Peace & Security Council Report

The July 2014 Peace & Security Council (PSC) Report by the Institute for Security Studies analyzes the African Union's (AU) handling of unconstitutional changes of government in Egypt, the deteriorating security situation in Libya, the challenges of post-conflict reconstruction and development (PCRD) in Africa, and the strategic partnership between the AU PSC and the UN Security Council.

• The PSC's June 2014 decision to lift Egypt's suspension from the AU is viewed as a potential breach of a legally binding rule and a challenge to the AU's norm on unconstitutional changes of government (UCG). The decision may be interpreted as legitimizing the election of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who played a central role in the unconstitutional change of government on 3 July 2013, thereby risking a precedent where future perpetrators of UCG cite Egypt to justify their own participation in elections.
• To address the difficulty of applying UCG norms to popular uprisings, the AU High-Level Panel on Egypt proposed guidelines for compatibility assessments. These guidelines include evaluating if a government descended into total authoritarianism, the ineffectiveness of constitutional processes for change, the popularity and inclusivity of the uprisings, the absence of active military involvement in removing the government, and the peacefulness of the protests.
• Libya's security situation worsened in 2014 due to political deadlock in the General National Congress and the launch of 'Operation Dignity' by General Khalifa Haftar in May 2014. This operation, aimed at cleansing Libya of 'terrorism and extremism', has increased fears of a military coup and highlighted the interim government's inability to control armed formations. Additionally, the 25 June 2014 parliamentary elections saw a significant decline in voter turnout, dropping from 2.8 million registered voters in 2012 to 1.5 million in 2014.
• The AU's post-conflict reconstruction and development (PCRD) efforts are described as inadequate, with several countries—including Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan—relapsing into violence. A critical capacity deficit is noted, exemplified by the fact that the AU PCRD Unit employs only one expert. The report suggests the PSC must move away from a 'firefighting' approach to more robustly monitor and engage with countries emerging from conflict.
• The AU has set an ambitious target to 'end all wars in Africa by 2020'. To achieve this, the PSC emphasized the need for coordinated regional and international efforts, addressing root causes such as youth unemployment and poor governance, and controlling the illicit flow of weapons. However, the report notes that the Council failed to stipulate specific timelines or responsible parties for many of these actions.
• The 8th annual consultative meeting between the AU PSC and the UN Security Council (UNSC) in June 2014 showed progress in agenda negotiation and dialogue, but failed to address the implementation of previous communiqués. A notable shift was observed regarding funding: the emphasis moved from requesting predictable UN funding for AU peace operations toward a greater expectation that AU member states and individual donors provide financing.

APA

Dersso, S. A., Lulie, H., Atmossa, L., & Louw-Vaudran, L. (2014). Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/PSCNo60_July2014.pdf

Chicago

Dersso, Solomon A, Hallelujah Lulie, Lydia Atmossa, and Liesl Louw-Vaudran. Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies, 2014. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/PSCNo60_July2014.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Dersso |first1=Solomon A |last2=Lulie |first2=Hallelujah |last3=Atmossa |first3=Lydia |last4=Louw-Vaudran |first4=Liesl |title=Peace & Security Council Report |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=July 2014 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/PSCNo60_July2014.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dersso2014peace, author = {Dersso, Solomon A and Lulie, Hallelujah and Atmossa, Lydia and Louw-Vaudran, Liesl}, title = {{Peace \& Security Council Report}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2014}, month = jul, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/PSCNo60_July2014.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }