What’s the Matter With African Union?

 

African Union is basically a paper tiger, because historical experience had shown that many countries in Africa, including the small ones, can thumb their nose at it. Some of the leaders of these African countries, particularly that of Ethiopia, had at some point either leaned on African Union’s diplomats who displeases them, or had them expelled altogether – a prove that Africa’s task of building a union greater than the sum of its parts remains unfinished.

 

African Union , Africa’s regional club which replaced the continent’s discredited predecessor, the Organization of African Unity(OAU), is 21 years this year.  Founded in 2002, the African Union is supposed to resolve the continent’s wars, ease the flow of trade across its borders and help Africa to speak with one voice  in world affairs. According to Thabo Mbeki, a former president of South Africa and one of its founders,  the African Union will transform Africa into a continent of democracy in which the people participate and the rule of law is upheld. Twenty-one years after its formation, African Union’s record is mixed.

The union’s first genuine, though incomplete, achievement is its creation of the African Continental  Free Trade Area in 2021. Its early efforts  at peace-keeping  and upholding democracy are laudable too. Unlike the OAU, which refused to interfere in the affairs of the other African countries (that it, its member countries), the African Union has the power to intervene, without consent, to stop a bloodbath or to prevent tribal conflicts from getting out of hand. It sent African troops into the Darfur region of Sudan in 2004 to halt a genocide. Three years later, it established a mission to combat jihadist insurgency in Somalia – an insurgency that has continued to attack and degrade the Somali government’s ability to both provide security and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in the country. And for approximately two decades coup d’états have become much rarer, thanks to the African Union’s strict no-coup policy.

In other respects, though, the African Union has come to resemble the paper tiger it replaced.  At each summit it approves admirable-sounding projects, but only a few of them go anywhere. It is no secret that more than a third of Africans think the African Union is a useless organization. And they have a genuine reason for assuming that position too: One of the goals of the African Union is to end conflict in Africa by 2020. That ambition is now pushed back to 2030. Also, in addition to the war in Ethiopia, jihadists and insurgents  still run amok across different countries of Africa. For instance, in Mozambique, the government is struggling to crush a bloody insurgency in its impoverished north. And in Eastern Congo, the government is fighting with rebel militias. Coup d’états are also making a comeback in Africa: with coups occurring in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Sudan, it is only natural for Africans in general to complain that there has been a puncturing of the democratic norms that the African Union had been trying to enforce.

Other Africans lament inaction on the path of the African Union. The organization followed the United Nation’s model by establishing  the African Union  Peace and Security Council (AUPSC)– a 15-member panel. To most  Africans, the AUPSC has lost some of its energy and zeal. For instance, the AUPSC chose not to expel  Chad from the union when the son of Idriss Deby, Chad’s late dictator, seized power after his father’s death in 2021. This decision to give Chad a pass constitute a bad precedent.    

The Word on the Street

In plain terms, even if it were more willing to be firm, the African Union has little by way of sticks or carrots to enforce its decisions. Many countries in Africa, including the small ones, can thumb their nose at it. In 2015, the African Union (AU) proposed to send 5,000 peacekeeping troops to Burundi to help quell violence and instability in the country following President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a controversial third term. However, Burundi's government refused the offer, stating that the deployment of foreign troops would be seen as an invasion and that the country's security forces were capable of maintaining order.

 The decision was widely criticized by the international community, including the United Nations, which warned of the potential for further violence and human rights abuses in the country. Despite the government's assurances at the time, Burundi continued to experience political unrest and violence, including targeted killings, disappearances, and torture. The crisis in Burundi during that period had  far-reaching consequences for the country's people, with many fleeing to neighboring countries as refugees. While the worst of the violence had eased, the situation remains fragile and tense, and efforts to promote peace and stability in the country are ongoing.

 Ethiopia is another country whose government basically told African Union to get lost. In March 2021, the Ethiopian government announced that it would not be receiving a delegation from the African Union (AU) to investigate human rights abuses in the Tigray region, which has been the site of a conflict between the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces since November 2020. The government cited sovereignty concerns and stated that it was capable of conducting its own investigation.

 This decision was met with criticism from some African leaders and human rights organizations, who argued that an independent investigation was necessary to hold those responsible accountable and to ensure that such abuses do not happen again.

 

Making it Happen

 What lessons should be drawn from this farrago? The obvious one is that cries of  sovereignty were being used by the leaders of African countries as an iron wall against  intervention by African Union. The other lesson is that, to become an effective organization, African Union should stop allowing such cries of  sovereignty to be a substitute for taking bold actions when member countries were set ablaze. In general, a stronger and more effective AU is essential for the development and integration of Africa. To achieve this, African countries needs to strengthen the institutional capacity of the African Union and demonstrate political will to work together for the common good of the continent.

 

Notes

 

Agupusi, P. (2022). The African Union Has Had a Shaky Two Decades but Problems Can be Solved. Retrieved from American University's School of International Service: https://www.american.edu/sis/news/the-african-union-has-had-a-shaky-two-decades-but-problems-can-be-solved.cfm

Butty, J. (2022, September 7). African Union is Failing Africa – Analyst. Retrieved from VOA Africa: https://www.voaafrica.com/a/african-union-is-failing-africa/6735160.html

Human Rights Watch. (2022). Burundi: Events of 2021. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/burundi

Plaut, M. (2014). Why is the African Union Still Failing Its People on Peace and Security? Retrieved from African Arguments: https://africanarguments.org/2014/01/why-is-the-african-union-still-failing-its-people-on-peace-and-security-by-martin-plaut/

Reuters. (2020, November 21). Ethiopia Rejects African Mediation, Pushes Toward Rebel-Held Tigray Capital. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/ethiopia-conflict-idINKBN28108V

The Economist. (2022, February 12). The African Union: Older and Less Wise. p. 41.