The African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) consists of norms and mechanisms developed over the last fifteen years. These are wide-ranging and their full implementation would be a major advance for peace and security.
- The African Peace and Security Architecture needs to be expanded to include enhanced engagement with the Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms that are increasingly active in matters of peace and security in their respective regions.
- Another element is to rise to the challenges of ‘shared spaces’ of the Red Sea and Mediterranean, with new mechanisms for managing Africa’s growing web of relations with trans-regional and extra-regional organizations (T/XROs);
- The rapid deployment capability of the ASF is weak to non-existent. There is a need to limit the task of the existing ASF, managed by the AU Commission, to consensual peacekeeping, and develop a separate ASF concept for peace enforcement operations that depends on the role of a lead region and a lead state, with the AUC retaining the responsibility for mandating and setting norms and standards for such operations;
- The existing pillars need to be expanded to include measures such as strengthening the Peace and Security Department (PSD) and its Mediation Support Unit.
This Paper is a summary of research undertaken in support of the African Politics, African Peace report, which focuses on how the African Union can implement its norms and use its instruments to prevent and resolve armed conflicts. It is an independent report of the World Peace Foundation, supported by the African Union.
