7th Edition of APSACO to Discuss ‘Post-Conflict Reconstruction’ in Africa

The Policy Center for the New South will organize the 7th edition of the African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO) in Rabat on July 10-11. (Twitter)
The Policy Center for the New South will organize the 7th edition of the African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO) in Rabat on July 10-11. (Twitter)
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7th Edition of APSACO to Discuss ‘Post-Conflict Reconstruction’ in Africa

The Policy Center for the New South will organize the 7th edition of the African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO) in Rabat on July 10-11. (Twitter)
The Policy Center for the New South will organize the 7th edition of the African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO) in Rabat on July 10-11. (Twitter)

The Policy Center for the New South will organize the 7th edition of the African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO) in Rabat on July 10-11 under the theme “Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Africa”.

The conference provides a platform for the analysis of Africa’s peace and security structures and institutions by focusing on the continent’s assets, history, and ability to overcome current challenges.

It will be attended by Catherine Samba-Panza, former President of the Central African Republic, Mohamed El-Amine Souef, Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Sandra Adong Oder, Head of Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development Unit, the African Union, and others.

Badreddine El Harti, Director, of Security Institutions Service United Nations Support Mission in Libya, and Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, Senior Counsel, Hamilton-Advisors Inc, will also attend.

A statement from APSACO said Africa seeks to provide a policy framework for reconstruction, adding that the African Union adopted a political framework for reconstruction and development after the post-conflict phase in 2006, and the establishment of the African Solidarity Initiative (ASI) in July 2012 to coordinate continental financial contributions to the program.

The PCRD review workshop, organized by the AU Peace and Security Commission (PSC) in Accra, in September 2022, proposes a better-tailored understanding that is more adapted to the new challenges.

These realities are not only limited to the changing nature of crises but also to the issues of financing, the new forms of partnerships, among others.

Thirty experts are expected at this year’s conference, including Ahmed Abdel-Latif, Ambassador, Director-General, the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping, and Peacebuilding (CCCPA); Frank Hanson, Air Vice Marshall, Gulf of Guinea Maritime Institute; Abu Bakarr Bah, Presidential Research Professor, Northern Illinois University; and Margaret Janes-Lucas, Regional Director – Sahel, Tony Blair Institute.

Moreover, an annual report on Africa’s geopolitics will be issued led by Abdelhak Bassou, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South, on July 11.



US, Arab Mediators Make Some Progress in Gaza Peace Talks, No Deal Yet

Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
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US, Arab Mediators Make Some Progress in Gaza Peace Talks, No Deal Yet

Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)

US and Arab mediators have made some progress in their efforts to reach a ceasefire accord between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal, Palestinian sources close to the talks said on Thursday.
As talks continued in Qatar, the Israeli military carried out strikes across the enclave, killing at least 17 people, Palestinian medics said.
Qatar, the US and Egypt are making a major push to reach a deal to halt fighting in the 15-month conflict and free remaining hostages held by the Hamas group before President Joe Biden leaves office.
President-elect Donald Trump has warned there will be "hell to pay", if the hostages are not released by his inauguration on Jan. 20.
On Thursday, a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort said the absence of a deal so far did not mean the talks were going nowhere and said this was the most serious attempt so far to reach an accord.
"There are extensive negotiations, mediators and negotiators are talking about every word and every detail. There is a breakthrough when it comes to narrowing old existing gaps but there is no deal yet," he told Reuters, without giving further details.
On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Eden Bar-Tal said Israel was fully committed to reaching an agreement to return its hostages from Gaza but faces obstruction from Hamas.
The two sides have been at an impasse for a year over two key issues. Hamas has said it will only free its remaining hostages if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.
SEVERE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
On Thursday, the death toll from Israel's military strikes included eight Palestinians killed in a house in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, where Israeli forces have operated for more than three months. Nine others, including a father and his three children, died in two separate airstrikes on two houses in central Gaza Strip, health officials said.
There was no Israeli military comment on the two incidents.
More than 46,000 people have been killed in the Gaza war, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the territory's 2.1 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
Israel denies hindering humanitarian relief to Gaza and says it has facilitated the distribution of hundreds of truckloads of food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment to warehouses and shelters over the past week.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said troops had recovered the body of Israeli Bedouin hostage Youssef Al-Ziyadna, along with evidence that was still being examined suggesting his son Hamza, taken on the same day, may also be dead.
"We will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages, the living and the deceased," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.