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.