The PSC’s leadership is key to implementing the Pact for the Future
The Council’s leadership is critical in steering the continent’s engagement in the Pact’s most consequential dimensions.
The recent Summit of the Future acknowledged the realisation that the global governance structure is not fit for the complexities of the 21st century. The summit led to the adoption of the Pact for the Future and its two annexes, the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations.
As a continent whose peace and security issues are often discussed by key multilateral platforms such as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Africa has a stake in implementing the pact effectively. The African Union’s Peace and Security Council (PSC) also plays a crucial role in steering the continent’s engagement in some of the pact’s most consequential dimensions.
The cracks in the multilateral order have been increasingly apparent, with clear implications for managing African peace and security. Difficulties abound in forging collective action on facets of international cooperation, including economic development, international security, global health, human rights and the environment.
The most acute challenge of the multilateral order has been delivering peace as a global public good. While the multilateral crisis has been long in the making, it took an ominous turn with the Russia-Ukraine war, which, among others, has deeply polarised key multilateral platforms such as the UNSC. The paralysis in key platforms such as the UNSC has had further implications on the peace efforts of continental mechanisms like the PSC, particularly in addressing crises such as Sudan.
Thus, the imperative for a holistic reform of the system has been an overriding theme in Summit of the Future documents, including ‘Our Common Agenda’ and, later, Pact for the Future.
Overview of the pact
Although the pact may not have fully lived up to the expected radical overhaul of the multilateral system, it generated a fairly comprehensive and positive consensus for fostering cooperation. Its five chapters cover issues spanning sustainable development, peace and security, science and technology and the transformation of global governance. While revitalising multilateralism and international cooperation, it aspires to enhance collective action through more inclusive, representative and responsive institutions that can adapt to emerging threats and better support sustainable development.
A few of the pact’s provisions are particularly significant for furthering Africa’s peace and security governance agenda, notably the proposal to reform the UNSC and adaptations to UN global peace frameworks.
Welcoming the summit as an opportunity to reflect candidly on Africa’s pressing challenges, on 4 July 2024, the PSC convened a brainstorming session on the summit and reflected on the chapeau and five chapters of the pact.
One key issue throughout the preparation for the pact has been implementation and monitoring mechanisms. To this end, the Council underlined the importance of a roadmap and monitoring mechanism to ensure the implementation of key decisions of the pact. Now that the pact is adopted, the PSC must proactively lead the effective implementation of its outcomes, aligning them with the continent’s peace, security and development priorities and challenges.
The PSC’s role
The first pathway is PSC leverage of the pact’s emphasis on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in addressing the underlying causes and drivers of conflicts. The UN affirms that one of the pact's key aspirations is to turbocharge the SDGs. The pact and its two annexes make several references to SDGs.
By linking the emphasis on SDGs with AU initiatives such as Agenda 2063 and Silencing the Guns, the PSC can revitalise and intensify its work in structural conflict prevention — one of the Council's least-prioritised areas. Bold measures are needed to implement PSC decisions on enhancing the use of the Continental Early Warning System and other conflict prevention frameworks in PSC decision-making processes. These include the voluntary Country Structural Vulnerability and Resilience Assessment and Country Structural Vulnerability Mitigation Strategies. Such processes need to be part of enacting the PSC decision to review the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).
The pact produced a comprehensive, positive consensus document to foster multilateral cooperation
The pact’s proposals on building and sustaining peace nationally (Action 18) can foster concrete efforts that promote sustainable peace on the continent, including enhanced PSC engagement in building national peace infrastructures in member states.
Secondly, the PSC can leverage the pact’s momentum to rekindle similar debates on Africa’s approaches to collective security that match current realities. Recalibrating APSA is essential, particularly now when much regional effort is needed, and the utility and effectiveness of existing peace frameworks such as the African Standby Force is increasingly contested. For example, the pact's commitment to making better use of preventive diplomacy can easily extend to the discussion at the AU policy organs and Regional Economic Communities on revitalising AU’s approaches to conflict prevention and resolution.
Thirdly, Action 16 of the pact commits to promoting cooperation and understanding among member states, seeking the pacific settlement of disputes and resolving conflicts. The key focus is on re-establishing trust and diffusing tension. This is paramount in Africa. During the last PSC ministerial meeting in New York on 23 September 2024, the Council underscored the unprecedented level of interstate tensions and disputes. By the AU's count, at least 12 countries are at loggerheads. This reinforces the importance of proactive PSC engagement in recommitting states to peaceful dispute resolution.
Fourthly, the PSC can offer much-needed African perspectives to the AU Assembly and Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government (C10) on the UNSC reform. This will harmonise the continent’s positions on the reform as part of the pact’s commitment to transforming global governance. Countries such as Sierra Leone that are members of both the PSC and C10 could be instrumental in advancing the reform discussion, forging a crucial linkage between the two platforms.
A roadmap and monitoring mechanism could guide the implementation of the pact's key outcomes
In the pact, member states agreed to ‘strengthen efforts in the framework of the intergovernmental negotiations on security council reform as a matter of priority and without delay’. They also adopted new principles for UNSC reform, including redressing Africa's historical injustices while treating it as a special case in improving the underrepresentation of regions such as Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean to increase the Council’s representation. Other principles include balancing representation with effectiveness and the need for future discussion on the future of the veto, including limiting its use and scope.
Although intergovernmental negotiations have been underway since 2008, the adoption of the pact has given the longstanding quest for Africa’s representation in the UNSC fresh impetus. However, critics argue that it has fallen short of concrete actions and hint at more radical options such as the reform of the UN Charter.
Regardless, left unchecked, the quest for a possible African UNSC seat could lead to fierce competition and geopolitical rivalry. It is also essential not to lose the pact’s momentum and political commitment to UNSC reform. The PSC could help structure Africa’s involvement, facilitating debate on the reform.
Finally, the pact pledged to adapt peace operations to better respond to current and emerging challenges. It also supported the upcoming periodic review of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture (PBA). These and similar proposals are key to enhancing the effectiveness of the global and regional peace framework. The PSC could also ensure that Africa engages strategically in these processes.
Pact proposals on building and sustaining peace can foster concrete efforts
One key mechanism for the PSC is ensuring that the ongoing plan to review the African Standby Force concept is linked with the UN peace operations review. Developing a common African position for the UN peace operations review is key to articulating the strategic objectives for developing African peace support operation capabilities and informing Africa’s relationship with the UN and other partners.
It is also vital that the PSC engage in the UN PBA review and ensure its outcomes reflect African priorities. It must ensure that these are in line with the reviewed Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development Policy and frameworks such as the AU Policy Framework on Security Sector Reform and AU Transitional Justice Policy.
This could be done through engaging with the UN Peacebuilding Commission and guiding the AU Commission on developing a common position to inform negotiations on the UN PBA review. Egypt, as a member of the PSC and the AU champion on post-conflict reconstruction and development, could ensure the PSC’s sustained engagement in the review and subsequent negotiations at the UN.
