3rd AU peace fund board of trustees meets in Abuja

…To focus on priority funding areas

Joseph Inokotong, Abuja

The 3rd African Union (AU) Peace Fund Board of Trustees met in Abuja Thursday, to chat a forward in sustaining peace across the continent.

Chaired by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, the Board gathered to review core decision items, receive key updates on the Fund, amongst other objectives.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance on Media and Communications, Paul Ella Abechi, which also recalled that in March 2019 the Africa Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia appointed Mrs. Ahmed as Chairperson of Board of Trustees.

“The third AU Peace Fund Board of Trustees meeting is currently taking place in Abuja Nigeria; chaired by Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, the current Minister of Finance for Nigeria.

“The meeting is to review core decision items for the Board, receive key updates on the Fund amongst other objectives.”

According to the statement the Board has five African members each representing a region and two Non African Members (United Nations and European Union) as International partners. The Minister of Finance is representing the West African Sub-region in the Board.

The Board of Trustees was established by the Assembly of the Africa Union in July 2016 to ensure strategic coherence, enhanced governance, and financial and administrative oversight of the Peace Fund.

Meanwhile, the focus of the Fund for financing that would enhance peaceful co-existence in the continent includes three cardinal priority activities: mediation and preventive diplomacy activities, institutional capacity requirements, and peace support operations.