NEW YORK — September 26, 2026 — The African Union is putting greater emphasis on cooperation between neighboring African states as a central part of the continent’s response to terrorism, violent extremism and other transnational security threats.
The African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC), in the communiqué from its 1,369th ministerial meeting held in New York on September 23, called for African governments to transform the principle of “good neighbourliness” from a diplomatic concept into practical security cooperation.
The ministerial meeting, held during the United Nations General Assembly period, focused on “Good Neighbourliness and Regional Responses to Security and Terrorism Challenges in Africa.”
From National Security to Regional Security
At the heart of the communiqué is a recognition that many of Africa’s most serious security challenges cannot be effectively addressed by individual states acting independently.
The PSC identified terrorism and violent extremism, armed rebellion, transnational organized crime, illicit trafficking, illicit financial flows, maritime insecurity and cyber threats among the interconnected challenges confronting African states.
It also expressed concern about the expansion of terrorism and violent extremism into coastal and border regions, particularly the growing security pressures facing countries around the Gulf of Guinea.
This creates an important challenge for Africa’s existing security architecture.
National borders establish political jurisdictions, but terrorist organizations, weapons networks, smugglers and organized criminal groups frequently operate across those borders. Instability originating in one country can therefore place neighboring countries under increasing pressure.
The AU’s response is to make cooperation between neighboring states a more important component of continental security policy.
Intelligence Sharing and Joint Border Security
The Peace and Security Council called for governments to strengthen the rapid exchange of information and intelligence, conduct joint assessments of cross-border threats and improve coordinated border surveillance.
Where appropriate, the communiqué also supports coordinated operations against terrorist organizations and transnational organized criminal networks.
The PSC further encouraged governments to exchange intelligence concerning terrorist movements as well as illicit flows of weapons and financing.
That approach could become increasingly significant because many of Africa’s security crises are regional rather than exclusively national.
A terrorist organization operating near a border can exploit differences in law enforcement capabilities, intelligence systems and political relationships between neighboring countries. Criminal networks can similarly move weapons, money and personnel across jurisdictions.
The AU is effectively arguing that stronger cooperation between neighboring countries can make those borders more difficult for armed groups and criminal networks to exploit.
A Larger Role for Africa’s Regional Organizations
The communiqué also places the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms — RECs/RMs — within the broader security response.
The PSC called for stronger coordination among the African Union Commission, regional organizations, the United Nations and national governments in areas including border management, early warning, rapid response, joint operations and judicial cooperation.
This is particularly important from the perspective of African integration.
Organizations such as ECOWAS, the East African Community, ECCAS, SADC and IGAD operate closer to many regional crises than continental institutions in Addis Ababa.
Their geographic position can potentially make regional organizations important links between national governments and the broader African Peace and Security Architecture.
The communiqué therefore points toward a layered security system: national governments retain primary responsibility for security, neighboring countries cooperate across borders, regional organizations coordinate responses, and the African Union provides a wider continental framework.
Prevention Instead of Reaction
Another significant element of the PSC’s position is its emphasis on moving African counterterrorism policy toward prevention.
The Council highlighted the AU Continental Strategic Plan of Action on Counter-Terrorism in Africa 2026–2030, calling for an approach combining continental policy with practical support for member states.
That includes early warning, rapid action, cross-border cooperation, disrupting terrorist financing, countering exploitation of online platforms and strengthening national and regional resilience.
The Council also identified governance deficits, marginalization, youth unemployment, local conflicts and disinformation among factors that can contribute to environments in which violent extremism develops.
That broadens the security discussion beyond military operations.
Under this approach, counterterrorism becomes connected to governance, development, employment, community resilience and cooperation between border communities.
Borders as Places of Cooperation
Perhaps one of the most important ideas in the communiqué concerns how Africa should think about its borders.
Rather than treating borders exclusively as dividing lines between sovereign states, the PSC called for them to become areas of “cooperation, connection and integration.”
The Council linked border governance not only to security but also to development, local government, trade facilitation, community participation, social cohesion and human rights.
That connection between security and economic integration could have broader implications for the African integration project.
The PSC explicitly linked good neighbourliness with regional stability, free movement of people and the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
For Africa, therefore, effective border governance presents two challenges simultaneously: governments must prevent terrorists, weapons and criminal networks from crossing borders while allowing legitimate trade, transportation and movement of people to become easier.
Building Continental Security Institutions
The communiqué also calls for progress on several continental security mechanisms.
The PSC requested accelerated work on an African Arrest Warrant and an AU Terrorist Data Bank, which are intended to strengthen cross-border judicial cooperation and make it more difficult for terrorist operatives and criminal networks to exploit jurisdictional gaps between African countries.
The Council also called for stronger judicial cooperation, mutual legal assistance and streamlined extradition arrangements between neighboring states.
Separately, the PSC reiterated its request for a continental framework addressing terrorists’ use of emerging technologies, including drones, encrypted platforms and digital finance.
These measures reflect how Africa’s security challenges are changing. Border security increasingly involves not only controlling physical territory but also tracking financial networks, digital communications and technologies that can operate across national boundaries.
Security as an African Integration Issue
The significance of the September 23 communiqué extends beyond counterterrorism.
It represents an effort to connect peace and security with regional integration.
The AU’s position suggests that deeper African integration cannot depend only on trade agreements, infrastructure projects or freedom of movement. Countries must also develop sufficient trust to exchange intelligence, coordinate border security, cooperate through judicial systems and respond collectively when instability threatens neighboring states.
That makes “good neighbourliness” more than diplomatic language.
If implemented, it would mean neighboring African countries treating terrorism, arms trafficking, organized crime, displacement and other cross-border threats increasingly as shared regional challenges rather than isolated national problems.
The challenge will be implementation.
Africa already possesses continental treaties, regional institutions and security frameworks. The effectiveness of the new emphasis on good neighbourliness will therefore depend on whether member states translate the PSC’s recommendations into functioning intelligence networks, coordinated border operations, judicial cooperation and stronger collaboration between governments, the RECs and the African Union.
In that sense, the 1,369th Peace and Security Council meeting raises a larger question for African integration:
Can Africa build a security architecture in which a threat to one country is addressed before it becomes a crisis for an entire region?
The African Union’s latest answer is increasingly clear: continental security begins with cooperation between neighbors.