By Tafi Mhaka
On February 15, during the 38th summit of the African Union (AU) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African leaders elected Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, the foreign minister of Djibouti, as the new chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), the executive branch of the continental body. He prevailed over Raila Odinga, the former prime minister of Kenya, and Richard Randriamandrato, Madagascar’s former minister of foreign affairs.
Youssouf has been Djibouti’s foreign minister since 2005 and takes over from Moussa Faki Mahamat, the former prime minister of Chad, who has served two consecutive four-year terms as the leader of the AUC. In his official manifesto, he has committed to advancing governance and democracy, strengthening institutional capacity, and fostering peace and security, among other goals.
Youssouf assumes office at a precarious time in Africa and is expected to leverage his diplomatic expertise especially to address the conflicts raging in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Youssouf appears poised to champion peace and work for substantial positive changes in countries across the continent in the coming years. But his success is less than guaranteed, as African leaders are generally hesitant to relinquish significant power to the AU and its affiliated organisations.
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) released a report in March 2022, which revealed that as of July 2021, just 7 percent of its judgements had been fully complied with, 18 percent had been partially complied with, and a substantial 75 percent had not been complied with at all.
Additionally, the report mentioned that several African countries have made it clear to the Executive Council that they will not adhere to the Court’s decisions. Perhaps this explains why last year’s ACHPR report omitted these statistics.
Most African leaders resist the imposition of rigorous external oversight measures – critical interventions that their countries sorely need to prevent war and instability. Hence, it is less than certain what Youssouf might accomplish in the next four years.
The successes and failures of his predecessor, Moussa Faki Mahamat, may offer some clues as to what the new AUC chair could expect to achieve in the coming period.
At a ceremony to mark the official start of his term on March 14, 2017, Mahamat was oozing with confidence. He had pledged to “make the Commission a tool capable of translating into reality the vision of our leaders and the aspirations of our peoples”, and “to silence the guns and realise an Africa free of conflicts by 2020”.
Eight years later, his administration’s performance has been marked by a combination of limited accomplishments and many unresolved challenges.
Mahamat was instrumental in the mediation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA), a landmark peace treaty signed between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on November 2, 2022, in Pretoria, South Africa. This accord brought an end to the devastating 2020-2022 Tigray war. Despite this crucial achievement, however, he was unable to “silence the guns” in the conflicts in Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Somalia and Mozambique – although it was not for lack of effort.
In his address to the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union on February 17, 2024, Mahamat voiced his profound frustration with the illiberal actions of African leaders, who he chose not to name, seemingly in a spirited attempt to rationalise his various failures.
He pointed to the ongoing conflicts on the continent, the resurgence of military coups in Central and West Africa, and the overwhelming unwillingness of certain AU member states to conduct elections that are regarded as credible. On the latter, he rightly said, “Instead of being joyful modes of peaceful transfer or maintenance of power, elections have become, through the extent of their irregularities, factors for deepening crises.”
At the same time, he emphasised that many African leaders have largely ignored the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), the AU’s blueprint for conflict prevention, management, and resolution, and its counterpart, the African Governance Architecture (AGA). The purpose of the AGA is to foster and defend human and people’s rights, enhance democratic institutions and culture, and guarantee good governance and the rule of law.
Mahamat also bemoaned the fact that institutional reforms within the continental union have not effectively tackled the issues related to the powers of the AUC and its chairperson. “Although the Chairperson of the Commission is recognised in the texts as the Legal Representative and ‘Chief Accounting Officer’ of the organisation, he is paradoxically deprived of sufficient margin of manoeuvre to act urgently on strategic questions.”
Then, he offered a sharp critique of African leaders, alleging they possess “the frantic tendency to make decisions without real political will to implement them”. This has resulted in the woeful and unworkable scenario where, according to Mahamat, 93 percent of decisions made in 2021, 2022, and 2023 were not acted on.
Such systematic defiance, he added, is noticeable at both the level of member states and regional communities, with member states often disregarding and carelessly violating the resolutions established by continental bodies. Alarmingly, he warned that without transformative changes, the organisation would be unable to effectively respond to the sociopolitical challenges present on the continent.
African leaders are, without a doubt, a significant barrier to the sociopolitical and economic advancement of the continent. They take pleasure in witnessing the AU develop into a consciously weakened entity that primarily caters to their self-centred, unscrupulous aims.
It is therefore imperative that Youssouf, in his role as Mahamat’s successor, be granted ample independent authority and resources to enforce strict compliance with the organisation’s conventions, particularly with respect to APSA and AGA.
Without that, he may sadly be as powerless to resolve the continent’s most pressing problems as his predecessor.
In 2002, the AU introduced the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to allow member states to voluntarily evaluate their governance practices. However, its effect has been minimal. Given the ongoing conflicts and inadequate governance that persist across the continent each year, Africa clearly requires a comprehensive regulatory framework for yearly and impromptu national assessments.
Consider the situation in Sudan.
For three decades, the AU turned a blind eye to the unlawful, autocratic and deeply inhumane actions of President Omar al-Bashir’s regime – actions that slowly paved the way for the coup of April 11, 2019. The removal of al-Bashir in the coup subsequently set the stage for another military takeover on October 25, 2021, and the present civil war.
AU inaction and inability to impose good governance set the scene for similar failings in Mozambique.
The ruling Frelimo party’s profound inability to establish an inclusive democracy, ensure economic stability, and deliver fundamental services has made the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado fertile ground for insurrection. Beginning in October 2017, an armed rebellion in the province has led to the displacement of more than 1.3 million people, compromised the healthcare infrastructure, and resulted in a critical humanitarian crisis. The AU and its various bodies did little more than watch these tragedies unfold.
Indeed, in both scenarios, the AU had the opportunity to implement decisive and timely governance interventions to advance peace, stability, and socioeconomic well-being. It didn’t, or, more accurately, it couldn’t.
Unfortunately, Addis Ababa has historically been stripped of the requisite authority to analyse and respond to bad leadership. Mozambique and Sudan are just two examples among many. The AU has also been unable to deal with the plight of political prisoners in Eritrea, democratic backsliding in Tunisia, and the years-long brutal repression of opposition leaders in Uganda, to name but a few.
Given the persistent disdain for essential AU protocols that prompts unrest across the continent, it is crucial that the new chair of the AUC does not take on a passive stance in the coming four years. His office must be endowed with the unequivocal power to hold African leaders accountable for their political excesses and failings.
Youssouf can forge a legacy of peace and socioeconomic transformation in his new role, but first he must get the AU to start working in the best interests of its primary stakeholders: Africa’s 1.5 billion people.
Tafi Mhaka is a social and political commentator. He has a BA Honours degree from the University of Cape Town.
The column African Union is in desperate need of a new beginning first appeared on Al Jazeera.
