Peace & Security Council Report

The April 2024 Peace & Security Council Report by the Institute for Security Studies examines critical challenges within the African Union's (AU) peace and security architecture. It analyzes the potential restoration of the Continental Early Warning System (CEWS), the political implications of Chad's May 2024 election, the security crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and the strategic priorities of Egypt upon rejoining the Peace and Security Council (PSC).

• The African Union's current early warning structure, which merged peace and security with political affairs into the Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) department, has disrupted information flow. Critics argue that the lack of a standalone division makes it "difficult to access information and use CEWS as a coordination platform," and that the reform may have "contravened Article 22.6 of the PSC protocol."
• Chad's presidential election on 6 May 2024 is viewed as a critical test for the AU's resolve to enforce norms against unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs). The PSC has been criticized for its "hesitancy to discuss the issue" and for failing to classify the 2021 power transfer to General Mahamat Déby as a UCG, which allowed Chad to avoid suspension from the AU.
• Security in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains unstable due to the activities of M23 and other armed groups. The AU's impact is limited by the "absence of a coherent engagement strategy," while regional efforts like the Nairobi Process and the SADC Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) have faced failures, including the DRC's expulsion of EAC regional forces in November 2023 and SAMIDRC's failure to deploy the full promised troop numbers.
• The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to drive industrialization and reduce vulnerability to external shocks, with World Bank research suggesting it could "double intra-African trade by 2035" and increase GDP by 1.4% to 2.7%. However, implementation is hindered by the economic heterogeneity of member states and sensitivities regarding tariff revenue losses, particularly in countries like Chad and the DRC where such revenues exceed 5% of government budgets.
• Egypt's Ambassador to the AU, Mohamed Gad, highlights a deteriorating security situation where the number of suspended AU member states has risen from two in March 2022 to six currently. Egypt's priorities on the PSC include addressing crises in Sudan, Libya, and Somalia, and enhancing counter-terrorism responses, noting that in Africa, terrorist groups specifically "seek to control territory."

APA

Soumahoro, M., Kinkoh, H., Chipanda, B., Mahdi, M., Hoinathy, R., & Atta-Asamoah, A. (2024). Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1715769817967-PSC-Report-167.pdf

Chicago

Soumahoro, Moussa, Hubert Kinkoh, Blessing Chipanda, Maram Mahdi, Remadji Hoinathy, and Andrews Atta-Asamoah. Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies, 2024. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1715769817967-PSC-Report-167.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{soumahoro2024peace, author = {Soumahoro, Moussa and Kinkoh, Hubert and Chipanda, Blessing and Mahdi, Maram and Hoinathy, Remadji and Atta-Asamoah, Andrews}, title = {{Peace \& Security Council Report}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2024}, month = apr, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1715769817967-PSC-Report-167.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }