The Strategic Reflection Remarks of the Chairperson At the Opening Ceremony of the High-Level 20th Anniversary Colloquium of the AU Peace & Security Council, Dar es Salaam, 25 May 2024 

May 25, 2024

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Excellency Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania and Chair of the Peace and Security Council for the Month of May,
Excellency H.E. Hussein Ali Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar
Excellencies Former Heads of State,
Excellencies Members of the Panel of the Wise, Excellency Representative of the Chair of the Union Distinguished members of Council,
Excellency Commissioner, Invited Partners,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to begin by congratulating Your Excellency, Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania and Chairperson of the African Union Peace and Security Council for May 2024, on the exemplary manner with which Tan- zania is steering the affairs of the Council this month. 

I commend Your Excellency and, indeed, the entire PSC for organising this event – on this very important day, Africa Day. This Day reminds us of the Liberation struggle of the Continent and the crucial role played by the Liberation Committee, which was generously hosted by Tanzania. One can almost assert that the Liberation Commit- tee to be the precursor of the current Peace and Security Council. 

History reminds us that the official launch of the Peace and Security Council at the level of Heads of State on twenty fifth May 2004, under the leadership of H.E. former President Olusegun OBASANJO, who at the time, was President of the Federal Re- public of Nigeria. We are extremely privileged to have you amongst us today, Baba, and we are proud of your achievements for peace and security in Africa. 

Excellencies,
Distinguished members of the Peace and Security Council 

Today, the 20th anniversary of the PSC, provides us with an excellent opportunity to reflect on this Organ and to evaluate its work. 

I must say straight away that I have been waiting for a meeting of this kind for some time, devoted to responsible, serious and uncompromising reflection on this central Organ of the Peace and Security Architecture and even, beyond that, the African po- litical architecture as a whole. 

My contribution to this crucial debate is the result of my empirical observation and experience that my position as Chairperson of the Commission has allowed me to develop over the past seven years.

I would like to begin by briefly highlighting four major contributions made by the PSC to peace and security on the Continent.

In the heyday of its development, the PSC has, over the years, established funda- mental principles for Continental peace and security. The intimate link between peace and development; the solution of African problems by Africans themselves; the rejection of violent solutions to African conflicts; the promotion of mediation and political dialogue; the rejection of external interference and the unwavering commit- ment to the independence, sovereignty, integrity and unity of African states have all become part of the collective imagination.

The impetus given to the Continent’s efforts to resolve a number of crises in the DRC, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Libya, among others, were notable milestones in this action.

Soft cooperation between the PSC and the United Nations Security Council has gra- dually been established, giving greater visibility and recognition to our primary ins- trument for peace and security.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Despite these positive elements, which I mention so as not to indulge in self-flagella- tion, does not seem to me to be the time for blissful self-satisfaction. There are a few challenges that I think deserve your attention more than others. I’m going to take a closer look at some of them.

First among these challenges is the urgent need to assess the liberty taken with the basic principles of our Continental Organisation starting with the Declaration of Al- giers, the Lome Declaration, the AU Constitutive Act, the Protocol Establishing the PSC and the African Charter on Democracy, Governance and Elections, in particular.

To these relevant basic texts were added the Accra Declaration, the Malabo Summit Declaration on Unconstitutional Changes of Government and the outcomes of the recent Accra Conference reiterating yet again, zero tolerance in this area.

What have we not proclaimed loud and clear! What have we not done in the opposite direction?

A very simple example. Article 19 of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance expressly proclaims that each State party must inform the Commis- sion of scheduled elections (in the said country) and INVITE it to deploy an electoral observation mission. How many countries have refused to inform the Commission and invite it to observe the elections in their country, without incurring the slightest sanction?

Excellency Madame President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

As everyone knows, the guiding principle of this honourable Organ was to ensure value-based management of peace and security issues in Africa by Africans them- selves.

The background to this was, and remains, the protection of Member States against external interference, whether rival or ally.

The endogenous and exogenous content of this principle has been abused because certain values have been overlooked. Recourse to foreign forces and powers has taken root, with impunity, in our space.

The notorious lack of inter-African solidarity has left Member States beset by inso- luble demands for peace and security with no way out. Populism was unleashed and unconstitutional changes of Government quickly proliferated.

Moreover, let us admit, the PSC accommodated itself in some cases, either by refu- sing to apply the suspension, when it essentially qualified a change as an Unconsti- tutional Change of Government or by refusing to apply sanctions when its decisions were violated, particularly, with regard to the prohibition on the perpetrators of Un- constitutional Change from standing as candidates in the elections after the Transi- tional period. And all those who drew attention to it, intellectuals, Civil Society actors or African leaders, were treated as protesters, embittered, calculating people .. The incongruity was pushed to its peak, when we observed a Regional Economic Com- munity (REC), chaired by a Member State, suspended by your Distinguished Organ, in the presence of PSC Members.

The distortion of the concept of subsidiarity has worsened the problem. This overu- sed concept has suffered a strange and very worrying fate. Instead of being the ba- sis on which a dynamic, fruitful and supportive complementarity rests, it has become the doctrinal support for a belittling of Continental bodies, promoted by the apparent or hidden supporters of the abandonment of the principles and decisions of the Continental Organisation. In this way, subsidiarity has become the main ideological referent to trivialise, indeed,downright paralyse, the main Organ of the entire AU Peace and Security Architecture.

This situation refers to the situation of the RECs, most of which are also in difficulty. Some of their important decisions are, thus, taken in ignorance, or indeed, some- times, in disdain of the decisions of the Peace and Security Council. The question now arises as to which one has primacy, the Continental body or the Regional body? Which should submit to the other? Why is there contradiction, while the Revised Pro- tocol on the Relations between the RECs and the AU stipulates that the AU must en- sure the coordination and harmonisation of Continental Peace and Security policies? Why does a Member State, whether a member of Council or not, when put in difficul- ty by a decision of the PSC, seeks – and finds- through the Regional Organisation, the means to free itself from the decisions of the PSC? Why tolerate this practice?

In the same vein, the United Nations, continues to receive, among its bodies and fora, the African States suspended by the PSC. Moreover, some use these participa- tions to settle their scores with the African Organisation.

The tough question we are facing is this : How can we continue to take decisions and adopt communiques which are constantly violated without any sanction against the perpetrators of the violation? What can we say today to the transition authorities in Africa where the militaries will run for elections? We know today that all of them will run and will claim that they win.

Let us be frank. If we are unable to do anything why we don’t revisit our legal arsenal and be harmonious with ourselves? This is more credible than continuing to decide and communicate while we know that no one among the authors of the violation and their partner in crimes will listen to us.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen 

Another manifestation of the slump of the Organ appears clearly in the indecision and frequent divisions which sometimes suspend decision-making. To overcome these difficulties, the practice established is to seek compromises.

In principle, compromises are better than nothing. Indeed, this is not debatable. Ho- wever, when compromises end up emptying decisions of their meaning by making them vague and imprecise, this is simply the abandonment of principles and the per- version of the original soul of the fine work that is the PSC.

Another phenomenon has compounded the situation. This is the personalisation of the positions of members of Council. Instead of sticking to the founding principles and general interests of Africa, we have observed in some cases, members deta- ching themselves and choose to assert strictly national individual positions, while ignoring all the founding values of the Institution.

This commodification of the Organ has caused serious damage to its prestige, credi- bility and effectiveness, not only in Africa but also with partners, such as the United Nations Security Council and other International or Regional bodies responsible for global peace.

Excellency Madam President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The list of challenges facing the PSC is long. I will not bore you any further with it. However, I cannot conclude these remarks without mentioning the limits of the Council’s means of action.

The modesty of the Council’s means of intervention cannot be underestimated. I do not wish to dwell on the size of the budget allocated to the Council. They suffer the same fate of all the Union’s bodies.

I would rather emphasise the Council’s lack of any means of coercion or of imposing its decisions. This congenital weakness makes the operational function of Council a complete pipe dream.

Where is the African Army? Where is the Standby Force? Where is the Rapid Inter- vention Brigade? All these ambitious projects, whose implementation would have enhanced the PSC’s intervention capabilities, if only to act as a deterrent, have been left to rest in drawers. Reactivating them is a duty and a responsibility that we all share, beginning with me as Chairperson of the Commission, but the leading role here unquestionably belongs to the PSC and above all to the Conference of Heads of State and Government.

Excellency Madam President,
Honourable members of Council,
Commissioner,

The combination of all these factors, expressed here with the modesty required by my position, has dangerously reduced the Council’s, operational capacity. By affecting its credibility, it has had a negative impact on the moral significance of its deci- sions. Indeed, how can we maintain that African problems must be resolved by Africans themselves and accept that their central instrument for doing so should be weakened, let alone accept that it could risk losing its soul?

We are greatly challenged to provide, as a matter of urgency, the appropriate remedies.

Perhaps its inclusion in the list of Organs to be reformed, within the framework of the Institutional Reform, could help cure the wrong. I sincerely think that we must go beyond what could be suggested within this framework to engage in a bolder and more meaningful overhaul.

Any delay, any hesitation, any procrastination in outlining and resolute application of the chosen therapy could contribute to the withering away, perhaps even to the defi- nitive dormancy of the prestigious and precious tool that is the PSC.

I call upon you to combine our will and our intelligence to initiate and lead the re- deeming enterprise of overhauling this primordial Organ and our attitudes towards its noble mission.

I say it loud and clear. There is no future for our Peace and Security Architecture wi- thout a reimagined, redesigned, repositioned, revitalised, resourced, reoriented Peace and Security Council.

In doing so, we will not only be investing in the future, we would also be fulfilling a duty to the memory of our founding father and innparticular Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, who gave his name to the building that is the home of the Peace and Security Coun- cil at our Headquarters in Addis Ababa.

For this important mission, I sincerely extend my hands to you and assure you of my commitment, which is a sacred duty and obligation.

In conclusion, allow me once again to extend my sincere and warm thanks to you Madame President, the government and people of Tanzania for the generous hospi- tality and the excellent conditions you offered to us on this Africa Day.

I congratulate all of you, Honourable Members of the Council and the staff of the De- partment of Political Affairs, Peace and Security for the hard work. I also wish to re- cognise the presence of my Brother Said Djinnit, the first Commissioner of the then Dept of Peace and Security. I am also delighted to see El Ghassim Wane, Dr Kam- budzi and others who have played a pivotal role in this department during their res- pective tenures. I also wish to thank our partners foe your support.

Asanteni sana!