When leaders met in Durban almost 20 years ago to create the African Union (AU), they made the promotion of continental peace and security a founding principle.

As they gather for the AU summit this week in Addis Ababa, ahead of anniversary celebrations planned for July, African leaders should reflect on the AU’s capacity to fulfil its promise to prevent and resolve conflict, especially after a turbulent 2021 in which the organisation’s response to coups, Islamist insurgencies, civil wars and other urgent crises has been mixed.

In the past year, the AU helped ensure that an election dispute in Zambia ended in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power, and continued to show strong leadership in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. But it had difficulty acting on Ethiopia’s devastating conflict and the insurgency in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region, in part because these countries’ governments frame their crises as domestic affairs.

The AU has also remained on the side-lines of Libya’s peace process, while Chad and Somalia rejected the appointments of AU high representatives to their respective countries, raising the question whether AU member states see the organisation as capable of tackling Africa’s evolving peace and security challenges.

Additionally, the AU’s established norm against coups, often heralded as a major achievement of its 20-year history, took a significant hit when its Peace and Security Council (PSC) decided not to suspend Chad’s membership after the military took power in April, following the sudden death of President Idriss Déby Itno.

The AU did uphold this principle when it suspended Guinea, Mali and Sudan in the wake of military takeovers in all three countries, however. The PSC also suspended Burkina Faso after a coup last month. But the slew of coups has raised alarm across Africa. Critical discussions at the summit on how the AU should respond to unconstitutional changes of government may set the tone for years to come.

The AU’s anniversary is a prime opportunity for the organisation to assess its achievements to date. And its work for the year ahead, which will be prepared at this week’s summit, will abound with opportunities for the organisation to build — or rebuild — its relevance in promoting peace and security on the continent.

The AU has faced criticism for its initial inaction in dealing with Ethiopia’s civil war. To be sure, Ethiopia’s seat on the PSC, the government’s hostility toward what it perceives as external meddling and the fact that the AU’s headquarters are located in Addis Ababa complicated matters. Now, a relative lull in violence has opened a crucial window of opportunity to move the federal government and Tigray’s leaders toward a settlement. The AU should redouble its efforts to secure a ceasefire, notably through its high representative for the Horn of Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo, or by proposing to broaden Kenya’s existing bilateral engagement.

In neighbouring Sudan, military leaders ejected the civilian-led government in a coup, stalling the country’s transition to democratic rule and fuelling further mass protests. The AU will need to exert pressure on authorities to negotiate a return to civilian rule. Appointing a high-level envoy solely mandated to work on Sudan, and based in Khartoum, would enable it to maintain consistent engagement. In Somalia, the AU should help build consensus around the future of its intervention force in the country and the changes that are required for it to stave off al-Shabaab fighters until the Somali army can take over security responsibility — or pending a broader internal political settlement.

Farther south, in Mozambique, a military intervention led by Rwanda and troops from the Southern African Development Community has diminished, for now, the strength of the insurgency in the Cabo Delgado province. Resolving the crisis will require further measures to address its underlying causes. The AU should push Maputo to redouble development efforts in the province to win back the trust of youth who feel excluded from the benefits the development of major mineral and hydrocarbon deposits could bring.

In Libya, the AU should support UN-led mediation efforts, but its main priority should be facilitating the departure of Chadian and Sudanese fighters from Libyan territory, while lobbying on behalf of African countries that fear the consequences of these fighters’ return.

In the Sahel, where jihadist violence and intercommunal clashes have killed thousands, the AU should support Sahelian states that opt to explore dialogue with jihadists. In Chad, the AU should hold the military council to the promises it made when it seized power: a national dialogue and elections from which council members are excluded, before the year’s end.

Finally, the AU should follow through on its commitment to put climate security on the global agenda, as one of the continents worst affected by the issue. Egypt will host the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (known as COP) in November. African countries should ensure that any climate adaptation proposals that are advanced at COP take account of conflict risks.

The AU may have suffered knocks to its credibility in recent times, but it remains the continent’s foremost peace and security body. As it prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary in July, the organisation should redouble efforts to address urgent crises and advance peace and security on the continent, as it pledged to do at its inception.

Imogen Hooper is the International Crisis Group’s analyst for the African Union.

***
This article was first published in The EastAfrican newspaper on February 5, 2022