Provisional Programme of Work of the Peace and Security Council for March 2026

Date | March 2026

The Kingdom of Eswatini will assume the Chairship of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) for the month of March. The Provisional Programme of Work (PPoW) for the month envisages five substantive sessions. Of these, three will address country-specific situations, while the remaining two will focus on thematic issues. All sessions are scheduled to be held at an ambassadorial level. In addition to the substantive meetings, the PPoW provides for a capacity-building programme for the Committee of Experts (CoE) and an induction session for the newly elected members of the PSC.

On 5 March, the PSC is expected to hold its first substantive session of the month on the situation in Guinea-Bissau. The PSC last met on Guinea-Bissau during its 1315th session on 28 November 2025, at which the Council characterised the 26 November military takeover as an unconstitutional change of government and suspended Guinea-Bissau from AU activities. It stressed that restoring constitutional order required completion of the electoral process—not negotiations or interim arrangements—and called on the military to step aside, finalise the November 2025 election results, and allow the declared winner to assume office. These demands were not heeded. Instead, the military consolidated power, swearing in coup leader General Horta N’Tam as interim president for a one-year transition and scheduling presidential and legislative elections for 6 December 2026. Although the transitional charter bars N’Tam and his prime minister from contesting, it remains uncertain whether the authorities will honour both the charter and Article 25(4) of the ACDEG, which prohibits coup leaders from running for office, particularly in light of recent transitions elsewhere on the continent. The PSC may wish to consider the prohibition in the Guinea Bissau transitional charter as an opportunity to express its continuing support for Article 25(4) of ACDEG which it failed to do in relation to Gabon and Guinea. It also offers a platform to review progress toward restoring constitutional order and to follow up on decisions adopted at the 1315th session, including the establishment of an AU Monitoring Mechanism on Guinea-Bissau and the convening of a PSC meeting at Heads of State and Government level on the resurgence of unconstitutional changes of government in Africa.

On 9 March, the PSC will convene its annual open session on women, peace and security (WPS) in Africa. This session is in line with its decision at the 223rd meeting in March 2010 to dedicate one open session each year to this agenda. In October last year, the Council similarly held a session on WPS, marking 25 years of Resolution 1325 and the 15th anniversary of the PSC’s decision to institutionalise the agenda. As with previous meetings, the upcoming session is expected to take stock of progress and challenges in advancing the agenda on the continent and explore the way forward, particularly in closing implementation gaps.

On 10 March, the PSC will deliberate on coordinated AU–Southern African Development Community (SADC) support for Madagascar. This provides an opportunity for following up previous decisions of the PSC. In its communiqué adopted at its 1313^th meeting of 20 November 2025, the Council underscored the urgent need for ‘continued vigilance and monitoring of the evolution of the situation in Madagascar’ and explicitly mandated the ‘undertaking of a Field Mission in early 2026 to gather first-hand information on the realities on the ground.’ A March 2026 session would therefore provide the necessary deliberative platform to determine the next steps on this commitment and also enable Council to assess progress made by the Transitional Authorities in implementing the recommendations set out in the 1305^th and 1306^th PSC meetings of 13 and 15 October respectively and to evaluate compliance with the call for a consensual, inclusive and time-bound Transition Roadmap aimed at the swift restoration of constitutional order.

The upcoming session is particularly important in light of the divergence between the PSC and SADC regarding the characterisation of the October 2025 military seizure of power and the response adopted. While the PSC, at its 1306th session, decided to suspend Madagascar on the grounds of unconstitutional change of government, SADC opted instead to dispatch a fact-finding mission. Subsequently, the Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Heads of State and Government, held in December 2025, directed the Transitional Government of Madagascar to submit a dialogue-readiness report and a draft National Roadmap by 28 February 2026. The Summit further approved the deployment, by March 2026, of the SADC Panel of Elders, led by former President Joyce Banda of Malawi, and called for coordination with the AU and the broader international partners to avoid fragmentation of efforts. In late January 2026, the Panel of Elders commenced its mission in Antananarivo to facilitate an inclusive dialogue. In addition, it will serve as a platform to ensure coherent political messaging and coordinated mobilisation of the necessary technical and financial support for securing a consensual, inclusive and time-bound transition process towards the swift restoration of constitutional order that is consistent with AU norms including Article 25(4) of ACDEG.

On 12 March, the PSC will receive a briefing from the Five-Member Panel of Facilitators on the Peace Process in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) regarding their recent activities. The session takes place amid concerns over renewed escalation and risks to the fragile peace process following reports of drone strikes in February that killed the M23 military spokesperson and others in eastern DRC. This session also came following the announcement by the United States of the imposition of sanctions on Rwanda military leaders, including the chief of defense forces for breach of the Washington peace deal. The AU through its mediator the President of Togo convened the High-Level Meeting on the Coherence and Consolidation of the Peace Process in the DRC and the Great Lakes Region, convened in Lomé, Togo, in mid-January with the Panel of Facilitators. The Panel subsequently held separate consultations in late January with President Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, as well as with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni in early February. On the margins of the 39th AU Summit, the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Bankole Adeoye held consultations with the Facilitators. It is to be recalled that at its 1323rd session in December 2025, the PSC requested the Facilitators to propose urgent measures to de-escalate the situation in eastern DRC and report to the AU Mediator, who in turn presented the proposals to the February Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly. In their forthcoming briefing helps to follow up on the PSC’s earlier decision and to get the views of the Facilitators on how their role is organized, how best they can contribute towards creating conditions for implementation of the peace agreements signed in Washington DC and Doha and the support mechanism required for their effective facilitation of their mandate.

On 17 March, the PSC is scheduled to receive a briefing from the AU Panel of the Wise on its activities. The Panel, an important pillar of the African Peace and Security Architecture for preventive diplomacy, last briefed the Council in March last year. Although such briefings were envisaged to take place quarterly, as agreed at the PSC’s 665th session in March 2017, they have in practice become annual engagements. At its previous briefing, during the PSC’s 1264th session, the Council directed the AU Commission to strengthen the provision of frequent early warning analysis to the Panel and to undertake joint scenario-building exercises with experts, including members of the African Network of Think Tanks for Peace (NeTT4Peace). In the forthcoming session, the Panel is expected to provide updates on its activities since the last briefing, including its missions to South Sudan and Madagascar, as well as a consultative roundtable with eminent religious and traditional leaders from the Sahel and West Africa. The meeting will also provide an opportunity to reflect on ways to enhance the Panel’s preventive role.

In addition to the substantive sessions, the PSC’s Committee of Experts (CoE) is scheduled to meet on 19 March to prepare the induction programme for the newly elected PSC members, which will take place later in the month (28-31 March) in Mbabane, Eswatini. A capacity-building session for the CoE is also planned in Mbabane from 25 to 27 March. In the footnote, the PPoW indicates that a Ministerial and High-Level Session on the promotion and protection of the rights and welfare of children in situations of conflict in Africa (Banjul Process) may be held subject to confirmation.