Egyptian FM chairs AU Peace and Security Council’s session on countering extremism

CAIRO – 15 November 2021: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry chaired on Monday the African Union’s (AU) Peace and Security Council’s session on countering extremist ideology and terror finance, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Egypt has assumed the presidency of the Peace and Security Council in November.

في إطار الرئاسة المصرية لمجلس السلم والأمن الأفريقي خلال شهر نوفمبر… وزير الخارجية #سامح_شكري يترأس جلسة مجلس السلم والأمن حول مكافحة الفكر المتطرف وتمويل الإرهاب.@_AfricanUnion pic.twitter.com/yFOqYx5FFx

— Egypt MFA Spokesperson (@MfaEgypt) November 15, 2021

Egyptian Ambassador to Ethiopia and the country’s permanent representative to the AU Mohamed Gad also chaired the Council’s first session under the current Egyptian presidency on Monday.

The session focused on protecting medical teams and institutions during the times of armed conflicts.

During the session, Gad affirmed the need to provide the necessary support to the medical teams and institutions so that they are able to play their assigned pivotal role.

He noted that targeting medical teams and institutions during the times of conflicts represents a violation to the international humanitarian law.

Gad affirmed the necessity that all armed conflict parties in Africa commit to protecting civilians and not targeting medical teams and institutions.

They also need to abide by the relevant rules of the international law, including the UN Security Council’s decision no. 2286 of 2016 in this regard.

This decision has been sponsored by Egypt, Japan, Spain, New Zealand, and Uruguay during Egypt’s former membership of the Security Council.