AU Peace and Security Council

The Peace and Security Council (PSC) is the African Union's principal organ for collective security and early warning. It was established by the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, adopted in Durban in July 2002 and entered into force in December 2003. The PSC effectively replaced the Organization of African Unity's Central Organ of the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution.

The Council has 15 members elected by the AU Executive Council and endorsed by the Assembly: 10 serving two-year terms and 5 serving three-year terms, allocated by region (Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Africa). Unlike the UN Security Council, there are no permanent members and no veto; decisions on procedural matters are taken by simple majority and on substantive matters by a two-thirds majority.

Its mandate, set out in Article 7 of the Protocol, includes anticipating and preventing conflicts, peacemaking and peacebuilding, authorizing and overseeing peace support operations, recommending intervention under Article 4(h) of the AU Constitutive Act in cases of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, and imposing sanctions in cases of unconstitutional changes of government.

The PSC is supported by several components of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA): the Continental Early Warning System, the Panel of the Wise, the African Standby Force, and the Peace Fund. It coordinates with Regional Economic Communities and mechanisms such as ECOWAS, IGAD, and SADC, and maintains a formal consultative relationship with the UN Security Council through annual joint meetings.

The PSC has been active in responses to crises in Sudan, Somalia, the Central African Republic, Mali, Libya, and the Sahel, and routinely suspends member states following coups — as it did with Mali (2021), Guinea (2021), Burkina Faso (2022), Niger (2023), and Gabon (2023).