AU STCDSS

The African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Defence, Safety and Security meets at a moment when the ground is genuinely shifting beneath it. JNIM and ISWAP have carved out expanding territory across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, al-Shabaab remains stubbornly entrenched in Somalia despite years of AU boots on the ground, and the security architecture that once anchored the continent's counter-terrorism response is fraying fast. Delegates will step into the shoes of defense and security ministers from AU member states, wrestling with the institutional questions that actually determine outcomes on the ground: how to fund and mandate peace support operations as Western donors retreat, whether to engage or isolate the breakaway Alliance of Sahel States, how to hold member state and partner forces accountable for conduct in counter-insurgency operations, and how to choke off the financing that keeps insurgent groups fighting. Front-room crisis updates will punctuate committee throughout, mirroring how quickly facts on the ground can shift, and delegates should be ready to adapt as the committee's direction takes shape in real time.