As noted by the UN Secretary General, ‘ the absence of women from the peace table results in insufficient attention to and reflection of their concerns in peace agreements. Furthermore, a peace process that fails to include women in agenda-setting, substantive talks and implementation raises questions about the democratic legitimacy of the process and lacks the inclusiveness to generate any sense of ownership among women. This can undermine the prospects for the durability of the agreement and sustainable peace.’96 It is this exercise of male privilege in critical matters that concern women and men that drives successive UN Security council resolutions to reiterate the imperative of women’s inclusion in peacebuilding on an equal basis as men. 4.0 AFRICA’S NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK ON GOVERNANCE, GENDER, AND PEACEBUILDING Governance plays a key role in preventing, mitigating or triggering violent conflict which has such a deleterious effect on human lives, including women and girls. From the eighties, various inter and intrastate conflicts plagued the member states of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Despite the much vaunted OAU emphasis on state sovereignty and non-interference, there was increased OAU discourse over the plight of citizens in situations of steady economic decline and poor governance, the prevalent conflicts in the region as well as proliferation of refugees and IDPs. The Declaration on the Political and Socio-Economic Situation in Africa and the Fundamental Changes Taking Place in the World of 199097 heralded a recognition by 96 Report of the Secretary-General ‘Women’s equal participation in conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace-building’ March 2004 97 AHG/Decl.1 (XXVI) 1990 38