Assembly/AU/Dec.253(XIII) Page 1 DECISION ON THE PREVENTION OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES OF GOVERNMENT AND STRENGTHENING THE CAPACITY OF THE AFRICAN UNION TO MANAGE SUCH SITUATIONS Doc. Assembly/AU/7(XIII) The Assembly, 1. TAKES NOTE of the Interim Report the Chairperson of the Commission on the Prevention of Unconstitutional Changes of Government and Strengthening the Capacity of the African Union (AU) to manage such situations, submitted pursuant to Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.220(XII) on the Resurgence of the Scourge of Coups d’état, adopted during the Twelfth Ordinary Session of the Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 1 to 4 February 2009; 2. REQUESTS the Chairperson of the Commission to initiate consultations with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) and other relevant AU organs and institutions on the ways and means of strengthening the capacity of the AU to deal with the scourge of unconstitutional changes of Government and submit, in light of these consultations, as well as relevant international experiences, a final report together with comprehensive recommendations on the matter, to its next Ordinary Session in January/February 2010; 3. REITERATES, in the meantime, AU’s strong commitment to the provisions of Articles 4(p) and 30 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), the July 1999 Algiers Decision and the July 2000 Lomé Declaration on Unconstitutional Changes of Government. In this respect, the Assembly URGES all Member States that have not yet done so to take the necessary steps to sign/ratify the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance adopted by the Eighth Ordinary Session of the Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 30 January 2007 in order to strengthen the capacity of the AU to deal with the scourge of unconstitutional changes of Government. Adopted by the Thirteenth Ordinary Session of the Assembly in Sirte, Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on 3 July 2009