Peace & Security Council Report

The March 2021 Peace & Security Council Report by the Institute for Security Studies examines several critical security and financial challenges facing the African Union (AU), including the Ethiopia–Sudan border dispute, the insurgency in Mozambique, the AU's financial dependence on external partners, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) impasse, and the transition of AMISOM in Somalia.

• Ethiopia and Sudan are locked in a border dispute over the Al-Fashaga area, which has been a "bone of contention between the two countries for about a century." Sudan claims the area is historically its territory and that the border is already demarcated, while Ethiopia maintains the border is yet to be demarcated. Tensions have been exacerbated by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute and internal instability in both nations.
• The African Union's ability to resolve the Ethiopia–Sudan dispute is limited without the "express consent of the two countries." While the High Level Implementation Panel for Sudan (AUHIP) has a mandate to intervene, it has lost support among Sudanese political actors. Other mediation offers from Turkey, the UAE, and South Sudan have not gained sufficient traction.
• In Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, an escalating crisis involving Islamic State-linked insurgents has resulted in over 2,000 civilian deaths and nearly 700,000 internally displaced persons since the start of 2020. The AU's response is hindered by the "principle of subsidiarity," which requires it to defer to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), despite SADC's perceived institutional paralysis and lack of significant action.
• The AU faces a significant lack of financial independence, with approximately 75% of its financing provided by external partners, primarily the European Union and individual European states. For the 2021 budget of US$623,836,163, only 32% (US$203,500,000) is financed by member state contributions, and 100% of the peace support operations budget (US$264,738,661) is funded by external partners.
• The 0.2% levy on eligible imported goods, decided at the 2016 AU Summit to fund operational and peace projects, has not been universally implemented; as of June 2020, only 17 of the 55 AU member states had adopted the decision.
• Negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) remain stalled. Egypt and Sudan have proposed a quartet of mediators including the AU, EU, UN, and US to exert more leverage, but Ethiopia prefers AU-led negotiations to maintain an "African solution for an African problem." Ethiopia is preparing for a second filling of the dam in June or July 2021.
• The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is scheduled to exit in December 2021, but the report suggests Somalia is not ready due to political instability and increased al-Shabaab attacks since August 2020. There are calls for AMISOM's future mandate to shift from purely security and capacity building toward supporting post-conflict reconstruction and development.

APA

Diatta, M., Louw-Vaudran, L., Atta-Asamoah, A., Woldemichael, S., Kahsu, M., & Fabricius, P. (2021). Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-133.pdf

Chicago

Diatta, Mohamed, Liesl Louw-Vaudran, Andrews Atta-Asamoah, Shewit Woldemichael, Meressa Kahsu, and Peter Fabricius. Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies, 2021. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-133.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Diatta |first1=Mohamed |last2=Louw-Vaudran |first2=Liesl |last3=Atta-Asamoah |first3=Andrews |last4=Woldemichael |first4=Shewit |last5=Kahsu |first5=Meressa |last6=Fabricius |first6=Peter |title=Peace & Security Council Report |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=March 2021 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-133.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{diatta2021peace, author = {Diatta, Mohamed and Louw-Vaudran, Liesl and Atta-Asamoah, Andrews and Woldemichael, Shewit and Kahsu, Meressa and Fabricius, Peter}, title = {{Peace \& Security Council Report}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-133.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }