What other interventions has the AU mounted?

The African Union has launched several other interventions, with mixed success. A March 2008 invasion of Anjouan, one of three islands making up the Comoros, resulted in the successful ouster of the island’s separatist leader. As World Politics Review notes, however, the mission attracted little attention outside the continent. The AU’s intervention in Burundi in 2003, in which an AU peacekeeping force of some 3,000 troops was deployed as a bridging force until a larger UN force arrived, is widely acknowledged as a success. In June 2004, the AU force was absorbed in a UN force of 5,650. Experts say the AU force was crucial to maintaining security (PDF) during cease-fire negotiations.

However, the deployment of AU peacekeepers to Somalia in 2007 has highlighted the body’s limitations. Of the eight thousand troops promised, only 1,500 Ugandans and 200 Burundians have been deployed thus far. The current force’s mandate expires in August 2008, and the African Union is urging the United Nations to takeover. Some members of the UN Security Council have expressed reservations about such a deployment in light of the continued inability of Somalia’s transitional federal government to improve security in the country.
Given the short life of the AU and its limited experience with peacekeeping on the continent, most say the international community views Darfur as a “litmus test” for the AU’s ability to promote peace in Africa. But “the AU requires extensive political and material support from the international community to deliver on its commitments to peace and security,” writes Kristiana Powell, a researcher at The North-South Institute, in a working paper on the AU’s emerging peace and security regime (PDF). Slow decision making and the lack of flexible funding from donors such as the EU, G8, and the United States have hindered the AU’s peacekeeping efforts.
What barriers prevent the AU from evolving into a stronger institution?
The AU faces tremendous organizational and financial barriers. It took many years for similar regional institutions in Europe, Asia, and Latin America to establish themselves, and the AU faces the additional challenges of endemic poverty and civil conflict among many of its member states. In addition, the AU relies on regional economic communities that are also weakly organized. “None of these states can really produce very much,” says Collins, “They look at the bureaucracy and they are less likely to give.” As of the 2006 Banjul Summit, only twelve countries had paid their 2006 contributions.

Others say AU reform and peacekeeper deployment is also subject to the will of its strongest leaders, namely President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. Cooke cites Zimbabwe as an example of a state in crisis that the AU has failed to assist. And at Banjul, leaders including Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe blocked the AU from adopting a much-anticipated democracy charter that would have strengthened the electoral process, ended military coups, and stopped constitutional changes to allow presidents to stay in office.

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