{"id":18409,"date":"2026-05-05T12:50:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/?p=18409"},"modified":"2026-05-10T19:56:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T19:56:04","slug":"four-former-african-presidents-sign-landmark-agreement-to-establish-africa-forum-conflict-resolution-centre-afcrc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/four-former-african-presidents-sign-landmark-agreement-to-establish-africa-forum-conflict-resolution-centre-afcrc\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Former African Presidents Sign Landmark Agreement to Establish Africa Forum Conflict Resolution Centre (AFCRC)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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5 May 2026<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 In a historic moment for African-led peace and dispute resolution, four former Heads of State, HE Joaquim Alberto Chissano<\/strong>\u00a0(Mozambique), HE Uhuru Kenyatta<\/strong>\u00a0(Kenya), HE Goodluck Jonathan<\/strong>\u00a0(Nigeria), and HE Ellen Johnson Sirleaf<\/strong>\u00a0(Liberia), on behalf of the Forum for Former African Heads of State and Government (Africa Forum), have signed a Letter of Understanding (LoU) with the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA).<\/p>\n

The agreement, signed during the opening session of Johannesburg Arbitration Week (JAW) 2026 at the Sandton Convention Centre, establishes the Africa Forum Conflict Resolution Centre (AFCRC), a flagship initiative that harnesses the collective wisdom and experience of Africa\u2019s former leaders alongside AFSA\u2019s world-class arbitration and mediation expertise.<\/p>\n

Addressing Africa’s Conflict Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

The AFCRC seeks to address Africa\u2019s persistent conflict challenges through home-grown, sustainable solutions. With over 50 active armed conflicts currently ongoing across the continent, the Centre will focus on high-level mediation and negotiation support using informal and formal processes; training and capacity building, with a strong emphasis on African women mediators; creating a pool of skilled, high-level negotiators and mediators; capturing lessons learned to develop an authentic African conflict resolution model; and supporting the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, and national governments with practical, experience-backed interventions.<\/p>\n

The initiative combines the moral authority and lived experience of 37 former African presidents with AFSA\u2019s institutional arbitration and dispute resolution infrastructure.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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5 May 2026 \u2013 In a historic moment for African-led peace and dispute resolution, four former Heads of State, HE Joaquim Alberto Chissano (Mozambique), HE Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), HE Goodluck Jonathan (Nigeria), and HE Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), on behalf of the Forum for Former African Heads of State and Government (Africa Forum), have signed a Letter of Understanding (LoU) with the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afsa","category-press-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18411,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18409\/revisions\/18411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}