Africa’s continental and subregional organizations are at the forefront of conflict prevention and crisis management across the continent. Given the increasing complexity of conflict drivers and the transnational impact of modern armed conflicts, cooperation and coherence between the UN and the African Union (AU) are important to ensure responses are successful. Direct engagement between the UN and the AU on peace and security has accelerated in recent years, culminating in the Joint UN-AU Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security, signed in April 2017 by the UN secretary- general and AU Commission chairperson.
The partnership between the UN and the AU remains a strategic priority for the two organizations and their members. Building on IPI and the Institute for Security Studies’ (ISS) joint project in 2019 on the UNAU partnership, the partners will further expand their research in 2020, particularly in three areas: (1) the UN-AU partnership on peacebuilding; (2) cooperation on the AU’s Silencing the Guns initiative; and (3) support to the AU Permanent Observer Mission to the UN and Norway as co-chairs of the Friends of the UN-AU Partnership.
Effective and sustainable multilateral peace and security initiatives in Africa depend on a strong partnership between the United Nations and the African Union. While their strategic partnership has grown since 2017, collective peacebuilding efforts still lag behind cooperation in other areas. Different institutional mandates, policy frameworks, and operational practices have led them to carve out […]
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The United Nations and the African Union (AU) have worked in tandem since the AU’s establishment in 2002. During this time, their partnership has evolved to focus increasingly on conflict prevention and crisis management, culminating in the 2017 Joint UN-AU Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security. But while the organizations’ collaboration on peacekeeping […]
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IPI held a policy forum on November 7th on the evolution of the strategic partnership between the United Nations and the African Union, with a specific focus on how they undertake conflict prevention and crisis management efforts. Organized with the support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the African Union Permanent Observer Mission to […]
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IPI was the scene on March 14th of the launch of a new handbook on peacebuilding in Africa and a discussion by prominent Africans on the state of peacebuilding, past and present, on the continent. In opening remarks, Fatima Kyari Mohammed, the new Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations, said that […]
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Authorized in January 2009, the UN Support Office for the African Union Mission in Somalia (UNSOA) was an unprecedented operation. Through UNSOA, the Department of Field Support used the UN’s assessed contributions to directly support a non-UN regional peace operation (AMISOM). Although this significantly enhanced AMISOM’s capabilities and increased its overall effectiveness, UNSOA faced numerous […]
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With international challenges including terrorism, the refugee crisis, and the volatile security situation in fragile states directly affecting them, Africans are especially keen to take charge of their continent’s destiny.UN cooperation with regional organizations like the African Union (AU) is at an all time high, El Ghassim Wane, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, […]
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The United Nations and African Union now deploy a record number of peacekeepers in Africa. In the past two years, the relationship between the two institutions has deepened, as new AU missions in Mali and the Central African Republic have transitioned into UN peacekeeping operations and ongoing missions in Somali and South Sudan have expanded […]
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This paper analyzes the recent history of relations between the UN Security Council and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) with respect to peace operations.
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The International Peace Institute is an independent, international not-for-profit think tank with a staff representing more than 20 nationalities, located in New York across from United Nations headquarters. IPI is dedicated to promoting the prevention and resolution of conflicts between and within states by strengthening international peace and security institutions. To achieve its purpose, IPI employs a mix of policy research, convening, publishing and outreach.
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