Peace & Security Council Report

The March 2020 Peace & Security Council Report details the African Union's (AU) response to the COVID-19 pandemic, political instability in Guinea-Bissau and South Sudan, geopolitical competition in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and the AU's marginal role in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute. It also outlines South Africa's priorities as the 2020 AU chair, focusing on 'Silencing the Guns', the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and gender equality.

• The Peace and Security Council (PSC) suspended meetings at the African Union (AU) headquarters and postponed several activities, including the induction of 10 new members and a review of the AU Master Roadmap on Silencing the Guns, to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The PSC is expected to transition to virtual meetings for emergencies, which raises concerns regarding quorum, consensus, and coordinated action.
• Guinea-Bissau is experiencing a post-electoral deadlock following the December 2019 presidential elections. Umaro Sissoco Embaló took office and installed a new government despite a pending Supreme Court judgement on an appeal by Domingos Simoes Pereira. The crisis is marked by military interference and a lack of coherence from ECOWAS, which congratulated Embaló before the legal dispute was resolved.
• A new unity government was formed in South Sudan on 22 February 2020, marking the first successful inclusive government since 2016. Key compromises included President Salva Kiir returning the country to 10 states from 32, and Riek Machar accepting government protection instead of private security. However, deep mistrust remains, and the arrangement is described as 'patching up' a broken political space rather than providing a lasting solution.
• The African Union (AU) is attempting to establish a multilateral cooperation framework for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden through the AU High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP). This initiative faces challenges including competing visions among trans-regional actors, skepticism from littoral states regarding the involvement of non-littoral states, and a trend of African states preferring bilateral or trilateral agreements over AU-led forums.
• The AU has played a marginal role in the dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, despite the principle of 'African solutions to Africa’s problems'. While the US and World Bank have mediated over eight rounds of negotiations, the AU has remained largely silent, potentially due to a lack of capacity to handle complex technical problems or a desire to maintain neutrality between influential member states.
• As the 2020 AU chair, South Africa's priorities include resolving conflicts in Libya and South Sudan, combating violent extremism in the Sahel, and operationalising the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). South Africa aims to create a single market of 1.2 billion people with a cumulative GDP over $3.4 trillion, though poor infrastructure remains a significant barrier.

APA

Diatta, M., Louw-Vaudran, L., Attah-Asamoah, A., Woldemichael, S., Sharamo, R. D., Dessu, M. K., & Yohannes, D. (2020). Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pscreport-122.pdf

Chicago

Diatta, Mohamed, Liesl Louw-Vaudran, Andrews Attah-Asamoah, Shewit Woldemichael, Roba D Sharamo, Meressa K Dessu, and Dawit Yohannes. Peace & Security Council Report. Institute for Security Studies, 2020. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pscreport-122.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{diatta2020peace, author = {Diatta, Mohamed and Louw-Vaudran, Liesl and Attah-Asamoah, Andrews and Woldemichael, Shewit and Sharamo, Roba D and Dessu, Meressa K and Yohannes, Dawit}, title = {{Peace \& Security Council Report}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2020}, month = mar, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pscreport-122.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }