Annex 1 Page 2 up-swelling of demand for peace, and actions to make peace happen, may indeed help fulfil our common promise of a conflict-free Africa. September 21 is an opportunity for Africa’s leaders to renew the pledge they made in Tripoli just over a year ago and to show, by personal example, their commitment to peace. It is also a practical demonstration of the partnership between the African Union and the United Nations, the two organizations that jointly shoulder the greater burden of making peace, protecting civilians, and providing security for humanitarian assistance across Africa. That partnership also encompasses Africa’s Regional Economic Communities, which have often taken the lead in responding to political crisis and armed conflict in diverse parts of Africa. Our accelerated efforts to make peace happen in Africa in 2010 and beyond come on the back of some undeniable advances. Violent conflicts have significantly decreased since the mid-90s, thanks to a common resolve among African leaders and support from the United Nations and other international partners. Yet conflict remains a painful reality in different parts of the continent, and it is not just combatants who suffer. In fact, more people, especially women and children, die from the consequences of conflict than from direct conflict-related violence. The economic toll is also devastating. Estimates have pointed to a combined economic loss of around $300bn since 1990 by African countries affected by conflict. With an average annual loss of around $18bn as a result of wars, civil wars, and insurgencies, armed conflict shrinks a nation’s economy on average by 15 per cent according to an estimate considered conservative. Conflict is the greatest impediment to sustainable development in Africa. Addressing the scourge of conflict is, therefore, critical to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Put simply, if we cannot bring conflict to an end, we will not eliminate poverty. Peace sustains development. Development sustains peace. For these reasons, the African Union, in partnership with the United Nations and other actors, is determined to leave no stone unturned to end conflict and sustain peace in Africa. As Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, the respected Indian diplomat, once stated: ‘the more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war’. We have already notched up some important achievements working together. Nothing illustrates this partnership better than the unprecedented AU-UN hybrid operation deployed in the Darfur region of the Sudan and the assistance extended by the United Nations to the AU peace support mission in Somalia. Elsewhere on the continent, the AU and the UN are combining their respective comparative advantages to resolve conflicts, overcome their legacies and build new bridges between communities and countries that once saw themselves as irreconcilable enemies. Beyond the immediate task of grappling with current crises, the AU and UN are also engaged in both the critical, yet often invisible, work of preventing the occurrence of conflicts in the first place, and long-term efforts to address the underlying causes of violence and conflicts.