As armed conflicts proliferate across Africa, the African Union seems ineffective and at risk of losing its legitimacy. But there are good ideas for how to improve it.
A common foreign policy for Africa?
The African Union (AU) ended its annual leaders’ meeting in Addis Ababa yesterday with an expression of “deep concern” over the persistence of conflicts, terrorism and violent extremism across the continent. The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to zero tolerance for unconstitutional changes of government and their determination “to silence the guns in Africa”.
They were meeting as Africa confronts a proliferation of armed conflicts and state fragmentation that has seen wars become regionalised as external intervention sustains them. Climate shocks, economic distress, shrinking humanitarian and development aid budgets and a changing international order are adding to the political instability across the continent.
The AU was founded in 2002 to manage conflicts and unconstitutional changes of government among its member states, of whom there are now 55, and to advance economic integration, promote governance standards and amplify Africa’s collective voice globally. But at a moment when the people of Africa need it most, the AU is facing a crisis of legitimacy as it is increasingly perceived as timid, ineffective and subject to political capture.
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Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 400 million of its 1.4 billion people aged between 15 and 35, but it has some of the oldest and longest-serving leaders, some of whom have been in power for decades. When elections have been disputed, opposition politicians arrested and prevented from campaigning, or the internet blocked during voting, the AU has usually sided with incumbents.
The AU’s Peace and Security Council (PSC) is a standing committee focused on preventing, managing and resolving conflicts and it authorises mediation, observer and peacekeeping missions. But the body has been sidelined recently as external actors, including the United States, have played an increasingly important role in attempting to mediate conflicts such as those in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, often using their leverage to secure privileged access to mineral resources.
Amani Africa, a pan-African think tank based in Addis Ababa, warned in a report last month that the AU and its peace and security council were floating adrift as their decisions were more performative than consequential.
“The AU’s comparative advantage in responding to the continent’s evolving peace and security challenges lies neither in coercive capacity nor in financial leverage, but in its normative legitimacy. Its ability to confer political recognition, define continental standards and link peace processes to governance and rights remains the AU’s most distinctive asset,” it said.
“For the AU to remain relevant in 2026 and beyond, it must reassert its convening authority within an increasingly fragmented peace and security landscape. It needs to reinvigorate Pan-Africanism as political and strategic framework for restoring the commitment of member states and for enlisting the contribution of the wider African public for continental priorities.”
The report calls for a greater emphasis on politics as the guiding framework for multilateral action, as opposed to seeking technical fixes or short-term stabilisation efforts that sidestep the underlying political nature of violence and governance crises. And as Africa gains greater strategic significance in a rapidly evolving multipolar order, it says that co-ordinated continental action is needed to negotiate better international agreements on everything from infrastructure to critical minerals and security.
“Institutionalising a common pan-African foreign policy would provide the political and strategic framework on how Africa can advance its collective interests and project its voice effectively. Apart from serving as [a] necessary tool for shielding African states from the predatory tendencies of a time in which ‘anarchy is loosed upon the world’, such a common pan-African foreign policy would provide the framework for more effectively negotiating and coordinating common positions,” it says.
“Without such coherence, the continent’s potential risks remaining underleveraged and individual African states and societies will be left without the possibility of defending themselves from predatory actors.”
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