Peace & Security Council Report

The April 2026 Peace & Security Council Report examines key African Union (AU) initiatives, including a UN resolution on slavery reparations, the integration of governance intelligence into security actions via the APRM-PSC interface, the precarious stability of South Sudan ahead of 2026 elections, and a review of Angola's tenure as AU chair.

• On 25 March 2026, the UN General Assembly adopted a Ghana-led resolution designating the trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement as the 'gravest crime against humanity'. While 123 countries voted in favour, the resolution is non-binding and lacks an enforcement mechanism. It calls for reparatory justice, including financial compensation and formal apologies, though it faced opposition from the US and abstentions from 27 EU states.
• The African Union has declared 2026 to 2035 as the decade of reparations and proposed an African-based global reparations fund to be managed jointly by the AU and the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). This fund is intended to support education, restitution, and programs for indigenous peoples' development, with contributions sought from states, institutions, and the private sector that benefited from colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade.
• The April 2026 Burayu Declaration aims to enhance cooperation between the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the Peace and Security Council (PSC) to better integrate governance intelligence into preventive diplomacy. However, a structural gap persists because there is no binding mechanism or formal channel that requires the PSC to act on APRM's governance findings, leaving the APRM's outputs as advisory rather than actionable.
• South Sudan is planning elections for December 2026, but stability remains precarious due to rising insecurity, ethnic militia activity, and political deadlock between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Riek Machar. Three peace initiatives—the Elections Dialogue Committee, the Tumaini Initiative, and the AU C5+ process—are attempting to avert conflict, but all are criticized for potentially postponing key tasks like unifying armed forces and drafting a permanent constitution until after the election.
• Angola's tenure as AU Assembly bureau chair (February 2025 to February 2026) was marked by a strong focus on infrastructure development, highlighted by the Luanda Infrastructure Financing Summit in October 2025. Other achievements included advancing the AU Commission's competency audit—resulting in 617 staff being retained and 187 separated—and adopting new working methods to streamline AU meetings.
• The AU's 2019 transitional justice policy is being implemented through technical support to member states, including Ethiopia, The Gambia, and the DRC. The AU is also developing regional frameworks with the Economic Community of West African States and the Lake Chad River Basin Commission to address cross-border human rights violations. A primary constraint remains limited funding for reparation programmes.

APA

Ani, N. C., Simakoloyi, Z., Okello, M. C., Soumahoro, M., & Ikubaje, J. (2026). Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1780648553161-psc-184.pdf

Chicago

Ani, Ndubuisi Christian, Zenge Simakoloyi, Moses Chrispus Okello, Moussa Soumahoro, and John Ikubaje. Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies, 2026. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1780648553161-psc-184.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{ani2026peace, author = {Ani, Ndubuisi Christian and Simakoloyi, Zenge and Okello, Moses Chrispus and Soumahoro, Moussa and Ikubaje, John}, title = {{Peace \& Security Council Report}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2026}, month = apr, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/pages/1780648553161-psc-184.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }