CONFERENCE

  • The Conference shall be the supreme executive organ of CISSA;
  • The Conference shall consist of Heads of Intelligence and Security Services of the Members or their duly accredited Representatives;
  • The Conference shall meet in Ordinary Session once a year prior to the Assembly of the AU of Heads of State and Government, and shall review the state of peace and security on the continent and express itself on such issues;
  • The hosting of the Conference shall be on a regional rotation basis amongst Members and respecting the principle of first-come-first-served. Where a Member withdraws its offer to host the Conference, the opportunity to host shall in the first instance go to any other Member from the same Region as the withdrawing Member, and if no such Member offers to host, then the opportunity to host shall be open to any other Member that makes the first offer;
  • The hosting Member shall be the Chairperson and shall bear the cost for the Conference;
  • The hosting Member shall take over the Chair of the Conference after the opening ceremonies and presentation of the report of the outgoing Chair.
  • If no Member offers to host the Conference, the Conference shall be held at the CISSA Headquarters.
  • If the Conference is held at the CISSA Headquarters, the current Chair shall continue to hold office until there is a hosting Member or unless Conference determines otherwise;
  • At the request of any Member and on approval by a two-thirds majority of all eligible Members, the Conference shall convene an Extraordinary Session to deal with specified issues;r
  • The Extraordinary Sessions shall be held in the country of a Member who offers to host the Conference.

The powers and functions of the Conference shall be to:

  • Set the general policy guidelines for CISSA and its organs;
  • Undertake an annual review of the activities of the Secretariat and provide any further guidance;
  • Carry out a review of the state of peace and security on the continent;
  • Task, receive, consider and take decisions on reports and recommendations from the Secretariat;
  • Deliberate on any matter referred to it by CISSA ;
  • Consider and adopt the budget of CISSA;
  • Establish any other body of CISSA and other Specialized Technical Committees as may be required;
  • Appoint the Executive Secretary of CISSA;
  • Appoint the staff of the Secretariat based on the AU principle of equitable regional representation;
  • Renew or terminate the contracts of Staff of the Secretariat;
  • Determine the appropriate sanctions to be imposed on any Member who defaults in the payment of Assessed Contributions to the budget of CISSA;
  • Amend the MoU on the Establishment of CISSA;
  • Sanction any cooperation between CISSA and other organizations from within or outside Africa;
  • Deal with all matters that may arise out of any dealings between CISSA and other organizations; and
  • Conference may delegate some of its powers to the Bureau of the Conference.

CISSA Conferences