AU-RECs/RMs.Decl Page 1 DECLARATION We, - the Commissioner for Peace and Security of the Commission of the African Union (AU), - the President of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), - the Secretaries General/Executive Secretaries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CENSAD) and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), - other representatives of the East African Community (EAC), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), - the Director of the Coordinating Mechanism of the Regional Standby Brigade of East Africa (EASBRICOM) and the representative of the North Africa Regional Capability (NARC), met in Algiers on 5 and 6 January 2008, within the framework of a Brainstorming Retreat, to consider the state of our cooperation and agree on ways and means of strengthening and deepening our partnership in order to promote peace, security and stability in our continent, in conformity with the relevant provisions of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) Protocol. This Retreat was also attended by the representatives of Cameroon, Chair of the PSC for the month of January 2008, and of Ghana, Current Chair of the AU. The opening session was graced by the presence of the Algerian Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs. On the establishment of the African Peace and Security Architecture Our Retreat afforded us an opportunity to take stock of the progress made in the establishment of the African Peace and Security Architecture, as spelt out in the AU PSC Protocol. In this regard, we noted with satisfaction the remarkable progress made in the establishment of the Continental Early Warning System (CEWS), both at the level of the AU and the Regional Mechanisms, in conformity with the relevant provisions of the PSC Protocol and the roadmap adopted by the Meeting of Government Experts on Early Warning and Conflict Prevention, held in Kempton Park, South Africa, in December 2006. The operationalization of the CEWS is all the more important in view of the fact that conflict prevention is at the core of the mandates of our respective organizations.