INTRODUCTIONOn 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa, 53 leaders inaugurated Union (AU), a continent-wide organization to replace Organization of Unity (OAU). This new organization calls for major changes to panAfrican approaches to peace and security. The AU's security architecture is being managed by a newly created i5-member peace and security council (PSC).The protocol relating to establishment of peace and security council, which outlines major elements of new security regime of AU, places renewed emphasis on building a continental security regime charged with tasks of preventing, managing, and resolving conflicts in Africa. Many leaders in Africa have heralded these developments as a first step toward building lasting peace on continent. As South President Thabo Mbeki noted about emergent AU in a letter to National Congress (ANC),contrary to what some have written that ours is a 'hopeless continent,' decision taken at Sirte [that is, creation of AU and its security architecture] cannot but give hope to millions of Africans from confluence of Indian and Atlantic Oceans in South, to Mediterranean in North, that enhancement of unity will enable all of us to overcome problems that have confronted us for centuries.1The hope of leaders is predicated on belief that new security architecture of AU, as president of Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, remarked, will help African people...conquer war.2However, a common view in academy and media is that no serious change has taken place. As Parker and Rukare suggest, the importance of entry into force of [constitutive act] establishing new [African Union] may lie mainly in its symbolism.3 At centre of this debate lie following questions. Does transition from OAU to AU represent a fundamental shift in approaches to pan-African security? If so, what are new tools in pan-African security box? And will these new tools help bring peace to Africa?This article constructs an analytical framework to understand and assess transition from OAU's conflict resolution mechanisms to AU's emerging security regime. We argue that AU's new peace and security architecture draws on two distinct paradigms of peace: concept of pax Africana, as defined by AIi Mazrui,4 and international peace and security norms articulated in International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) 2001 report on the responsibility to protect.5 The AU's approach to peace and security diverges significantly from OAU's peace and security mechanisms with respect to rules and authority structure governing intervention and mechanisms to effect intervention. Consequently, AU has historic potential to bring Africa closer to a more inclusive peace-what we call a pax pan-Africana-that takes as its central referent protection of vulnerable populations, not sanctity of state borders.The first section of this article briefly traces evolution of OAU/AU's security design in order to provide a context for analysis. The second section builds an analytical framework for tracking transition from OAU's security mechanisms to peace and security architecture of AU by drawing on ideas articulated in pax Africana concept and responsibility to protect. The penultimate section applies this framework to AU's security regime and argues that AU's approach to peace and security can be described as a synergy between pax Africana and protection frameworks. This section makes clear that AU's approach to peace and security differs significantly from that of OAU and has potential to provide Africans and their leaders with tools to help bring lasting peace to Africa. …
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Mar 23, 2021
Adeniyi S Basiru + 2
Open Access