Peace & Security Council Report

The August 2020 Peace & Security Council Report examines political instability in Africa, focusing on military takeovers in Mali, constitutional disputes in Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea, the African Union's mediation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute, and the institutional limitations of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

• The military takeover in Mali on 18 August 2020, which led to the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, was preceded by protests over the April 2020 parliamentary election results and grievances regarding poverty, insecurity, and corruption. The African Union (AU) and ECOWAS responded by suspending Mali and calling for the restoration of constitutional order.
• There is a growing trend of African leaders attempting to extend their time in power by amending or circumventing constitutions, described as the 'third-term' virus. Examples include President Alassane Ouattara in Côte d'Ivoire and President Alpha Condé in Guinea, both of whom used arguments that new constitutions reset presidential term counters to zero.
• The African Union has acted as a facilitator in the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. While the AU-led process has de-escalated tensions and resolved over 90% of the issues, outstanding disagreements remain regarding the dispute resolution mechanism, long-term dam operation, and minimum water outflow guarantees.
• The AU lacks a formal legal framework and institutional capacity to resolve disputes over transboundary watercourses. It currently relies on ad-hoc committees of external experts due to a shortage of African hydrologists and international water law experts.
• The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is criticized for being slow to intervene in political crises in countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This inaction is attributed to solidarity between former liberation movements (the 'brotherhood'), a weak secretariat, and a confusing 'double troika' leadership system.
• SADC's credibility is further undermined by the lack of citizen-representative institutions, such as the dissolution of the SADC tribunal in 2012, and the composition of election observation missions which often lack civil society participation.

APA

Diatta, M., Louw-Vaudran, L., Attah-Asamoah, A., Woldemichael, S., & Handy, P.-S. (2020). Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-report-127.pdf

Chicago

Diatta, Mohamed, Liesl Louw-Vaudran, Andrews Attah-Asamoah, Shewit Woldemichael, and Paul-Simon Handy. Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies, 2020. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-report-127.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Diatta |first1=Mohamed |last2=Louw-Vaudran |first2=Liesl |last3=Attah-Asamoah |first3=Andrews |last4=Woldemichael |first4=Shewit |last5=Handy |first5=Paul-Simon |title=Peace & Security Council Report |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=August 2020 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-report-127.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{diatta2020peace, author = {Diatta, Mohamed and Louw-Vaudran, Liesl and Attah-Asamoah, Andrews and Woldemichael, Shewit and Handy, Paul-Simon}, title = {{Peace \& Security Council Report}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-report-127.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }