Peace & Security Council Report

This special edition of the Peace & Security Council Report focuses on the 2025 African Union (AU) senior leadership election process, detailing the procedural rules, the candidates for the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson positions, and the institutional challenges facing the incoming leadership.

• The 2025 AU senior leadership election process began in May 2024 with 35 candidates from five regions. A screening process by the Panel of Eminent Africans disqualified 22 candidates for failing to meet a 70% minimum mark.
• The election of the AU Commission Chairperson requires a two-thirds majority, which equals 36 votes. If no candidate reaches this threshold after three rounds, the ballot is restricted to the top two candidates; if neither secures the majority after three more rounds, the candidate with fewer votes must withdraw.
• Incoming AU leadership faces several institutional and global hurdles, including a slow and cumbersome bureaucracy, inadequate financing for Commission activities, and the need to manage relations with member states and the UN regarding peace operations and UNSC Resolution 2719.
• The AU Peace Fund has secured US$400 million to support African-led peace missions, but reports indicate these funds remain underused.
• Intra-African trade remains low at 18% compared to 80% of trade conducted with the rest of the world. Proposed enhancements for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) include the full recognition of the AU passport, the development of a payment system that bypasses foreign currencies like the dollar, and improved cross-border infrastructure.
• The AU has implemented a resource mobilisation strategy involving a 0.2% levy on eligible imports to fund programmes, but only 17 member states have implemented this measure.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2024). Peace & Security Council Report. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1739170733941-psc-report-175.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. Peace & Security Council Report. 2024. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1739170733941-psc-report-175.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=Peace & Security Council Report |date=December 2024 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1739170733941-psc-report-175.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2024peace, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{Peace \& Security Council Report}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2024}, month = dec, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1739170733941-psc-report-175.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }