Union africana pdf

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Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. Seda Dural. A short summary of this paper. Introduction United Nations peacekeeping operations are a crucial instrument for the international community to enable peace and security. Peacekeeping has traditionally involved a primarily military model of observing ceasefires and the separation of forces after inter-state wars.

Today, it has evolved into a complex model of many elements- military, police and civilian- working together to help lay foundations of a sustainable peace. In search for peace, the United Nations has been increasingly cooperating with regional organizations and other actors and mechanisms provided for in Chapter VIII of the Charter. This paper will mostly deal with the African Union and its function in peacekeeping operations.

Africa and the United Nations At the beginning of the nineteenth session, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided the permanent representative of Ghana, Alex Quaison- Sackey to preside over the session.

This was only the second time in eighteen years that a representative of an African state was chosen. At the San Francisco Conference in , the only African states that were independent and thus could become the permanent members of the new international body were Egypt, Ethiopia, and Liberia these countries were joined by Libya.

During the eleventh session Ghana, Morocco, the Sudan, and Tunisia were admitted to the UN, and almost two years later Guinea joined the small group of Africans. In , Sierra Leone became the th member of the UN and there were already 24 African member states and with the admission of Gambia before the close of the nineteenth session, the African states will number 35 out of the total membership of This increase in the African membership has been a result of the dissolution of the French and British colonial empires.

Hence, it is not surprising to find that the majority of African countries regard representation at the UN as their most important diplomatic assignment Karefa-Smart, During this time, the African states had no such influence as a separate group. They finally joined forces with the Asian countries to share their interests in economic development, human rights, and the struggle against colonialism.

After that, the African nations began to express themselves as a separate entity. Therefore, after the admission of the first large aggregation of the newly independent countries, the African delegations began to meet monthly at the UN. By rotating the chairmanship, they followed a similar practice with the UN.

At the Addis Ababa Conference in May , it was given a formal identity by the Organization of African Unity OAU and the African UN delegations were authorized to establish a secretariat and to cooperate with any other group that shared its objectives Karefa- Smart, Its main interest was the liberation of white-ruled Africa, especially southern Africa.

In terms of identity, the foundation of the organization was a major achievement. Security also was a major concern for the founders of the OAU, but they viewed it in terms of state interests, especially territorial integrity, state sovereignty, and the protection of boundaries Makinda and Okumu, With 53 founding members all African countries joined except Morocco and a wide-ranging agenda, the AU replaced the Organization of African Unity OAU and reflects a fundamental shift in thinking for African leadership Holt, This declaration provided a framework for the African leaders to work together towards the peaceful and rapid resolution of conflicts.

According to the report from Victoria K. Holt with Moira K. Nevertheless, the persisting inadequacy and structural incapacity of the OAU led to a further realization that Africa needed a new organization that could take risks and responsibility in promoting development, peace, and security.

The leaders discussed the proposals made by Colonel Gaddafi and the predominant opinion was that Africa was not yet ready for ad federation or confederation, as there were many preparatory activities that had to be undertaken before these proposals could be actualized. At the end of the debate, the leaders agreed that an African union be established in conformity with the ultimate objectives of the OAU and the treaty establishing the African Economic Community Abuja Treaty Kioko, Among the 14 objectives of the AU, at least 6 address human rights issues directly or impliedly Nmehielle, The OAU was in principle a political organization that also discussed matters of economic and social concern, the AU should be an organization aimed at economic integration and social development which should lead to political unity1.

Makinda and Okumu, The day-to-day work on peace and security issues is conducted by the AU Commission, a role that parallels that of the UN Secretariat.

This body can intervene in conflicts to protect the security of the continent. It has fifteen member states, elected for two or three year terms, with equal voting rights.

The African Standby Force concept which carries out peace support operations under Article 4 h and j of the Constitutive Act, approved in , is a priority for the PSC as the primary means of future AU peace operations. The ASF is envisioned with civilian and military components stationed in their home countries and ready for call-up and deployment. The ASF is being designed in two phases. The first phase, originally to be completed in , aims to give the AU capacity to offer advice to political missions and manage the strategic requirements of co-deployment.

The second phase is scheduled for completion in and builds on AU capacity to manage observer missions Holt, The force will operate at three possible levels: as an African Force under the AU; as a Regional Brigade at the level of a Regional Mechanism for conflict prevention, management and resolution; or at the level of a lead nation intervening on behalf of the African Union Kioko, The Commission reports to the Executive Council.

The Assembly, comprised of heads of state. It meets at least once a year and is the AU's main decision-making body. Assembly members elect an AU chairperson, who holds office for one year. The Executive Council, comprised of foreign affairs ministers of individual states. The Executive Council is responsible to the Assembly. It currently has advisory powers only, but there are plans to grant it legislative powers in the future. It includes African social groups, professional groups, NGOs, and cultural organizations.

The Court of Justice. As of August , the merger of the two courts was still in process. The Financial Institutions. Of these, only the African Investment Bank has been established, but it is not yet functional. It will be headquartered in Tripoli, Libya. Chapter VII of its Charter allows the Security Council to take enforcement action in cases of a threat to or breach of international peace and security. According to Kioko, the AU was given the right to decide on intervention outside the UN framework by its Constitutive Act, if this is the case, then what the role of the UN in such interventions would be is a matter of question.

However, the AU will also lead to political and socio-economic integration as member States progressively cede their sovereignty To maintain would be to misinterpret Chapter VIII of the UN Charter and to ignore the inherent institutional shortcomings and limitations of regional institutions. While the regional organizations are able to deploy faster than the United Nations and are able to adopt a more robust approach to peace enforcement , only the UN has the capability to pull together the various components needed to form a complex integrated peace building response that can address the long-term post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction needs of the conflict zones.

Moreover, only the UN has the resources to sustain peace operations over longer periods of time. When questions were raised as to whether the Union could possibly have an inherent right to intervene other than through the Security Council, they were rejected. This caused a frustration with the slow pace of reform of the international order, and with instances in which the international community tended to focus attention on other parts of the world.

Furthermore, shortly after the OAU Assembly of Heads of State and Government had adopted the Ouagadougou decision defying the sanctions imposed by the Security Council on Libya in connection with the Lockerbie crisis, the signing process of the Constitutive Act took place. The leaders have shown themselves willing to push the frontiers of collective stability and security to the limit without any regard for the authorization of the Security Council.

It would appear that the UN Security Council has never complained about its powers being extorted because the interventions were in support of popular cases and were carried out partly because the UN Security Council had not taken action or was unlikely to do so at that time. The cost of interventions will be quite high, and the African Union which is not a financially self-sustained organization has to involve and work with the international community at large and the UN in particular for its operations to succeed.

While the interventions in Burundi, Liberia and Darfur have shown that a division of labour between the United Nations and African organizations can work, many related issues still require clarification. For example, a doctrine of co-existence and cooperation needs to formalize the legal, operational and financial details of regionalizing peace operation responsibility in Africa while also ensuring that the additional burdens for African states are kept as light as possible.

The AU Constitutive Act pledges to defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence of member states. If the AU organs defined peace, security primarily in terms of the protection of the state boundaries, the ruling elites and territorial integrity the AU approach would not differ much from that of the OAU. This is a major departure from the OAU, which did not take democratic governance seriously.

Since its formation, the AU has assumed an increasing role in the observation and monitoring of elections. However, there have been criticisms about the results of some of the AU election reports. One of the most embarrassing moments for the Union took place in May when it refused to observe the Ethiopian elections but went ahead and endorsed the election results, which were widely believed to have been tampered with.

However, the continuing violation of human rights in Darfur and Zimbabwe in has raised questions as to whether the AU has the capacity to pursue this goal conclusively and consistently. In addition, the AU aims to establish the necessary conditions that enable Africa to play a greater role in the global economy, and to promote sustainable development at the economic, social, and cultural levels Makinda and Okumu, , However, there is little evidence that Africa is investing adequately in research and knowledge creation Makinda and Okumu, , Security and Peace building Security and peace have been in the current agenda in Africa.

The creation of the African Union AU raised hopes that African governments and civil society organizations would be able to deal with insecurity problems more quickly and effectively. On the other hand, although the AU face fundamental gaps in planning and management capacity to lead peace operations and successfully deployed troops in peace operations, they are not yet self-sustaining and require outside logistical support.

It is reliant on external sources to finance much of its headquarters and operations, since it lacks sufficient funding from its member states Holt, 2.

Since the s, Africa has witnessed many wars, conflicts, and crises. Many of these have taken place within states. Some intra-state conflicts have crossed the borders and exerted pressure on neighboring countries. African states have also witnessed different levels of terrorism- both local and transnational.

African Innovators in the education sector took center stage at the RewirEd summit, which took place at the Expo Dubai. The AU needs adequate, reliable and predictable resources to implement its programmes so as to achieve its development and integration goals.

Successive Summits of the AU have since , taken financial reform decisions, to ensure there is sound and predictable finances to address the historical challenges the African Union has faced. These are;. It is a bi-annual publication on developments and trends in the area of sovereign credit rating services by international rating agencies among African countries.

Skip to main content. Theme of the year Activities News Events Upcoming Announcements. The AU Gender Observatory training. AUC Chairperson. The Chairperson condemns the killing by armed bandits in Northwest Nigeria. Statement of the Chairperson on the release of Political Prisoners in Ethiopia.

Deputy Chairperson. Media Video Audios Photos. December 13,