In Africa and the world at large, conflict continues to be a major driver of humanitarian crises and human suffering. As a research report published early in 2022 showed, the factors that account for this phenomenon include the increase in the number of conflicts and the expansion in the geographic spread of conflicts. In this context, the importance of norms that contribute to the regulation of conflicts and provide minimum standards to govern behaviour of belligerents cannot be overemphasised. While conflicts are unfortunately hard to completely avoid, International Humanitarian Law (IHL) provides rules and principles which enhance safeguards to minimise the destructive impacts of armed conflicts, particularly to civilians and civilian objects.

On 28 May 2022, the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government, the supreme decision-making organ of the AU, will hold its 16^th extraordinary session. The thematic focus of the extraordinary summit is on terrorism and unconstitutional changes of government. The summit is convened based on the AU Assembly February 2022 decision on the proposal of the Republic of Angola for the convening of ‘Extraordinary Summit on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government in Africa’.

2022 marks the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of the African Union (AU) as the continental organization taking over from its predecessor the Organization of African Unity (OAU). This is also the first year of the transition of the AU Commission (AUC) into its new structure under the process for the institutional reform of the AU that has been launched in 2017. During the two decades since its establishment, the AU has evolved not only in its institutional development but also in terms of its working arrangements and decision-making processes and practices. These evolutions and developments are not simply a product of the norms that set the mandate, power and functions of the AU but also importantly the practice of the AU in the implementation of its mandate and the exercise of the powers and functions entrusted to it based on the demands and needs of African states and the continent as a whole.

2022 marks the 20^th anniversary of the inauguration of the African Union (AU). In reviewing the record of the AU in its two decades of existence, the aspect of AU’s role that is sure to attract the most scrutiny relates to the area of peace and security. While this special research report is not meant to provide such a comprehensive review, it seeks to provide an analysis of the major peace and security issues in Africa in 2022 as a useful lens for understanding where the AU’s peace and security order stands 20 years after AU’s launch. In presenting the analysis on the various major peace and security issues afflicting the continent, this report attests to both the importance of AU’s role and how its role has become more, not less, important today than at the time of its establishment, notwithstanding recent regressions in its performance.

On Sunday 5 September 2021, reports of gunshot and an apparent attempted coup started to stream on social media from Guinea capital, Conakry. Some hours later, a video showing the country’s President Alpha Conde surrounded by members of the coup perpetrators emerged. Special Forces of Guinea entered the presidential palace after exchange of gun shoots and captured President Conde. Despite initial announcement by the Defense Ministry that the mutiny was foiled, the leader of the coup colonel Mamady Doumbouya, accompanied by his entourage, appeared on national TV to announce the dissolution of Conde’s government and the suspension of the Constitution. Apart from holding President Conde in military detention, the coup makers also replaced the regional governors with military commanders.

Following its 983rd session held on 4 March 2021, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) adopted a decision on the unified role of the African three elected members (A3) of the United Nations (UN) Security Council (UNSC). The content of the decision identified both existing best practices for consolidation and new proposals on the workings of the A3 and the coordination with the PSC. Manifesting a renewed interest of the PSC for enhanced role of the A3, the outcome of the 983rd session of the PSC offers the basis for examining the ways of bridging the gap between the potential of the role of the A3 and the experience thus far in respect of representing Africa’s voice through collective action in the UNSC

The year 2020 is a milestone for the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. In addition to the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1325, this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) decision making women, peace and security a standing thematic agenda of the PSC. 1 Moreover, the year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Decade for African Women (2010-2020), which was launched on 15 October 2010 in Nairobi and subsequently endorsed by the 16th Ordinary Session of the Union in 2011.

On 27 May, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) held a session on the impact of the novel coronavirus COVID19 on Living Together in Peace. The theme of the session offered useful lens for discussing the impact of COVID19 on multilateral cooperation and its implications for peace and security in Africa. In this special research report, we present an analysis of the impact of COVID19 on multilateralism and its implications for Africa based on the presentation that Amani Africa delivered to the PSC during its 928th session on 27 May.

The measures required for containing the new global pandemic known as the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID19) require, among others, avoiding physical contact and observing social distancing. These measures necessitate the freezing of activities that bring together a group of people in one place. The result of this is that business meetings, political or religious gatherings are banned, schools are temporarily closed, and in some cases work stopped.

The establishment of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) under the 2002 Protocol to the AU Constitutive Act on the Establishment of the PSC 1 (PSC Protocol) and its launch in 2004 2 has transformed the peace and security landscape of the continent. Most notably, among others, it has changed the role of international engagement in the maintenance of peace and security in Africa. The PSC Protocol, in defining the principles governing the maintenance of peace and security in Africa, attributing leading role to the PSC and defining how the PSC interfaces with international actors, sets the expectations of the continent on the parameters of international action, including through the United Nations (UN), on peace and security in Africa.