Peace & Security Council Report

The March 2024 Peace & Security Council Report examines the transition of the African Union's Peace and Security Council (PSC) membership, the critical security situation in Abyei, the operational challenges of the African Standby Force (ASF), ongoing AU institutional reforms, and the response of ECOWAS to unconstitutional changes of government in West Africa.

• The African Union's Peace and Security Council (PSC) elected 10 new members for a two-year term, including Angola, Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, and Sierra Leone. This transition occurs during the Council's 20th anniversary and an ongoing review of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), which aims to rethink the design and implementation of AU peace and security frameworks.
• The Abyei region faces a precarious security situation characterized by intercommunal violence between the Ngok Dinka, Twic Dinka, and Messeriya. ACLED data recorded approximately 136 fatalities in Abyei between January and February 2024. The report notes that the PSC has not discussed Abyei since 29 September 2022, despite deadly clashes and the region's unresolved status.
• The African Standby Force (ASF) remains not fully operational despite being declared operational in 2015. Two primary obstacles are identified: the lack of a predictable decision-making process for authorising deployments and the absence of sustainable funding. Consequently, the AU has relied on ad-hoc regional deployments, such as the SADC missions in Mozambique (SAMIM) and the DRC (SAMIDRC), and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in the Lake Chad Basin.
• AU institutional reforms initiated in 2016 under President Paul Kagame have seen mixed results. While the AU Peace Fund has raised US$384 million (96% of its US$400 million target), progress has been hindered by member state resistance to an empowered AU Commission and high costs. Kenya's President William Ruto has taken over as the reform champion, emphasizing the need for a financially autonomous AU.
• Ambassador Francis Oke suggests that recent coups d'état in West Africa reflect citizen discontent and provide an opportunity for ECOWAS and member states to improve governance. He argues that ECOWAS has been inconsistent by reacting strongly to military coups while failing to sanction 'constitutional manipulations' where leaders extend their mandates, leading to perceptions of double standards.
• Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso have threatened to withdraw from ECOWAS. Ambassador Francis Oke asserts that such a move is not viable as these countries would lose benefits like the free movement of people and goods. He also notes a lack of collaboration between the AU and ECOWAS during crises, stating the AU does not always share ECOWAS's interpretation of subsidiarity and complementarity.

APA

Kinkoh, H., Soumahoro, M., Mahdi, M., & Atta-Asamoah, A. (2024). Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1713850014523-PSC-Report-166_2.pdf

Chicago

Kinkoh, Hubert, Moussa Soumahoro, Maram Mahdi, and Andrews Atta-Asamoah. Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies, 2024. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1713850014523-PSC-Report-166_2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kinkoh |first1=Hubert |last2=Soumahoro |first2=Moussa |last3=Mahdi |first3=Maram |last4=Atta-Asamoah |first4=Andrews |title=Peace & Security Council Report |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=March 2024 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1713850014523-PSC-Report-166_2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kinkoh2024peace, author = {Kinkoh, Hubert and Soumahoro, Moussa and Mahdi, Maram and Atta-Asamoah, Andrews}, title = {{Peace \& Security Council Report}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2024}, month = mar, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1713850014523-PSC-Report-166_2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }