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This report, prepared by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for a special session in Tripoli, provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges to peace and security in Africa. It details the institutional framework of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), the economic and human costs of conflict, and the status of various regional crises, including those in Somalia, Sudan, and the Great Lakes region. The document emphasizes the need for African ownership of peace efforts, the importance of structural conflict prevention, and the strengthening of partnerships with international bodies like the UN and EU.

A letter dated 4 October 2013 from 130 African civil society and international organisations urging African foreign ministers to support the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Rome Statute during an African Union (AU) extraordinary summit on 11 and 12 October 2013.

This report, based on a 2004 workshop in Accra, Ghana, analyzes the evolution of Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programs in Africa. It examines the transition of DDR from vague mandates in the late 1990s to highly specific programs by 2004, highlighting the role of UN peacekeeping missions and the critical need for integrated planning, qualitative indicators for reintegration, and coordination with national recovery strategies.

This research paper by Lauren Hutton, published by the Institute for Security Studies in February 2015, interrogates the continued relevance of peacebuilding within external interventions in Africa. The author argues that current peacebuilding efforts are often limited because they fail to address the radical restructuring of political and economic power, instead reinforcing existing inequalities and enabling autocratic governance through the building of state institutions that can be used for predation and control.

This policy brief examines South Africa's evolving role as a 'norm entrepreneur' in Africa, arguing that while the country initially led the continent in promoting democracy and human rights, its recent foreign policy has become more inward-looking and economically pragmatic.

The August 2023 issue of the Peace and Security Council Report by the Institute for Security Studies examines the African Union's (AU) struggle to prevent unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs), the need to reform the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), the recruitment of child soldiers by ISWAP in the Lake Chad Basin, and the outcomes of the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit.

This October 2015 report from the Institute for Security Studies examines the relationship between the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN), focusing on peacekeeping funding, counter-terrorism efforts, and specific crises in South Sudan, Mali, and Somalia. It also analyzes the risks associated with a series of upcoming elections across the African continent.

This 2002 situation report by the Institute for Security Studies provides a detailed overview of refugee and internally displaced person (IDP) populations across Africa. It defines the legal distinctions between refugees and IDPs, provides statistical data on populations of concern to the UNHCR as of 2000/2001, and analyzes regional trends in displacement driven by conflict, drought, and economic decline.

This policy briefing by the South African Institute of International Affairs analyzes the political economy of peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), arguing that regional peace agreements are shaped by the shifting economic power between the eastern Kivus and the southern Katanga province.

This policy brief by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the gap between the African Union's (AU) normative commitments to democracy and human rights and the actual foreign policies of its member states. The author argues that strong sovereignty norms and a state-centric approach have hindered the domestication of human rights, leading to a state of 'stasis' or reversal in several countries. The brief recommends that the AU embrace global partnerships with civil society and that pivotal states like South Africa rejuvenate human rights as a core pillar of their external engagements to ensure continental stability.

This briefing examines the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis (ACIRC), a proposed rapid deployment instrument for the African Union (AU) initiated by South Africa. It analyzes the ACIRC's role as a stopgap for the African Standby Force's (ASF) missing rapid deployment capability, detailing the operational, political, and logistical challenges facing its implementation, and suggests ways to integrate it with AU and UN peace architectures.

This briefing describes the development and findings of a global Evidence Gap Map (EGM) on sustainable energy, co-funded by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and 3ie. The EGM systematically screens rigorous evidence on the causal effects of sustainable energy interventions in low- and middle-income countries (L&MICs) to support SDG 7 targets regarding energy access, efficiency, and renewables.

This briefing note presents the results of a baseline vulnerability assessment conducted between 2011 and 2012 in the Tri-National de la Sangha (TNS) landscape, specifically focusing on four community forests in Cameroon. Part of the COBAM project, the study used participatory methods to analyze how climate-related disturbances, such as erratic rainfall and shifting seasons, affect local livelihoods, agriculture, and forest resources, while identifying opportunities to strengthen adaptive capacity through livelihood diversification and improved collective action.

A statement by Indigenous, environmental, and human rights organisations expressing concern over the Three Basins Summit initiative. The signatories argue that the initiative neglects the impacts of extractive industries on rainforests and marginalises civil society, calling instead for a rights-based approach to forest protection and a just energy transition.

This World Resources Institute working paper, the eighth in a series, reviews Readiness Preparation Proposals (R-PPs) and National Programme Documents (NPDs) submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the UN-REDD Programme. The analysis focuses on how REDD+ Country Participants address forest governance, transparency, accountability, participation, and coordination during the readiness phase.