Communiqué of the 1148th Meeting of the Peace and Security Council, Held on 13 April 2023, on Cyber Security: Impact on Peace and Security in Africa.

Abstract

The Council expressed deep concern over the increasing global cyber threats and attacks, which constitute a serious threat to national, regional and international peace and security and, in this respect, strongly condemned all cyber-attacks, particularly the recent large-scale attack on the AU Commission information technology (IT) infrastructure and strongly warned the perpetrators that they shall be brought to account for their heinous acts. Council further requested the AU Commission to establish mechanisms and platforms, such as the regional forums dedicated to address cybersecurity issues, with a view to facilitating an efficient platform for sharing experiences, lessons learnt and best practices related to cybersecurity issues among AU Member States, as well as to further enhance regional and international cooperation in this area. Council also strongly encouraged all Member States, which have not yet done so, to urgently sign, ratify and fully domesticate the AU Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection.