Provisional Program of Work for the Month of June 2024
Provisional Program of Work for the Month of June 2024 *
Date | June 2024
In June 2024, the Republic of Uganda becomes Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC). The provisional programme of work (PPoW) for the month envisages six substantive sessions and a field mission to South Sudan. Three of the sessions focus on thematic issues, while the remaining two are specific to conflict situations. Sessions will be held at all three levels with one session each for ministerial and heads of state and government levels and all the others at ambassadorial level. There will be one open session.
The first session of the month, scheduled for 11 June envisaged to be held as part of the commemoration of the PSC@20, will address the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on peace and security in Africa. The last time the PSC convened on a subject matter related to AI was during its 1097th session on Emerging Technologies and New Media: Impact on Democratic Governance, Peace and Security in Africa in August 2022. A key decision that emanated from the session which may feature in the session on AI is the request from the AU Commission to ‘undertake a comprehensive study on Emerging Technology and New Media: Impact on Democratic Governance, Peace and Security in Africa, and present policy options available for harnessing the advantages and for effectively addressing the security threats associated with technologies and new media in Africa’. Considering the pace of developments relating to AI, the particular focus of this session on AI and its intersection with peace and security in Africa is timely.
On 12 June, the PSC will hold a session on the Sanctions Sub-Committee (SSC) Inaugural Meeting: Discussion on the working methods of the Sub-Committee. This session comes after the PSC welcomed the revised Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Sub-Committee on Sanctions during the PSC Retreat in November 2023. During the retreat, the Council requested the sub-committee to commence operations promptly upon adoption of the Terms of Reference (ToR), to efficiently monitor and evaluate the implementation status of the sanctions imposed by the PSC. The PSC during its informal consultation with countries undergoing political transition also identified the sub-committee on sanctions to provide the Council with monthly briefings on countries beginning in 2024. This is the third subsidiary body of the PSC to become operational. While there is an expectation that the operationalisation of this sub-committee would reinforce the effectiveness of AU’s response, particularly concerning unconstitutional changes of government, the contribution of this sub-committee mostly lies in equipping the PSC with a mechanism for regular monitoring of situations in respect of which it adopted suspension rather than in giving teeth to AU sanctions.
On 14 June, the PSC is scheduled to hold a session on Transnational Organized Crime, Peace and Security in Africa. Since the PSC decided to hold the session on Transnational Organized Crime on an annual basis in 2019, the PSC has since then held two annual sessions with a hiatus in 2023. The last session also saw the PSC request the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRPOL) to work in collaboration with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) and the Committee of Intelligence and Security Service of Africa (CISSA) to jointly produce two databases; one on persons, groups and entities involved in Transnational Organized Crimes, including Foreign Terrorist Fighters; and another one for guiding member states and REC/RMs on Transnational Organized Crimes. The PSC also requested AFRPOL and INTERPOL to produce in-depth research on ‘regional information papers in the fight against transnational organised crime’. Given the one-year lapse, the session will provide an opportunity for the PSC to receive an update since the last session of the PSC on this subject in 2022.
The PSC is scheduled to hold the ministerial session on 19 June on the theme ‘Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Humanitarian Assistance in Africa.’ This session is being convened in the context of World Refugee Day which is commemorated annually on 20 June per UN General Assembly Resolution 55/76 of 2001. When the PSC held a similar session in June 2021, the deliberation was informed by briefing and statements from the AU Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, the UNHCR and the Chairperson of the Permanent Representatives Committee Sub-Committee on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons. Apart from taking stock of the state of refugees and IDPs in Africa, which can build on the annual report of the AU Commission submitted to the AU Assembly in February 2024, this session is expected to have a particular focus on humanitarian assistance to refugees and IDPs in Africa. In this respect, the session serves to draw attention to not only the dramatic increase in the number of refugees and IDPs during the past few years but also the worsening of the challenges to the provision of humanitarian assistance to refugees and IDPs in Africa.
On 20 June, the PSC will consider the situation in Somalia/ATMIS. This is the fourth engagement of the PSC on ATMIS since the start of the year. In addition to reviewing the situation in Somalia and the state of ATMIS and its drawdown, it is expected that this session will focus on the AU report on the post-ATMIS assessment. Considering the timing of the session, of particular significance for the PSC during this session is to get feedback on the lessons from the previous drawdowns and the state of preparedness for proceeding with the Phase III drawdown that is due during the month. Growing concerns from neighbouring countries on the drawdown of ATMIS may also steer the discussion around the third phase of ATMIS. In addition to the drawdown of forces, recent developments have indicated the focus on the need for continuation of support for the Somali Police Force. This is depicted by the two meetings held around the need to further capacitate the police force by both the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) as well as Police Contributing Countries (PCC) on the margins of the PSC session last month.
The Heads of State and Government session of the PSC will convene on 22 June to deliberate on the situation in Sudan. In the communiqué it adopted during its 1209th session dedicated to Sudan, the PSC tasked the African Union (AU) Commission and the High-Level Panel, among others, to present options for investigating the atrocities committed. In its most recent consideration of the situation in Sudan at its 1213th session, the Council adopted two key measures towards mitigating the situation in Sudan. First, it tasked the AU Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to investigate the human rights situation in Darfur. Second, it requested the ‘AU High-Level Panel to work with the newly-appointed AU Special Envoy for the Prevention of Genocide, to develop proposals on how to address ongoing atrocities and to prevent further escalation in Darfur, as well as to develop a plan for the protection of civilians. Apart from following up on the progress made regarding these decisions, the session is expected to consider the state of the war and its impacts, as well as the status of the various efforts to achieve peace. Of particular interest for this summit-level session would also be an assessment of the AU roadmap for the resolution of the situation in Sudan adopted at the PSC summit-level session that Uganda chaired on 27 May 2023.
For the last week of June, the PSC is expected to undertake a field Mission to South Sudan between 24-26 June and a Consideration of the Field Mission Report on South Sudan on 28 June. This mission comes in the context of various concerns about the lack of adequate progress in the implementation of relevant transitional tasks that are necessary to create conditions for the holding of elections scheduled for December 2024. The visit allows the PSC to gather first-hand information on the state of preparedness of South Sudan for holding elections as scheduled and on potential risks for disagreement that could derail the relative stability in South Sudan in the context of the elections that require close monitoring and preventive measures.
In addition to the PSC activities, the PSC Committee of Experts will convene a capacity-building retreat on 6-9 June in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is also envisaged that the inaugural launch of the Sanctions Committee postponed from May will be held on 12 June. The Military Staff Committee is envisaged to have a meeting on Peace Support Operations (PSO) and humanitarian action in Africa, engagement with ICRC and WFP on 18 June. As indicated in the footnote, the PPoW also envisages the possibility of the PSC to discuss UNSC Resolution 2719.
*Post Script: A revision of the initial version of the PSC programme of work implemented on 3 June, resulted in two schedule changes, one session removal, and one session addition. The first session, originally planned for 11 June on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and its impact on peace and security in Africa, has been rescheduled to 13 June. The second reschedule involves the Heads of State and Government session on the situation in Sudan, which has been moved to 21 June instead of 22 June. Lastly, the revised work programme eliminated the session on Transnational Organized Crime, Peace, and Security in Africa, originally scheduled for 14 June, and replaced it with a session on UN Security Council Resolution 2719(2023), also scheduled for 14 June.
PSC marks 20th anniversary as the continent faces dangerous deterioration of peace and security
PSC marks 20th anniversary as the continent faces dangerous deterioration of peace and security
Date | 25 May 2024
Solomon Ayele Dersso, PhD
Founding Director, Amani Africa
Tefesehet Hailu
Researcher, Amani Africa
Today 25 May is Africa day – the day of anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity 61 years ago. Today’s Africa day is special as it also marks the 20th anniversary of the official launch of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) – the standing peace and security decision-making body. The PSC is observing its 20th anniversary with various reflective activities, including the High-Level colloquium being held today in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
During the official launch in May 2004, the operationalisation of the PSC marks, in the ambitious if not unrealistic assessment of that African states, ‘an historic watershed in Africa’s progress towards resolving its conflicts and the building of a durable peace and security order.’ This is another way of saying that the PSC represents the institutional expression of what Ali Mazrui called pax Africana – a peace protected and maintained through the leadership and exertion of Africa. Or as the PSC Protocol’s preamble put it, the PSC is established ‘to ensure that Africa, through the African Union, plays a central role in bringing about peace, security and stability on the Continent.’
As PSC’s experience through its various efforts illustrated, Pax Africana is not beyond the realm of the possible. It mobilized various credible, even some landmark, responses to conflicts and crises on the continent, using preventive diplomacy, mediation, peace support operations and suspension in cases of unconstitutional changes of government.
Yet, as the security situation on the continent goes ‘from the frying pan to the fire’ including in Sudan where the PSC invested much of its diplomatic time and efforts, questions abound on whether the continental body is on a losing streak in recent years in its fight for peace and security.
The Council’s first major test came with the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, which featured on the agenda of the PSC when the PSC became operational in March 2004. It was here that the PSC experimented and sharpened its various precedent-setting conflict management and resolution tools.
In 2004, mediation talks, led by the AU, culminated in the signing of the Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement in N’djamena, Chad, on 8 April. As a follow-up, It was in Darfur that the PSC deployed its first peace support operation, the AU Mission to Sudan (AMIS). AMIS provided the first international presence in Darfur. The mission started in 2004 with 60 military observers and 300 troops. AMIS later evolved into a full-fledged peace support operation with its size reaching 7,000 troops by 2006.
Despite being confronted with a limited mandate, insufficient troops, a lack of political will and inadequate funding and equipment, the mission was successful in reducing violence. Through strategic negotiations, it also managed to prevent certain attacks from occurring.
AMIS also laid the groundwork for the first and historic UN and AU joint mission known as United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
It is also here in Darfur that the PSC for the first time established a high-level panel, the AU High-Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD) which later became AU High-level Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), setting an example for the high-level panel as a model of AU’s diplomatic action for mediation and peacemaking.
Fast forward to today, Sudan once again finds itself in turmoil, following the war that broke out on 15 April 2023 between the Sudan Armed Force (SAF) and, the paramilitary, Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Almost 14,000 fatalities have been recorded since April 2023, with about 10 million Sudanese displaced and over 24 million people in need of humanitarian aid. Recent data shows that a large number of people face imminent famine.
Despite its early engagement, in subsequent months it lost momentum and dented its credibility as it failed to mobilise an effective response to the situation in Sudan. Unable to bridge the widening gulf between peoples’ expectations of it and its actual delivery, AU run into a serious legitimacy crisis. Despite the plight of Sudanese civilians caught up in this destructive war and AU’s claim for leadership, the PSC and the AU in general did not go beyond expression of concern and condemnation of breaches of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
It took eight months for the PSC to stand its ground and adopt a decision on the establishment of a high-level ad hoc panel meant to work on a full-time basis on the situation on Sudan. While this is a welcome development, it will be an uphill battle for the panel to make up for the lost time and regain AU’s credibility on the Sudan file.
In Addition to the dangerous process of state collapse underway and the mass atrocities unfolding in Darfur with El Fasher under the grip of murderous fighting, with conflicts involving terrorist groups proliferating, eight successful military coups since 2021 and six of AU member states under suspension, the PSC is facing legitimate charges of failing to muster effective leadership and falling back to the old politics of indifference to mass atrocities that was characteristic of the now defunct AU’s predecessor the Organization of African Unity.
As the PSC takes stock of its past triumphs and setbacks, the lessons learned from Darfur and other efforts, particularly during the first decade must guide its endeavours for restoring its effectiveness and credibility. The PSC owes this to its founding commitment and its future relevance as a catalyst and embodiment of pax Africana. This might not come early enough for those caught up in the crossfire of deadly wars, such as those in Sudan and the DRC enduring enormous suffering on account of, among others, the failing & inadequate peace efforts of the AU.
The content of this article does not represent the views of Amani Africa and reflect only the personal views of the authors who contribute to ‘Ideas Indaba’
THE AFRICAN UNION PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL AT 20: FROM A PROMISING PAST AND A CHALLENGED PRESENT TO A LESS CERTAIN FUTURE?
Amani Africa
23 May 2024
INTRODUCTION
On 25 May 2024, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will mark its 20th anniversary since its official launch. Comprising 15 elected Members, the PSC was established to serve as the AU’s standing decision-making organ for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts. The Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (the PSC Protocol), which established the PSC, was adopted at the inaugural Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union in July 2002, held in Durban, South Africa. The PSC Protocol came into force in December 2003 following the deposit of the instruments of ratification by 27 Member States.
