Provisional Program of Work for the Month of March 2020
Amani Africa
Date | March 2020
Equatorial Guinea assumes the role of the monthly chairpersonship of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) for the month of March. The provisional program of work, involves some six substantive sessions. These include an open session and a ministerial level meeting.
The first meeting of the month scheduled for 3 March is a briefing on the situation in Darfur and the UNAMID transition. It is to be recalled that the PSC, at its 856th session, has renewed the mandate of the mission until June 2020, which is also the planned exit period of UNAMID from Darfur.
On 5 March the PSC will receive a briefing by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) on the report of peer reviewed member states. This is the second time that the APRM addresses the PSC. It is a session that could serve as avenue for following up some of the early warning issues identified in the report of peer reviewed member states. On the same day, the Council will also have a preparatory session on the ministerial meeting planned at the end of the month in Malabo.
The schedule on the program of work for 10 March the PSC provides for two items. The first is consideration and adoption the provisional program of work for the month of April. The Council with continue its preparatory session for the ministerial meeting.
On 12 March, the PSC is expected to hold the only open session of the month. The session is expected to focus on the implementation of the Safe School Declaration in the promotion of education for children affected by armed conflicts in Africa, within the AU theme of the year silencing the guns.
On 17 March the PSC will receive a briefing on elections in Africa. The PSC may receive updates on upcoming and recently conducted elections. In 2020 close to 20 countries are preparing to hold elections including Somalia, Ethiopia, Cote D’Ivoire, Burundi and Guinea. On the same day the PSC will also undertake preparation for the PSC induction program of its new members.
The induction of the new members is scheduled to take place on 20 and 21 March. The program will include sessions on working methods and on activities of the PSC in implementing the AU theme of the year “ Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development”. The newly elected members will start participating as observers in the various sessions of the PSC starting from the third week of March. They take up their seat as full members of the PSC on 1 April.
On 24 March the Council will consider three agenda items. The first is the situation in Guinea Bissau. The PSC may be briefed on the developments following the recently concluded presidential election and its outcome. The second agenda item is the preparation for the ministerial meeting. And lastly, the PSC will prepare for its activities with the EU Political and Security Committee (EUPSC) including the AUPSC/EUPSC joint field mission (whose dates and location are yet to be confirmed), the 12th annual joint meeting and the 5th joint retreat.
The PSC will conclude the month with the ministerial meeting on “The role of Youth and Women in Silencing the Guns in Africa” in Malabo on 31 March. A technical level meeting will precede the ministerial meeting on 30 March. The meeting is also in line with the standing annual PSC thematic on women, peace and security which usually takes place in March.
In addition to these agenda items, the provisional program of work indicates in footnotes possible meetings of the Military Staff Committee and Committee of Experts for which the dates are yet to be set.
Update on the 2020 elections of the PSC
Amani Africa
Date | 10 February, 2020
Election of new members of the PSC
The election for the 10 members of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) was held on 7 February 2020 at the meeting of the 36th ordinary session of the Executive Council. The election was held at the level of the Executive Council pursuant to Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.106 (VI) of the Sixth Ordinary Session of the Assembly that delegated the authority of electing members of the PSC as provided for in Article 5 of the PSC Protocol.
This brief provides an update on the conduct and result of the elections. Candidates It is not unusual that the dynamics in the regional processes for candidacy for the PSC elections to vary from region to region. While any member states fulfilling the requirements for membership of the PSC may submit its candidature, the rules on the election suggest that the selection of member states shall be conducted at the regional level.
As examined in our previous Insight on the candidates for the election of the PSC (http://www.amaniafricaet. org/images/Reports/Candidatesforthe2020electionsofth ePSC.pdf), there were 13 candidates contained in the report presented for the election of the 10 members during the Executive Council Session. In the consultation
on the candidates of the West Africa region, Liberia withdrew its candidacy, thereby giving a clean slate for the election to the PSC for the West Africa region. Accordingly, at the time of election, there were only 12 candidates.
During the election on 7 February, there were the same number of candidates as the number of seats for the four
regions of the AU, namely West Africa, Southern Africa, North Africa and Central Africa. By contrast, East Africa had two more candidates (4) than the number of seats available for election (2). While the East Africa region held consultation for having a consensus on the list of candidates, this did not yield result. When the election was held, Somalia stated the withdrawal of its candidacy in favor of Djibouti. The remaining three candidates competed for the two seats. Update on the 2020 elections of the PSC
Conduct and outcome of the election.
The elections were held in line with the PSC Protocol and the Modalities on the Elections of the PSC. The conduct
of the election followed the regional allocation of the seats of the PSC. Below is the map of the new members of the PSC elected for two years term as of 1 April 2020. In the election for the Central Africa region, during the first round Chad garnered the required 2/3rd majority vote with 35 votes and was elected. Since the second candidate for the region Cameroon did not receive the required majority vote during the first round, as the only candidate it was elected in the second round with 40 votes and 3 abstentions.
In the election for the two seats available for East Africa, following Somalia’s withdrawal the election was limited to Djibouti, Ethiopia and Sudan. Since none of the candidates received the required majority vote during the first three round of voting, the candidate with the least votes, in this case Sudan was removed from the list in accordance with the AU rules on election. In the next round, Ethiopia received the 2/3rd required majority with 36 votes. Djibouti also got re-elected in the succeeding round after receiving 36 votes and six abstentions.
For the election for the North Africa region, Egypt was the only candidate and it received the required majority vote with 43 votes and one abstention in the first round of the voting to be elected to the PSC.
For Southern Africa, Malawi and Mozambique got elected after garnering 36 and 35 votes respectively in the first round of voting. Benin, Ghana and Senegal also got elected in the first round of voting receiving 34, 34, and 34 votes respectively with two abstentions.
