Monthly Digest on The African Union Peace And Security Council - October 2023

Monthly Digest on The African Union Peace And Security Council - October 2023

Date | October 2023

In October, the Republic of Congo chaired the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC), which had a scheduled program of work consisting of four sessions and a field mission to Libya. However, during the month, five sessions were convened.

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Establishment of a high-level panel an opportunity for reinvigorating AU's role on Sudan

Establishment of a high-level panel an opportunity for reinvigorating AU's role on Sudan

Date | 5 December 2023

Solomon Ayele Dersso, PhD
Founding Director, Amani Africa

The ministerial meeting of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), AU’s standing peace and security decision-making body, decided for the establishment of an AU dedicated mechanism for peace in Sudan. The communiqué of the session tasked the Chairperson of the AU Commission ‘to set up a High-Level Ad hoc Panel on Sudan, that will work with all the Sudanese stakeholders including women and the youth, to ensure an all-inclusive process towards…civilian-led political transition’.

Such a dedicated mechanism, initially proposed by President Yoweri Museveni during the heads of state and government session of the PSC on 27 May, will replace the existing arrangement that failed to facilitate the effective role of the AU in the search for ending the war in Sudan. Provided that the panel is constituted promptly and with members that have the gravitas and credibility, it will enable the AU to take its rightful place in dealing with this brutal war.

This decision also comes at a time when some encouraging developments are emerging in the diplomatic scene with respect to the peace effort in Sudan. Major among these is the appointment by UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, of Ramtane Lamamra as his Envoy for Sudan. The regional body, Inter-Governmental Authority on Sudan (IGAD), also seemed to have overcome a major factor that stalled its role, the rejection by Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) (the internationally recognized authority of Sudan) of Kenya’s role as Chairperson of the IGAD Quartet constituted to facilitate the peace process in Sudan.

Following a meeting held in Nairobi Kenya on 13 November, Kenya’s President, William Ruto and SAF’s chief and the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, Abdel-Fattah Al Burhan, agreed on the need to speed up the Jeddah talks on ceasefire and to this end convene an IGAD summit.This summit is now scheduled to be held on 9 December 2023.

The urgency of an effective architecture for giving the peace-making effort in Sudan a fighting chance for success cannot be overemphasized. As the brutal war between the SAF and the paramilitary, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), that broke out on 15 April 2023 fast approaches its eighth month, every passing day brings the grim prospect of this brutal war becoming protracted, hence more difficult for speedy resolution.

Its geographic spread continues to expand. The pattern of mobilization of support and deployment of violence is aggravating the ethnic profile of the war. The damage being inflicted on the social, institutional and physical infrastructure of the state and the economy shows no abating.

The disregard of conflict parties to the rules of war and their resort to indiscriminate use of violence have rendered Sudan to be the world’s fast growing humanitarian crisis. A statement by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates that children are bearing the ‘heaviest brunt of the violence’ with a recorded 3 million children fleeing the violence in search of safety, food, shelter and health care. According to the UN agency, this figure makes Sudan the largest child displacement crisis in the world. UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, warned that War and hunger could destroy Sudan. In a statement he issued on 25 August 2023, Griffiths put the world on notice that the ‘war in Sudan is fuelling a humanitarian emergency of epic proportions’ and ‘now threatens to consume the entire country.’

With RSF deepening its grip in Darfur and Khartoum and the SAF establishing its seat in Port Sudan, the fragmentation of the country similar to what Libya experienced is no longer a future scenario. All of these conditions stand to deepen the involvement of various state and non-state actors in the region and beyond. This entrenching downward spiral entails huge peril for not just Sudan itself but for international peace and security in the wider region as well.

What is most shocking about this war is not simply the geographic space where it is taking place and its implication for Sudan and the region. Nor are the scale of the violence, the mass atrocities and the humanitarian emergency ensuing from it. Indeed, some of these features of this war echoes the atrocious Darfur conflict of two decades earlier.

What is most shocking more than anything else is the absence of the kind of robust regional and international diplomatic mobilization that was on full display during the earlier Darfur war. While not unique to Sudan, today’s brutal war in Sudan epitomizes the colossal consequences of the current breakdown of peace and security diplomacy both continentally and at the international levels.

Notwithstanding the continuing acts of violence being inflicted on the civilian population involving incidents of mass atrocities including acts amounting to those prohibited under Article 4(h) of the Constitutive Act, 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.

That the AU has been unable to take tangible measures & a functional dedicated mediation structure are exposing it to legitimate charges of falling back to the old politics of indifference to mass atrocities that was characteristic of the now defunct its predecessor the Organization of African Unity. Sudanese and others are thus rightly asking whether the AU is betraying its founding commitment to the principle of non-indifference to the plight of people caught up in atrocious conflicts on the continent.

When the war broke out, the AU took a lead position. The PSC convened a day after the outbreak of the war. The Chairperson of the AU Commission mobilized an international ministerial meeting. AU also established an international platform involving all regional and international actors and a Core Group of major actors. AU’s lead role ended there. The multiplicity of role players, lack of clear leadership and the destruction from other multiple roles of those expected to mobilize sustained engagement hobbled AU’s engagement on this file.

Unable to bridge the widening gulf between peoples’ expectation of it and its actual delivery, AU run into a serious legitimacy crisis in its response to the raging war in Sudan. President Museveni’s proposal for the establishment of a dedicated mechanism taking the form of a high-level facilitator or panel of facilitators, during the PSC summit level meeting on Sudan held on27 May 2023, did not find its way into the outcome document. There was no convening of the Core Group since June. When the US-Saudi led Jeddah process reconvened in late October – early November with expanded participation, AU’s participation was delegated to the Executive Secretary of IGAD, who participated as co-facilitator on behalf also of the AU.

Coming against such a chequered background, the ministerial decision for the establishment of a high-level panel presents the AU with an opportunity to regain credibility and uphold its principle of non-indifference. It allows it to be equipped with a dedicated mechanism that operates on a full-time bases on the search for finding a solution to the war in Sudan. For this, speed in acting on the decision and the credibility, impartiality and gravitas of the members of the high-level panel are crucial. Not any less significant is the identification of members other than those who are not assigned other roles in the AU system and hence can put their full attention and effort on the situation in Sudan.

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’


Insights on Ministerial and High-Level Open Session on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights and Welfare of Children in Situations of Conflict in Africa

Insights on Ministerial and High-Level Open Session on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights and Welfare of Children in Situations of Conflict in Africa

Date | 3 December 2023

On December 4 and 5, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will attend the Ministerial and High-Level Open Session on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights and Welfare of Children in Situations of Conflict in  Africa, to be held in Banjul, The Gambia.

Following the opening remarks of Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad of the Republic of The Gambia and Chairperson of the AU PSC for the month, Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) and Co-chair of the Africa Platform on Children Affected by Armed Conflicts (APCAAC), is also expected to deliver a statement. The upcoming 2-day open session aims to gather representatives from AU Member States, members of the Steering Committee of the African Child Protection Architecture and APCAAC, AU Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Child Representatives, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (UNSRSG) and Head of UNOAU, UNSRSG CAAC, UNICEF representatives, civil society groups, think tanks, international partners and other stakeholders.

The session will focus on assessing the implementation of AU Child protection policies, the efficacy of the existing child protection mechanisms and the level of coordination between these various mechanisms and sharing lessons learned and exchanging ideas on effective strategies for preventing violations of children’s rights in conflict situations across the continent.

As far as policies and normative instruments are concerned, the AU has made some significant strides. At a general level, the founding instrument in this respect is the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which articulates specific provision on the protection of children in conflict situations. While this is the primary legal instrument on protection of children, it is complemented by the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). The AU also elaborated guidelines on civilian protection in 2010, which although not specific to children, sets the context for their protection.

In addition, the AU has taken steps to ensure that child protection is integrated into all AU-sanctioned peace support operations, with the aim of preventing violations against children in armed conflict and promoting accountability in mission areas. During the 14th Ordinary Session of the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Defence, Safety and Security (STCDSS) held in Addis Ababa from 9 to 13 May 2022, two important policies were adopted which aimed at safeguarding and improving the well-being of children affected by armed conflict in Africa. These policies include the Policy on Child Protection in African Union Peace Support Operations and the Policy on Mainstreaming Child Protection into the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).

Institutionally speaking, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is the main AU body on the protection of child rights in general. Yet, it also has dedicated focus on children affected by armed conflict (CAAC). It has carried out study on the same theme. A special advisor on CAAC has been deployed since 2013 to the AU Peace and Security Department, before it became PAPS in 2021 with its merger with the previous Political Affairs department. A more recent major development was the establishment of Africa Platform on Children Affected by Armed Conflicts (APCAAC). The PSC has also institutionalized and has as a dedicated thematic agenda children in conflict situations since 2014.

Despite these normative and institutional measures, the situation of children in situations of conflict, crisis and emergency has not improved. In recent years, Africa has been experiencing spike in the number and impacts of conflicts. One of the major features of many of these conflicts is the fact that they are conducted without due regard to the rules of international law that govern the conduct of hostilities. As a result, these conflicts have had devastating consequences, on the civilian population, including indiscriminate killings and massacre, other forms of physical violence including rape, forced displacement and hunger and starvation.

Children are among the category of vulnerable groups who experience disproportionately the colossal impacts of today’s conflicts on the continent. Beyond the fact that children on account of their age suffer disproportionately from the violent impacts of conflicts affecting other civilians, six categories of grave violations of child rights in situations of conflicts are identified under international law. These are: Killing and maiming of children, recruitment or use of children as soldiers, sexual violence against children, attacks against schools and hospitals and denial of humanitarian access to children.

These various grave violations are perpetrated in many of the various conflict settings on the continent. For example, during the first half of 2022, a significant increase of 57% was recorded by the UN in grave violations against children as compared to the previous year. Apart from recruitment or use of children and the attacks on schools, the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia also involved denial of humanitarian access of the population in the region, including children. Of the four countries globally where the highest number of recruitment and use of children by parties to conflicts were verified in 2021, three were African countries – the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali and Somalia. Attacks against schools is a recurrent form of violence in the conflicts involving terrorist groups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria as well as in Cameroon’s anglophone conflict.

Currently, we observe these various forms of violations and generally the disproportionate impact of conflict playing itself out dramatically in the war in Sudan. According to a recent report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has resulted in approximately 12 million children being deprived of education since April 2023. The total number of out-of-school children in Sudan has reached 19 million, as reported by Save the Children (SC) and the UN Children’s Agency (UNICEF). Moreover, out of the 12 million affected children, 6 million have lost access to schooling due to increased violence and insecurity. This has resulted in the closure of at least 10, 400 schools in conflict-affected areas. UNICEF reported that Sudan has become the world’s largest child displacement crisis, with 3 million of the country’s children forced from their homes due to the war. Conflict settings such as in the Lake Chad Basin involving Boko Haram and in Somalia also featured abduction of children.

Apart from the fact that the situation of children in conflict and crisis situations not showing improvement, the efficacy of the norms and protection infrastructure in effectively monitoring, documenting, reporting and initiating accountability measures leaves a lot to be desired. Additionally, protection of children is not systematically mainstreamed not only across the APSA but also in how the AU engages with respect to specific conflict situations and across the conflict cycle from prevention to post-conflict. For example, while the PSC considers the situation of children in conflict as a thematic agenda, often in its consideration of specific country or regional conflict or crisis, the situation of children in such specific settings is rarely considered as an issue deserving particular attention. Additionally, there is no comprehensive systematic analysis and report on the nature, trends and manifestations of violations of children rights in situations of conflict or crisis as well as the challenges and requirements for an effective child protection regime which adequately establishes the need for and how the proposed special rapporteur on children affected by conflict can coordinate with other mechanisms and facilitate protection of children.

Another issue that deserves the attention of the ministerial and open session is follow up of PSC decisions. The communiqué of PSC’s 5 October 2022 1110th session requested the Commission to undertake a study on the specific impact of terrorism on children and to submit the report of the study for consideration by the Council. In addition, the Chairperson of the AU Commission was requested to appoint a Special Envoy for Children Affected by Armed Conflicts in Africa to facilitate the effective implementation of the AU Child Rights Agenda. This echoes the decisions from the previous substantial meeting held by the Council on Children Affected by Armed Conflicts in Africa, which was the 1101st PSC meeting held on 18 August 2022.

The expected outcome of tomorrow’s meeting is a Communiqué or a Press Statement. Council is likely to commend the Africa Platform on Children Affected by Armed Conflicts (AP CAAC) as a platform that works to advocate for the rights of children affected by armed conflicts, promote the implementation of international legal standards on the involvement of children in armed conflict and support efforts to reintegrate and rehabilitate child soldiers. Council is also expected to emphasize the importance of strengthening advocacy efforts to ensure the safety and security of children in conflict zones. In this context, Council is likely to reiterate its call for Member States to endorse, adopt and implement the Safe Schools Declaration, which promotes education for children impacted by armed conflicts in Africa. In the same vein, Council is also expected to reaffirm its call to Member States, who have not yet done so, to sign, ratify and incorporate into domestic law the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and other relevant international instruments. Based on the discussion on the establishment of an architecture for child protection, the PSC may also elaborate the establishment of the architecture. In light of the issues highlighted in the foregoing, the PSC may also request the systematic monitoring, documentation and reporting of the state of protection of children in armed conflict in Africa as critical vehicle for adopting relevant measures informed by such comprehensive data and analysis. The PSC may also request that the protection of children is specifically highlighted in briefings and reports on specific conflict situations in order to facilitate the adoption of measures for enhancing child protection in such specific conflict settings. The PSC may also request that report is presented to it on the institutional and financial implications of the proposed special rapporteur/envoy on children affected by conflict to ensure well informed decision and speeding up the process towards such decision.


The African Union Peace and Security Council Handbook - 2023

Amani Africa

2023

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The African Union Peace and Security Council Handbook is an initiative of Amani Africa Media and Research Services (Amani Africa) that provides authoritative information and analysis on the PSC and its work. As with the previous three editions of the Handbook, this edition of the Handbook benefited from Amani Africa’s engagement with the key actors in the work of the PSC. I wish to acknowledge members of the PSC, in particular the monthly chairpersons of the PSC, the PSC Secretariat, and members of the Committee of experts for their support towards the preparation of this edition of the Handbook.

I wish to extend special thanks to H.E. Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for the Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) for the Foreword, underscoring the importance of research and analysis in supporting the implementation of the PSC protocol.
Allow me to also recognize with appreciation the usual support of the staff of the PSC Secretariat, particularly Neema Nicholaus Chusi, the Head of the PSC Secretariat.

This edition of the Handbook is a product of Amani Africa’s engagements with the wider staff of the PAPS Department to whom we also extend our gratitude.

We wish to thank the Government of Switzerland that provided partner support for the project on the updating and publication of this new edition of the Handbook.

Dr Solomon Ayele Dersso, on behalf of Amani Africa team

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