Tomorrow (5 August), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1358^th session to receive a quarterly briefing by the A3 to the PSC on its activities.

The session will commence with opening remarks by the Permanent Representative of Algeria to the AU and PSC Chairperson for August 2026, Mohamed Khaled, followed by an introductory statement by Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security. The Coordinator of the A3 is expected to brief the Council, while AU Permanent Observer to the UN Mohamed Edrees is also expected to deliver a statement.

Tomorrow’s briefing is being convened pursuant to the first Conclusions of the High-Level Seminar on Peace and Security in Africa, held in Algiers in December 2013, which agreed that the A3 would brief the PSC quarterly on African issues on the UN Security Council’s agenda. This was reaffirmed in the Manual on the Modalities for Enhancing Coordination between the PSC and the A3, with a view to facilitating information-sharing and enabling the PSC to provide the necessary guidance. More than a decade later, the briefings remain irregular, although there are signs of improvement this year.  The A3 last briefed the PSC on 20 April 2026, during its 1340^th session, covering activities during the first quarter of 2026. During that session, the PSC directed the AU Commission to assess the feasibility of holding one quarterly briefing at AU headquarters and to develop a matrix of Common African Positions, as well as an annual plan of action for advancing those positions and reflecting relevant PSC decisions in the resolution of the UN Security Council. Tomorrow’s engagement is expected to follow up on these decisions and review the A3’s activities during the second quarter of 2026.

One area the briefing is expected to highlight is the steps taken to strengthen internal cohesion. As noted in Amani Africa’s Special Research Report on the A3, the group has become a force that others within the UN Security Council reckon with and has demonstrated its capacity to exert influence in its decision-making processes. When acting as one and speaking with one voice, its influence can go as far as operating as a ‘de facto veto power,’ requiring other members, including the P5, to consult the A3, particularly on the African files.

One way of articulating their collective positions is through joint statements. Both their frequency and scope have expanded considerably: according to a study by the Security Council Report, the number increased from six in 2018 to 105 in 2024. Initially focused on African country situations, they now extend to thematic agenda items and non-African files. Publicly available information indicates that, between April and June 2026, the A3 delivered joint statements on at least 20 occasions. As observed by Security Council Report, speaking with one voice has increased the visibility of African positions; made it easier for other Council members to support or align with them; and enabled delegations with limited capacity to share the drafting burden while drawing on individual members’ regional expertise. This is an important step towards strengthening cohesion and amplifying African positions. The A3’s next stage of development should, however, be judged by whether its collective positions shape negotiations, influence voting behaviour and affect Security Council decisions and actions.

Although outside the review period, the briefing is likely to highlight the Arria-formula meeting convened by DRC during its July 2026 presidency as an encouraging experience. Held on 13 July and titled ‘The Normative Gaps Linking Natural Resources and Peace: Foundations and Perspectives,’ it built on Sierra Leone’s July 2025 meeting on critical minerals and their links to insecurity in Africa. The A3 have used Arria-formula meetings less frequently than other Council members, but their growing recourse to this mechanism is welcome. Used strategically, Arria-formula meetings can help shape subsequent Security Council deliberations and enable the A3 to move from responding to agendas set by others towards exercising a more proactive agenda-setting and drafting role. This was evident when, following the Arria-formula meeting, the DRC convened a high-level open debate on natural resource governance on 22 July under the agenda item ‘Maintenance of International Peace and Security.’

A3 members are also trying to expand their penholding or co-penholding role on African files and other issues of interest to the continent as called for in the communiqué of the 983^rd session of the PSC. At its 1340^th session, the PSC encouraged the A3 to assume greater responsibility in shaping Security Council outcomes through such arrangements. So far, these roles have mainly covered West Africa and the Sahel and the Central African region. As pointed out in a recent publication on the tenure of Sierra Leone, leadership is exercised additionally ‘through sanctions and working group responsibilities, including chairing the 1533 Sanctions Committee concerning the DRC, the 2206 Sanctions Committee concerning South Sudan and the Informal Working Group on International Tribunals.’

Despite the A3’s emergence as a cohesive negotiating bloc with significant influence on Security Council dynamics—and its support becoming a ‘de facto requirement’ for the adoption of Security Council products concerning African files—, there remains significant room for improvement. Several challenges continue to limit the group’s role in agenda-setting and its influence over Security Council outcomes and are worth highlighting in tomorrow’s engagement.

The first is the lack of strong strategic and political guidance from the AU, as well as inadequate coordination and timely, proactive engagement between Addis Ababa and New York. In the absence of clear and timely AU guidance, the A3 cannot effectively influence Security Council dynamics and remains vulnerable to division. Various PSC sessions, including the 983^rd and 1340^th sessions, the Oran Process and the Manual on the Modalities for Enhancing Coordination between the PSC and the A3 have identified mechanisms to address this. The difficulty lies not in the absence of modalities but in their limited operationalisation.

Modalities that have not been implemented regularly include inviting the A3 to PSC meetings on items also under UN Security Council discussion; holding quarterly videoconferences between the PSC Troika and the A3; facilitating interactions between their experts; and aligning the two Councils’ programmes of work on African files. Although the PSC’s 1340^th session requested that its deliberations precede, to the extent possible, discussion of the same issues in the UN Security Council, thereby providing clear continental guidance, this rarely happens. Responses from Addis Ababa are often late. The AU Permanent Observer Mission, which serves as the A3 Secretariat and is expected to provide technical, administrative and logistical support to the group, remains under-resourced, while the request for a dedicated focal point within the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security has not been acted upon. Similarly, while the A3 increasingly serves as penholder or co-penholder on some files, the P3 still control most African files and usually initiates meetings and drafts.

These shortcomings have political consequences. Without timely continental guidance, the A3 formulates positions after negotiations on UNSC outcome documents are underway. Under these circumstances, its ability to influence first drafts declines, national positions can displace collective ones, and exposure to permanent-member pressure increases. Regular contact is therefore a condition of political cohesion, not an administrative formality.

Against this backdrop, tomorrow’s sessions should focus on operationalising agreed modalities for coordination outlined in various PSC session outcome documents on the A3 and in the Manual. As underscored in its 983^rd session, the PSC should also reflect in its Programme of Work African files expected to feature in the UNSC agenda so that African positions are settled before, not after, Security Council negotiations begin.

Second, it is important that a clear set of continental priorities is set for A3 leadership in the UNSC. The Annual Plan of Action requested at the 1340^th session should identify a) the files on which the A3 is expected to seek concrete Council outcomes, b) the principles that should guide A3 engagement, and c) the positions to be advanced and the coalitions required.

Third, there is also a need to expand its coalition base within and outside the Security Council. Building on the A3 Plus arrangement created with Caribbean members, the group should build a constituency among the E10—the ten elected non-permanent members. Beyond the Security Council, closer engagement with the wider African Group in New York and members of the UN from the Global South, including within the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement, could reinforce support around African common positions.

Finally, accountability of the A3 to the AU should be ensured. AU endorsement and leadership of the A3 are not nice things to have but a strategic necessity.  They should become part of the strategic framework that anchors the role of the A3 and the projection of collective influence rather than a routine regional process. The AU Assembly in Decision Assembly/ AU/Dec.598 (XXVI) adopted in January 2016 explicitly inscribed the A3’s special responsibility to ensure that the decisions of the PSC are well reflected in the decision-making process of the Security Council on peace and security issues of concern to Africa. As such, the A3 seat carries not only national responsibilities but also continental ones. In addition to the annual seminar and the quarterly briefing, one way of strengthening accountability could be inviting African candidates for the Security Council seeking AU endorsement, both during their candidatures and at the conclusion of their mandates, to provide an assessment of how they have advanced agreed African positions.

The expected outcome of tomorrow’s session is a communiqué. The PSC may commend the progress made over the years, during which the A3 has evolved into a major power bloc within the UN Security Council. It may also welcome continued efforts to strengthen the A3’s influence and advance Common African Positions with one voice, including through the delivery of joint statements. The PSC may emphasise the importance of operationalising the agreed modalities for enhancing coordination between the A3 and the PSC, with a view to ensuring timely and proactive guidance on African files. To this end, it may request that the AU Commission and the AU Permanent Observer Mission report on the challenges to the implementation of the modalities for coordination and provide proposals on how to address those challenges. Taking note of the lessons from Sierra Leone’s tenure, the PSC may also encourage A3 members to expand their influence through chairing sanctions committees and informal working groups of the UNSC. It may also welcome the emerging use of Arria-formula meetings for setting agendas and shaping UNSC engagement on particular issues and encourage the A3 to use Arria-formula meetings strategically.