Assembly/AU/3 (X) Page 3 c) Other activities of the PSC i) Retreat of the PSC on Working Methods 11. The Peace and Security Council (PSC) held a Retreat in Dakar, Senegal, on 5 and 6 July 2007, to deliberate on its working methods. The Retreat was conceived around the experience acquired since 2004 and the outcomes of earlier brainstorming retreats, particularly the one held in Cape Town, South Africa, in May 2004, to discuss the AU peace and security architecture. The objective of the Dakar Retreat was to reflect on and put in place working methods of the PSC with a view to rationalizing and smoothening the Council’s modus operandi vis-à-vis its continental mandate in the domain of peace, security and stability. At its 85th meeting held on 8 August 2007, the PSC adopted the working methods of the PSC as contained in the Conclusions of the Dakar Brainstorming Retreat (PSC/PR/2(LXXXV) and also agreed to review the working methods regularly and to adjust them as the need arises. ii) Familiarization Visit of the Peace and Security Council to the Commission 12. On 26 October 2007, and as had been provided for in the programme of work of the PSC for the month of October 2007, under the chairmanship of the Republic of Angola, the Chairperson of the PSC and five (5) other members of the PSC undertook a familiarization visit to the Peace and Security Department and Conference Services Department of the AU Commission. The purpose of the visit was for the PSC to acquaint itself with the work of these two Departments both of which directly support the functioning of the PSC, and the challenges facing them. iii) Inauguration of the Panel of the Wise 13. Article 11 of the Protocol provides for the establishment of the Panel of the Wise as one of the structures to support the PSC. The Assembly would recall that, by its decision ASS/AU/Dec. 152(VIII) adopted at its 8th Ordinary Session held in Addis Ababa in January 2007, it decided, as proposed by the Chairperson of the Commission, to appoint, for a period of three (3) years, members of the Panel of the Wise. 14. As provided for in the PSC Protocol, the PSC, at its 100th meeting held on 12 November 2007, building on the outcome of its 73rd meeting that considered the preliminary draft Modalities for the Functioning of the Panel of the Wise on 16 March 2007, adopted the Modalities for the Functioning of the Panel of the Wise. This paved the way for the inauguration of the Panel, in the presence of members of the PSC and other member States, as well as representatives from the international community, on 18 December 2007, in Addis Ababa. The Panel is due to convene its first meeting in Addis Ababa on 18 February 2008. iv) Participation of the Chairpersons of the PSC in AU-convened meetings/workshops on peace and security 15. On 2 and 3 November 2007, Botswana, in its capacity as Chairperson of the PSC for the month of November 2007, participated at the workshop on the lessons learnt regarding the implementation of the APF for the period 2004-2007, held in