"We were all hoping the post-Cold War era would usher in a better life for all. We all know it hasn't," she said.
Dlamini-Zuma said the idea of a continent-wide defence and security policy was first mooted 40 years ago at the launch of the Organisation of African Unity by then Ghanain President Kwane Nkrumah.
The idea was then dismissed as having come too early and rejected as too grandiose, she told delegates at opening of session of the First African Experts Meeting on the establishment of a Common African Defence and Security Policy in Johannesburg.
Dlamini-Zuma told assembled diplomats, foreign policy officials and military officers from throughout the continent that it was their task from Thursday to Saturday to debate and flesh out a draft policy document on the topic.
She reminded her audience that the continent's heads of state had given them a mandate at the launch summit of the African Union, in Durban last year, to draft the policy.
She expected them to have a working document for discussion ready by the ministerial-level Executive Council of the AU in May.
The outcome would be put before AU heads of state at their next meeting in July in Maputo, Mozambique.
Dlamini-Zuma urged officials to go beyond the traditional narrow military definition of security and to look to other regions for lessons learned.
"Take what is good and leave that what is not good. I hope at the end of this process we will have a model document," she said.
African Commission director of peace and security, Sam Ibok said the final document would not just focus on military matters but also on the social, cultural, economic and political aspects of human security.
He reminded the meeting the problem with policy documents were often not a lack of frameworks and mechanisms, but a lack of implementation.
This meant the common defence and security policy would have to be binding on all AU members and would require them to synchronise their own domestic policies.
The meeting's chairman, South African deputy director general for foreign affairs, Kingsley Mamabolo said the document they would discuss for the duration of the meeting was a concept paper and motivated the need for a common policy.
He urged delegates to find and fill gaps in the document.
The non-governmental organisation SaferAfrica, told Sapa aspects addressed included the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of soldiers, security sector transformation, dealing with small arms and light weapons, landmines, child soldiers and weapons of mass destruction - Sapa
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