Thanks to German support, 360 staff in the Department of Peace and Security of the African Union (AU) will soon be working in new premises. The foundation stone for a new AU office building was laid on February 14 in Addis Ababa. Through this support, the German Foreign Office is helping to strengthen the AU’s strategic management capacity in the field of conflict prevention and post-crisis rehabilitation.

Enlarge image Visitors to the ceremony review model of planned AU Peace and Security Building (© German Embassy Addis Ababa) The ceremony, attended by AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping as well as members of the German Bundestag’s Budget Committee, marked the start of a new phase of the project, which began in 2008. Construction work on the building, which will cost 26.5 million Euro, is due to be completed in 2012.

Mr. Ping presided over the ceremony laying the foundation stone for the Peace and Security building of the African Union at the AU headquarters. The event also included a visiting, high-ranking delegation of the German Federal Parliament, headed by Mr. Herbert Frankenhauser, Mrs. Lieselore Cyrus, German Ambassador to Ethiopia and the AU, Ambassador Lamamra Ramtane, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security and  Mr. Hailemariam Desalegne, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Mr. Ping expressed his appreciation of Germany's support to the AU's effort to ensure peace, security and stability on the continent. He informed the audience that the building will not only accommodate the present and future staff, but contain meeting rooms as well as a conference room for the AU’s Peace and Security Council, a situation room and a library. He also praised its “ecologically sound and energy efficient” modern architecture.

Enlarge image (© German Embassy Addis Ababa)

Mr. Herbert Frankenhauser, MP, stressed that peace and security on the African continent are unthinkable without the AU. He lauded the AU’s guideline to search for and find "African solutions for African problems". He pointed out further, that the AU is Germany's most important partner in the area of peace and security in Africa.

Ambassador Cyrus underlined that Germany shares common values with the AU in a wide spectrum of political issues – in and beyond Peace and Security. “We live in a world where security, stability and prosperity are interlinked between continents and cultures. A politically and socially stable and prosperous Africa is in the joint interest of all of us. We share this overarching joint vision. “