The rhetoric and reality of the AU peace operations in Darfur (Sudan): Is the ‘African Solution’ enough?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explored whether the African Union’s peace operations driven by the ‘African solutions’ approach is enough or not. To bear evidence, this study uses the AU’s intervention in Darfur to interrogate the efficacy of the ‘African solutions’. The reason for selecting the case of Darfur is motivated due to the following two critical rationales. In the first place, this state has faced a prolonged internal conflict state of affairs. More importantly, the case of Darfur is chosen mainly because the case is one of the glaring examples of the AU’s comprehensive peace operation. The interviews were conducted in Ethiopia (Addis Ababa) and Sudan (Khartoum). This study argues that given the reluctance of international actors to engage in Africa to tackle instabilities, the idea of ‘African solutions to African problems’ seems an alternative approach to the multifaceted security challenges of the continent of Africa. However, currently, there is a wide gap between the AU’s ambitions and its actual accomplishment; for practical reasons, the ‘African solutions’ maxim requires a sober political and financial commitment from the member states of the AU.