In March, the Kingdom of Morocco will chair the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC), taking over the role from Equatorial Guinea. According to the rules on rotation of the monthly chairperson of the PSC in alphabetical order – Article 8 (6) of PSC Protocol and Rule 23 of the PSC Rules of Procedure – The Gambia was set to be the chairperson for March 2025. However, due to the conclusion of the duty of the ambassador, the typical alphabetical rotation could not be applied this month. While initially Sierra Leone was engaged to step in as the stand-in-Chairperson and a program of work for March was adopted on that basis, this changed just before the start of the month and Morocco became the stand-in-chairperson for March.

The provisional program of work for the month, prepared following Morocco’s assumption of the role of step-in-Chairperson, envisages a total of six substantive sessions. All the sessions, except one planned to take place at ministerial level, are scheduled to be held at ambassadorial level. Of the six sessions, except the informal consultation on countries in transition, all others are on thematic issues. As March is a transition month before the newly elected members of the PSC assume their seats in the PSC on 1 April, the provisional program, as per PSC practice, stipulates a plan for the induction of new members elected for three-year term during the 38^th AU Summit.

The first meeting of the PSC introduced by the Chairperson of the month will be on ‘Climate Change: Challenges to Peace and Security in Africa,’ scheduled to take place on 6 March. It is to be recalled that this theme was on the agenda of the PSC when Morocco chaired the PSC in October 2022. Apart from the 22 October session, this month’s session is expected to build on the discussions from the last session of Council on ‘Consultations on the Common African Position vis-à-vis climate change, peace and security’ held on 30 October 2024, as its 1240^th session. From the meeting, the PSC emphasised the need to ‘ensure that climate change responses are conflict-sensitive and security sensitive and that they mainstream peacebuilding efforts, as well as the need for holistic approaches that address the interlinkages between climate change and human mobility in conflict-affected settings, with a view to informing the design and implementation of policies and interventions that tackle climate-induced displacements in Africa.’

On 11 March, the PSC will receive a briefing on the activities of the AU Panel of the Wise and its subsidiary bodies, FemWise and WiseYouth. It is worth noting that the 6^th members of the Panel of the Wise were elected during the 38^th AU summit in February 2025. Accordingly, the summit re-elected Domitien Ndayizeye of Burundi, Effie Owuor of Kenya, and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of South Africa. For the membership to the Panel from North and West Africa, the AU Assembly directed ‘the incoming Chairperson of the Commission to consult with the Western and North African regions to select one (1) candidate per each region based on consensus for these vacant positions and submit to the 47^th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council’ and to this end it delegated to ‘the 47^th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council the authority to appoint representatives from the Western and North African regions to complete the composition of the 6^th Panel of the Wise.’

It is anticipated that the Panel of the Wise will provide an update to the PSC on its activities, including on files in respect of which the PSC tasked the Panel to engage in peace efforts. While FemWise, established in 2017, has traditionally been addressed by the PSC within the context of its Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, this session will be an opportunity for the PSC to engage with FemWise and WiseYouth within the broader framework of its collaboration with the Panel of the Wise.

On the same day, 11 March, the PSC is scheduled to consider and adopt the program of work for the month of April.

The next session taking place on 13 March will be dedicated to ‘Deradicalisation as leverage in the fight against violent extremism in Africa.’ PSC 1111^th meeting held in October 2022 underlined the need for ‘expedited implementation of all decisions adopted by Council and the Assembly of the Union, particularly Decision [Ext/Assembly/AU/Dec. (XVI)] adopted by the 16^th Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly held on 28 May 2022, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.’ In addition, this session is expected to build upon the call during this 1111^th session on the need for reviewing all AU counter-terrorism frameworks and instruments. In this context, the AU Commission was requested by Council to include countering radicalisation and extremist ideologies in the envisaged review of the African Plan of Action on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism and Violent Extremism.

On 18 March, the PSC will have the ‘Informal Consultation with Burkina Faso, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Sudan.’ It should be recalled that informal consultations with countries undergoing political transitions were incorporated into the PSC’s aptitude for working methods following its decision during the 14^th Retreat on working methods, held from 17 to 19 November 2022. The conclusions of the retreat introduced these consultations as a mechanism to facilitate direct engagement with representatives of countries suspended from participation in the AU due to unconstitutional changes of government, in line with Article 8(11) of the PSC Protocol. Since then, two such consultations have been held – in April and December 2023. This engagement was, however, supposed to happen in December 2024 but did not. It was re-introduced on the PPoW in January, but similarly did not happen.

As of the beginning of 2025, the latest political developments in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Sudan reflect countries marked by ongoing instability and military-led transitions. As pointed out in an edition of Insights on the PSC on this subject, one of the reasons for the use of informal consultation is to provide a platform for engagement between the PSC and the affected countries. Since the introduction of this format, the engagement between the PSC and these countries has shown improvements. However, it remains unclear how these engagements have changed the dynamics of the AU’s role in relation to these countries.

The last session of the month will be held on 20 March at the Ministerial level. The session will be committed to ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on Peace, Security and Governance in Africa.’ We can recall that during the 44^th Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council held on 14 and 15 February 2024, in an effort to explore the role of AI in promoting peace, security and development nexus in Africa, the Council through Decision [EX.CL/Dec.1233-1264(XLIV)], endorsed the ‘Conceptual Framework of the Continental Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy’ and requested the AU Commission to ‘Expedite the development of the Continental Cybersecurity strategy and the Continental Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy with their implementation roadmaps.’ This was followed by a ‘Multistakeholder Consultative Sessions on the Development of a Continental Strategy on Artificial Intelligence (AI)’ from 19 to 24 April 2024’ to support and guide the development of a continental approach and strategy on AI that responds to Africa’s context, address its needs and position the continent as an active player at global level. Consequently, AUDA-NEPAD published a White Paper on ‘Regulation and Responsible Adoption of AI in Africa Towards Achievement of AU Agenda 2063’ alongside the AUDA-NEPAD AI Roadmap for Africa. The 1214^th PSC session held in June 2024 further requested the AU Commission, ‘in particular the Political Affairs Peace and Security Department, in coordination with the Department of Infrastructure and Energy, to establish a multidisciplinary Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence, peace, security and good governance in Africa; and to propose options for Continental Artificial Intelligence governance, including its military application and to report to Council every six months.’ It is expected that this upcoming PSC session will serve to receive an update on whether there is progress in this respect.

Aside from these substantive sessions, the induction of the new members of the PSC, elected at the 46^th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council and endorsed by the 38^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly, is expected to be the last activity of the PSC for the month of March 2025. The induction program of the Committee of Experts and the newly elected PSC members is scheduled to be held from 22 to 28 March in Arusha, Tanzania. The program of work also envisages (on the footnote) a possible briefing by PSC Chairs for January, February and March 2025 on the activities of the PSC during their respective chaired months, as well as a dinner reception on 31 March by the Chairperson of the month.