BLOGS | OPINION | BARTLETT

When the African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) met in Lusaka for a retreat in 2016, African leaders came up with a number of steps on how to end conflicts which include Jihadist attacks, coups, and war. 

To end these, the union committed to funding the African Standby Force for deployment across the continent to defend the people and most importantly find a lasting way to prevent conflict bakers from accessing weapons to destabilise the people. 

This was to be achieved by the year 2020. 

As you read this, the continent is struggling with conflicts in Somalia, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, coups in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, jihadists active and killing people in Mozambique, Nigeria and Chad. 

We spot unrests in Sudan, Cameroon (The Anglophone crisis), South Sudan and hundreds of active rebel groups in Democratic Republic of Congo like the ADF. 

The issues in these countries have been left to either concerned regional bodies like SADAC which is managing the insurgencies in Mozambique and ECOWAS has placed draconian sanctions on Mali for failing to transit power from the military government to the civilians. 

Has the AU failed in its security mandate? 

When the security council met and adopted the paper in 2016 with the target of resolving conflicts in 2020, it now looks like it was too ambitious since by the close of the targeted year, Africa was already experiencing wars, insurgencies, and internal conflicts in West Africa, East Africa, and the south. 

Some of these are caused by thirsty for power by the different government armies like Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso where presidents have been toppled, arrested and military rule has been installed, increasing jihadist activities that have caused insecurities in the northern region of Nigeria, Mozambique, Chad and the recent Kampala twin bombing by the ADF. 

For countries like Ethiopia and Libya, lack of political engagement has caused lengthy conflicts that have seen women and children lose their lives and humanitarian crisis that has led to high refugee numbers from the two nations globally. When you examine the aforementioned problems that do not include natural disasters caused by climate change, you will notice that the AU standby force is too thin to spread across the continent to resolve war and conflict issues. 

Some are extremely political, economic, and social like in Sudan that any intervention would be deemed interference of internal democratic processes by foreign nations. 

We have also witnessed that the AU has failed to exercise its power on critical issues, leaving it to either UN or the west to determine the subsequent steps for African countries. 

AU was silent when US and NATO took out Gaddafi. 

The French, EU, US have had a say and received ECOWAS’ decision to lockout Mali because of their “internal” decision on their democracy. 

The African Union has also been seen dashing out threatening or diplomatic press releases on the issues affecting the continent yet they could have walked in and resolved the issues. 

Why would we have China, Israel, EU, Russia, and other countries always mitigate our problems? There are more questions than answers on why the AU has failed to achieve the goals set out in 2016. 

What can be done. 

Years ago, the African Union changed its Constitutive Act, allowing it to intervene in the internal affairs of member states, a promising step that could have seen most conflicts end. 

It is time we see the AU Standby force enter countries like Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Libya and return the countries back to sanity. 

The organisation's reluctance stained it as powerless, toothless and a body that simply plays gallery diplomacy. 

Being a member of the AU comes with a number of benefits and suspending the country’s membership would definitely cost the nation. 

The organisation suspended Egypt when Abdel Fattah El-Sisi spearheaded a revolution and readmitted it back in 2014. AU should normalise not accepting revolutions from countries unless they are justifiable like ousting regimes that have committed human rights abuses such as what happened in Zimbabwe. 

That said, the reasons for not suspending such countries can be an inspiration to others. 

If the AU was carrying out its mandate and being consistent with its actions, it would not shy away from resolving the never-ending conflicts escalating in Libya. 

Daron Bartlett 

@bartlettdaron 

The writer is a TV and radio personality and a digital strategist