes of the conflict in the DRC or elsewhere in Africa,” Mr Onanga-Anyanga said. “I call upon this council to continue to leverage its influence towards the peaceful settlement of outstanding issues between the parties.”

The UN representative highlighted two critical conflict-related issues to council members: climate change as a conflict multiplier and the challenges faced by women and girls in battle-scarred regions. He noted the consistent spillover effects of climate-induced insecurity across all these crises.

Speaking for the AU, Mohamed Edrees told the council that “Africa is facing an unprecedented wave of threats to its security”. The AU envoy added that “solutions are needed to achieve greater stability”.

The UN and the AU have long collaborated on issues affecting the continent. According to the UN official, significant progress has been made, particularly in supporting recent free, fair, and credible elections across the continent.

Mr Onanga-Anyanga said that fostering consensus was more important than ever.

He added that the partnership was “essential to address today’s complex, evolving and interconnected threats to peace, security, development and human rights, particularly in Africa”.

(NAN)