Conflict Prevention and Resolution
Senior 6 · History
Conflict Prevention and Resolution
Lesson 2 of 5
25 min
When the African Union replaced the OAU in 2002, its Constitutive Act gave it something the OAU never had: the right to intervene in a member state "in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity" (Article 4(h)). The memory of 1994, when the world failed Rwanda, was one of the reasons. The UN Charter had already foreseen a role for regional organisations; read Source A and decide how the work is meant to be shared.
Important
Source A: Charter of the United Nations (1945), Article 52(2)
"The Members of the United Nations entering into such arrangements or constituting such agencies shall make every effort to achieve pacific settlement of local disputes through such regional arrangements or by such regional agencies before referring them to the Security Council."
Chapter VIII of the Charter thus asks regional organisations to try first, while the Security Council keeps "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security" (Article 24).
Definition
International community: the states of the world and the international organisations they create, acting together, above all through the United Nations.
Regional organisation: an organisation of states in one region, such as the African Union or the East African Community, that cooperates on trade, politics and security.
Peace and Security Council (PSC): the African Union's standing decision-making body for preventing, managing and resolving conflicts.
Sanctions: measures such as arms embargoes, travel bans or freezing assets, used to pressure a government or group without using force.
Good offices: the help of a respected third party, such as the UN Secretary-General, to bring parties together to talk.
Figure 2. The AU's system for peace and security, set up by the Protocol on the Peace and Security Council (2002). Drawn by Ganzaa.
| Organisation | Examples of its peace and security role |
|---|---|
| African Union | its first peace operation, in Burundi (2003); the mission in Darfur (2004–2007), with Rwandan troops among the first to deploy; missions in Somalia since 2007 |
| East African Community (Rwanda a member since 2007) | mediation in Burundi and in the east of the DR Congo; a regional force in the eastern DR Congo (2022–2023) |
| International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) | the 2006 Pact on Security, Stability and Development, with protocols on preventing genocide and on non-aggression |
| IGAD (Horn of Africa) | mediation of the peace agreements for Sudan (2005) and South Sudan (2015 and 2018) |
| ECOWAS (West Africa) | its monitoring force ECOMOG intervened in the Liberian civil war from 1990 and in Sierra Leone |
Burundi, Rwanda's southern neighbour, suffered a civil war from 1993, after the assassination of its first elected Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye. Regional leaders took the lead. Talks in Arusha, Tanzania, were facilitated first by Julius Nyerere and, after his death in 1999, by Nelson Mandela. On 28 August 2000 most parties signed the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi, which set out power sharing between the main groups and reforms of the army.
Because some armed groups had not signed and the UN would not deploy before a ceasefire, the African Union sent its first peace operation, the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB), in 2003, with troops from South Africa, Ethiopia and Mozambique. In 2004 the UN took over with its own mission, ONUB, and elections were held in 2005.
Analysis. Burundi shows the division of labour imagined in Article 52: regional leaders mediated, the AU deployed first when the UN could not, and the UN then brought larger resources. It also shows a limit: agreements need all armed groups and continued political commitment to last.
Warning
The AU does not replace the UN. Regional organisations try first and know the region best, but under the UN Charter the Security Council keeps primary responsibility, and regional enforcement action needs its authorisation (Article 53). Show the partnership, not a competition.
Tip
Example, date, outcome. For each organisation you cite, give one operation or agreement, its date and its result. Burundi (Arusha 2000, AMIB 2003, ONUB 2004) is an excellent sequence because it shows mediation, a regional mission and a UN mission one after another.
Important
Discuss. "African solutions to African problems." What are the strengths of this idea, and what does it need, in money, troops and political will, to work?
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the analysis, the diagram (Figure 2), the table, the case study and the exercises.
