Assembly/AU/3(XIV) Page 1 REPORT OF THE PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL ON ITS ACTIVITIES AND THE STATE OF PEACE AND SECURITY IN AFRICA I. INTRODUCTION 1. According to Article 7(q) of the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU), the PSC shall “submit, through its Chairperson, regular reports to the Assembly on its activities and the state of peace and security in Africa.” The present report, prepared in conformity with the said Article, covers the activities undertaken by the Council from July 2009 to January 2010, and provides an overview of the state of peace and security on the continent during the period. 2. The specific aspects covered include the signature and ratification of the PSC Protocol, membership of the PSC, rotation of the chairmanship of the PSC, activities undertaken by the PSC, and the state of peace and security in Africa. II. SIGNATURE AND RATIFICATION OF THE PSC PROTOCOL 3. Since its entry into force in December 2003, 51 member States have signed the PSC Protocol, while 44 have both signed and ratified it. Two member States are yet to sign and ratify the Protocol, namely, Cape Verde and Eritrea. The following member States have signed the Protocol, but have not yet ratified it: Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Seychelles and Somalia. III. MEMBERSHIP OF THE PSC 4. As stipulated in Article 5 (1) of the Protocol, the PSC is composed of fifteen (15) members with equal rights and who are elected as follows: 10 members elected for a two (2) year term and five (5) members elected for a three (3) year term. The current list of the Council members in the English alphabetical order is as follows: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Ethiopia, Gabon, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia. 5. It is noteworthy that the mandate of the ten (10) members elected for two-year term and the mandate of the five (5) members elected for three-year term will both expire on 31 March 2010. Accordingly, during its fourteenth Ordinary Session, the Executive Council shall conduct elections for all the fifteen seats of the Council in line with decision Assembly/AU/Dec.106(VI) by which the Assembly, meeting at its 6th Ordinary Session held in Khartoum from 23 to 24 January 2006, delegated to the Executive Council its power for the election of the members of the Peace and Security Council under Article 5 (2) of the Protocol. The mandate of the newly elected members of the PSC shall commence on 1st April 2010, in line with the Conclusions of the July 2007 Dakar PSC Retreat on the working methods of the Council.