Libreville: The Royal Vision for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Africa was highlighted Thursday in Libreville during the 17th High-Level Retreat on the Promotion of Peace, Security, and Stability in Africa. Speaking at the meeting, held under the theme “Promoting Ceasefires, Dialogue, and Reconciliation for Sustainable Peace,” Morocco’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Mohamed Arrouchi, said that under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Morocco has consistently placed Africa at the heart of its action through a vision grounded in active solidarity, South-South cooperation, co-development, and the promotion of lasting peace in support of the continent’s stability and prosperity.
According to Agence Marocaine De Presse, true to this vision, the Kingdom, which represents the North African region at this high-level meeting, has always favored dialogue, preventive diplomacy, and mediation as preferred ways to peacefully settle disputes, driven by the conviction that African crises primarily require political responses rooted in consultation and anticipation,” the diplomat stressed.
Morocco, he added, continues to contribute to African and UN-led efforts aimed at conflict prevention, support for political processes, and the consolidation of stability, while also supporting the strengthening of African capacities in the fields of peacebuilding, mediation, and crisis prevention.
Arrouchi noted that the retreat has, over the years, become a major platform for strategic reflection on the evolving political and security dynamics shaping the African continent. The meeting comes at a time marked by persistent conflict hotspots, increasingly complex security threats, and mounting pressure on African prevention, mediation, and crisis-management mechanisms, he explained.
The diplomat emphasized that African crises can no longer be addressed through fragmented or exclusively security-driven approaches, highlighting the growing interdependence between governance, development, institutional resilience, and stability. He also stressed the importance of preventive diplomacy, mediation, and crisis anticipation, as these mechanisms must remain at the core of African action, notably through more systematic mobilization of continental conflict-prevention and early-warning tools.
Arrouchi pointed to the need to strengthen coordination between the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA) to address the structural causes of crises and reinforce the institutional resilience of African states. In this regard, he stressed that the continent’s long-term stability will depend on African countries’ ability to accelerate regional and sub-regional integration, strengthen African value chains, advance the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and consolidate frameworks for economic and security cooperation.
Arrouchi also pointed to the growing impact of technological transformations, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence, on peace, security, and governance, noting that Africa must strengthen its technological, scientific, and human capacities to fully harness these developments and reduce vulnerabilities. The diplomat recalled that the nexus approach linking peace, security, and development, enshrined in the Tangier Declaration, remains a relevant framework for simultaneously addressing both the manifestations and root causes of crises.
Within this framework, he put forward several recommendations, including accelerating the operationalization of African conflict-prevention and rapid-response mechanisms; strengthening the African Union Peace Fund; and supporting peace-security-development nexus projects focused on socioeconomic resilience, youth employment, and regional connectivity. Arrouchi also called for greater participation of women in African mediation and peacebuilding processes, alongside a more structured involvement of African youth in continental peace and mediation mechanisms.
The profound transformations underway across the continent, coupled with the rapid evolution of factors of fragility and instability, require the continuous adaptation of African conflict-prevention and mediation tools to preserve the effectiveness of African action in the face of emerging security and political realities, he said. The opening session of the two-day event was chaired by AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf in the presence of Gabonese Vice President Hermann Immongault, with the participation of members of the Gabonese government, former presidents, ministers, and representatives of the diplomatic community, as well as special representatives, high representatives, and permanent representatives of the Chairperson of the AU Commission, including Morocco’s Ambassador to Gabon, Abdellah Sbihi.