In the past decade or more, a new form of response to conflict challenges has taken shape on the African continent where member states form ad hoc coalitions that are different to present Peace Support Operations (PSOs). These coalitions’ primary mandate and objective is to restore peace. The management of these structures differs from the usual PSOs because of the attendant complexities such as the legality, legitimacy, the trans-boundary nature of these operations, funding, accountability, reporting channels, communication, support and coordination or the various multiple stakeholders and resources.
In the face of these multiple challenges, the African Union Commission (AUC) Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD) convened a Roundtable Discussion to discuss the “Implications of Ad Hoc Regional Coalitions of States for the African Standby Force and African Peace and Security Architecture.” A number of experts, Training for Peace (TfP) partners: The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and NUPI and representatives from other AUC departments and independent experts were invited to the Roundtable that was held on the 10th August 2017, at the African Union Commission, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The objective of this engagement was to:
- Determine how ad hoc coalitions align with and deviate from the APSA and ASF particularly with regard to political, institutional, doctrinal, and operational aspects;
- Provide guidance on how ad hoc coalitions impact on the impending establishment of an AU PSO Doctrine;
- Improve our understanding on the role of the AU, vis-í -vis these ad hoc coalitions;and
- Generate recommendations for a policy brief for the AUC leadership.
The ACCORD/TfP’s involvement in these activities is in response to the AU objective of working with partners to enhance the skills and capacities of the African Standby Force to respond to threats to peace and security on the African continent.
The ACCORD/TfP programme is an initiative funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
