ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on the authors development of a policy concept paper on the request of COMESA and presented at COMESAs First Experts Workshop on Conflict Early Warning held at Port Louis, Mauritius, from 18 to 20 May 2009. It presents and reflects on the process by which the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has put in motion the design and implementation of a sui generis early warning capability, in the guise of COMWARN. The Retreat also offered an opportunity for the Commission and RECs to assess efforts made to date to establish the continental architecture for peace and security and to come to terms on the best ways and means of strengthening relations between the AU and the Regional Mechanisms in addition to the conclusion of the protocol. The draft protocol was formally adopted during the Retreat which brought together Chief Executives of Regional Mechanisms and the AU in early January 2008 in Algiers.
