INTRODUCTION

Over the past several years, the African continent has witnessed a rise in both the number and geographic spread of conflicts. Alarmingly, the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA)—established under the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) to provide the African Union (AU) with normative instruments and institutional mechanisms for promoting and maintaining peace, security, and stability—has increasingly struggled to respond effectively to the continent’s growing security challenges. Recent conflicts in Libya, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo–Rwanda, and tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia underscore the AU’s waning agency in addressing these crises, with external actors often stepping in. The erosion of multilateralism, intensifying geopolitical rivalries, and increasing foreign involvement in African peace and security affairs demand that the AU urgently recalibrate and strengthen its peace and security framework.