Tomorrow (29 August), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1299th session to receive a briefing from the African Members of the United Nations Security Council (A3).

The session is expected to commence with opening remarks by Mohamed Khaled, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for August 2025, followed by a statement from the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), Bankole Adeoye. The representatives of the A3 members—Algeria, Sierra Leone, and Somalia—are then expected to brief the PSC on their activities.

This engagement is in line with the first conclusion of the High-Level Seminar (HLS) on peace and security in Africa, held in December 2013 in Algiers, where participants agreed that the A3 would brief the PSC quarterly on African issues on the agenda of the UN Security Council (UNSC). The Manual on the Modalities for Enhancing Coordination between the PSC and the A3, adopted during the PSC’s 1289th session on 24 July 2025, also stipulates that A3 coordinators shall provide regular briefings and quarterly reports to the PSC. This mechanism is designed to ensure accountability of the A3 to the AU and amplify Africa’s common voice within the UNSC. Although this commitment was made more than a decade ago, the quarterly briefings have not been carried out as regularly as envisaged. Tomorrow’s session is therefore expected to help revive this practice and give it greater institutional weight.

The A3 are expected to brief the PSC on activities undertaken within the UNSC over the past quarter. In particular, they will highlight efforts of the A3+ (Algeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Guyana) in coordinating joint statements, engaging in collective negotiations, and increasingly assuming roles as penholder or co-penholder on African files. These activities are aimed at ensuring that Africa’s perspectives are integrated into UNSC decision-making and outcomes. One example likely to be cited is the joint statement delivered by the A3+ on 22 August during the UNSC’s meeting on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In that statement, the A3+ called for impartial investigations into atrocities committed by armed groups, demanded accountability for perpetrators, underscored the leading role of the AU and sub-regional mechanisms under Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbé, and urged the establishment of a credible verification mechanism to oversee the implementation of the peace agreement.

The A3 are also expected to reflect on their role in negotiating UNSC outcome documents. Recent examples include negotiations on a draft resolution and statement concerning the situation in the DRC, as well as renewal of the sanctions regime in July and August. Earlier this month, the A3+ worked alongside the United Kingdom—penholder on the Sudan file—to draft a press statement following the RSF-led Tasis alliance’s declaration of a parallel governing authority. These instances underscore the growing contribution of the A3+ in shaping UNSC outcomes on African files.

Another positive development likely to be highlighted is the adoption of the Manual on the Modalities for Enhancing Coordination between the PSC and the A3. Adopted on 24 July 2025, this milestone consolidated practices and commitments developed over years of PSC sessions and HLS conclusions. The request for a manual was first raised at the 8th HLS in December 2021, when participants urged the AU Commission to prepare guidelines for A3 engagement and PSC–A3 cooperation, drawing on previous experiences. The draft was subsequently refined through successive HLS discussions before its final adoption last month.

While the adoption of the manual is a step forward, the main challenge lies in ensuring its implementation. As highlighted in our special research report ‘Making Africa’s Voice Matter in the UN Security Council: Bridging the Gap between Ambition and Reality in the Role of the African Three Members of the UNSC’, A3–PSC coordination over the past decade has often been irregular and ad hoc. The manual provides an opportunity to shift from fragmented practice to more consistent engagement, but this will only be achieved if agreed commitments are translated into action.

For example, modalities such as inviting the A3 to participate in PSC meetings on agenda items also under discussion at the UNSC, holding quarterly video teleconferences (VTCs) between the PSC Troika (outgoing, current, and incoming chairpersons) and the A3, and aligning the PSC’s monthly programme of work with the UNSC on African files have not been implemented regularly. Moreover, the PSC’s annual report to the AU Assembly has not systematically reflected A3 activities, instead annexing HLS conclusions without substantive assessment. The manual seeks to address this by requiring the A3 Secretariat, the AU Permanent Observer Mission to the UN in New York, to submit an annual report to the PSC Secretariat by the end of October each year. This year presents an opportunity to begin incorporating A3 activities into the PSC’s annual report, a task that will be considerably easier if quarterly engagements between the PSC and the A3 are regularised.

The A3 briefing may also highlight efforts to institutionalise and strengthen strategic engagements between the African and Caribbean members of the UNSC, with the aim of amplifying the voice of both regions in advancing their interests at the Council. In this context, the briefing may spotlight the annual A3 Plus retreat, held in Georgetown, Guyana, in February 2025, which provided an important platform for strengthening modalities of internal coordination.

Another activity likely to be highlighted in the briefing is the Arria-formula meeting convened by Sierra Leone on ‘The Global Race for Critical Minerals: Addressing Resource-Driven Insecurity in Africa,’ with Guyana and the incoming UNSC non-permanent members (the DRC and Liberia) as co-sponsors in July. This was an important engagement, providing a forum to deliberate on the ongoing global race for critical minerals in Africa and its implications for the continent’s peace and security.

The A3 are further expected to update the PSC on preparations for two major upcoming engagements: the Oran Process, scheduled for later this year, and the annual PSC–UNSC joint consultative meeting, expected in October in Addis Ababa. The Oran Process will include, for the first time, participation of the DRC and Liberia, both of which were elected in June to serve as non-permanent members of the UNSC for two-year terms starting in January 2026. Early involvement of these incoming members will help build continuity and strengthen institutional memory within the A3.

No outcome document, in the form of a communiqué or press statement, is expected from tomorrow’s briefing. However, the PSC may commend the A3 for their efforts in enhancing internal cohesion and promoting Africa’s common voice within the UNSC. It may also welcome the adoption of the Manual on the Modalities for Enhancing Coordination between the PSC and the A3 at its 1289th session and emphasise the importance of translating agreed modalities and commitments into practice, including the regularisation of quarterly briefings to the PSC by the A3. As highlighted in the manual, the PSC may further request the A3 to submit its report by October so that it can be included in the PSC’s annual report to be presented at the upcoming AU Summit.