Peace & Security Council Report

The December 2023/January 2024 edition of the Peace & Security Council Report evaluates the African Union's (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) performance in 2023, highlighting a trend toward discussing thematic issues over sensitive country crises. It examines the challenges of consensus-based decision-making, the upcoming 2024 AU chairship and PSC membership elections, and the potential impact of the UN's New Agenda for Peace on African security architecture.

• In 2023, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) held at least 96 meetings, but the number of crisis-centered meetings decreased by 13% compared to 2022, dropping from 32 to 28. The Council showed a growing preference for thematic meetings—totaling 34 in 2023—over addressing sensitive country-specific conflicts, which the report suggests may limit its influence on the continent's security outlook.
• The PSC's reliance on consensus for decision-making has led to delays and stalemates, particularly regarding the response to the coup in Niger and the adoption of a sanctions framework. While the PSC Protocol allows for voting by simple or two-thirds majority, the Council has consistently used consensus since 2004, leading to outcomes that may be driven by minority interests or prolonged deliberations.
• The AU chairship for 2024/25 is expected to rotate to a North African state, but the process is complicated by intense rivalry between Algeria and Morocco. This competition, rooted in disputes over Western Sahara and desires for regional hegemony, risks repeating previous regional struggles that have deprived the AU bureau of vice-chairs and hampered institutional continuity.
• Ten new members will be elected to the PSC in February 2024 for two-year terms starting April 1, 2024. The report notes that about half of the candidates are 'small states' with limited diplomatic clout, raising concerns that the absence of 'anchor states' like South Africa, Ghana, and Senegal may affect the Council's ability to drive responses to security challenges.
• The UN Secretary-General's New Agenda for Peace (NAP) is identified as an opportunity to revitalize the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). The NAP's focus on preventive diplomacy and the need for a 'new deal' in multilateral action aligns with the PSC's request for the AU Commission to review APSA to better adapt to contemporary security challenges.
• The PSC's effectiveness is hampered by a lack of coherence between AU and regional economic community approaches, specifically regarding the principle of 'subsidiarity'. This was evident in the confusion over whether the PSC or ECOWAS should lead the response to the Niger coup, and the PSC's decision to defer responsibility for the Sudan conflict to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

APA

Kinkoh, H., Soumahoro, M., Mahdi, M., & Yohannes, D. (2023). Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-report-164-v2.pdf

Chicago

Kinkoh, Hubert, Moussa Soumahoro, Maram Mahdi, and Dawit Yohannes. Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies, 2023. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-report-164-v2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kinkoh |first1=Hubert |last2=Soumahoro |first2=Moussa |last3=Mahdi |first3=Maram |last4=Yohannes |first4=Dawit |title=Peace & Security Council Report |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=December 2023 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-report-164-v2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kinkoh2023peace, author = {Kinkoh, Hubert and Soumahoro, Moussa and Mahdi, Maram and Yohannes, Dawit}, title = {{Peace \& Security Council Report}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2023}, month = dec, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/psc-report-164-v2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }