The panel is an interesting but small institution. Its neither a mediation organ nor a think tank, but something in between and, in principle, has lots of leeway. In the past, the panel has brought many important and complex conflict-related topics to the agenda of the African Union. These include proposing measures to prevent political violence and fight impunity.<\/p>\n
The terms of office of the five members of the panel expired in mid-2020. It was inactive until February 2022 when a fifth panel was appointed during the 35th African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government.<\/p>\n
This relaunch, with an inaugural meeting on 29 March 2022, raised expectations that the panel could again become a proactive force of the African Peace and Security Architecture.<\/p>\n
Having worked, between 2006 and 2019, as an advisor to the union\u2019s peace and security department on early warning, conflict prevention and preventative diplomacy, I consider reinvigorating the panel an important indicator for the African Union\u2019s future in meeting the challenge of silencing the guns in Africa by 2030. This is a key union initiative that aims to end all wars, conflicts and gender-based violence, and prevent genocide for a peaceful continent.<\/p>\n
The question is whether the union has the strategic vision and political will to revive an important institution and make best use of it.<\/p>\n
Origins
\nEfforts to promote peace across the continent go back to the earliest days of the African Union\u2019s predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity. In 1964, the organisation installed a Commission of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration.<\/p>\n
However, it was never institutionalised. Rather, a variety of informal ad hoc peacemaking practices were developed to be executed by African heads of state and government. These were never operationalised.<\/p>\n
In 1991, in rethinking how it addresses violent conflict, the organisation suggested creating an Africa\u2019s Elders Council for Peace. This was based on traditional conflict resolution practices in many African societies \u2013 or at least their idealisation.<\/p>\n
Regional economic communities, for instance the Economic Community of West African States, followed suit. It made the Council of Elders part of its peace and security architecture.<\/p>\n
When the African Union came into being in 2002, those designing the revamped continental body had these experiences in mind. However, the panel was only installed in November 2007.<\/p>\n
The panel\u2019s role is to<\/p>\n
support the efforts of the Peace and Security Council and those of the Chairperson of the Commission, particularly in the area of conflict prevention.<\/p>\n
It is also required to advise the council and the chairperson of the African Union Commission \u201con all issues pertaining to the promotion and maintenance of peace, security and stability in Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n
The panel can act at the request of the council, chairperson or \u201cat its own initiative\u201d. It can pronounce itself on any issue \u201crelating to the promotion and maintenance of peace, security and stability in Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n
It reports to the African Union Assembly through the Peace and Security Council.<\/p>\n
Members of the panel are:<\/p>\n
five highly respected African personalities from various segments of society who have made outstanding contribution to the cause of peace, security and development on the continent”.<\/p>\n
They are nominated by the five African regions \u2013 West, North, East, Central and Southern Africa \u2013 and appointed by the assembly to serve for a period of three years, renewable once.<\/p>\n
Members receive an allowance when meeting at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, or when travelling. They don\u2019t get a salary.<\/p>\n
What the panel has achieved
\nIn my view, the panel has had three major achievements.<\/p>\n
The first is agenda setting. The first two panels (2007\u20132010 and 2010\u20132013) framed important themes for the African Union. This included election-related disputes and political violence (2010), women and children in violent conflict (2011), strengthening political governance in view of the 2011 popular uprisings in North Africa and beyond (2011), and addressing the nexus between transitional justice and peace (2013).<\/p>\n
The second achievement has been in institutionalisation and networking. An example is the Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation, or FemWise-Africa, which was set up in July 2017.<\/p>\n
The network has attracted funding from the donor community, but the COVID-19 pandemic set back its progress. It has, however, resumed trainings to bolster women\u2019s participation in diplomacy and mediation efforts. There are 500 members waiting to be deployed in mediation efforts.<\/p>\n
The third achievement has been in enhancing the union\u2019s mediation capacities, even though it isn\u2019t the mediation arm of the continental body. Members of the panel have been involved behind the scenes in various situations, and supported official mediation teams.<\/p>\n
This has mainly been done through \u201cfact-finding, conciliation and the facilitation of communication\u201d, as noted in one of the few reports done on the panel.<\/p>\n
Hurdles
\nThe Panel of the Wise faces three major challenges.<\/p>\n
The first relates to its positioning within the African Union and the way its financing works. The panel\u2019s secretariat is housed in the Political Affairs, Peace and Security Department (previously called Peace and Security). This has affected its independent status. Members of the panel depend on the goodwill of the Peace and Security Commissioner to do their work.<\/p>\n
Addiitonally, the panel doesn\u2019t have a budget, which means it has to ask for assistance each time it wants to engage with a situation on its own terms. In the past, funding for specific missions was sometimes simply denied. As a result, the third and fourth panels (2014\u20132017 and 2017\u20132020) were more or less sidelined and achieved very little.<\/p>\n
Two, some appointees dropped out as active members of the panel because they considered the position more of an honorary one.<\/p>\n
Three, the emphasis on \u201crespected African personalities\u201d has led to a situation where appointees tend to be quite old when they join the panel. The average age of the current four members of the panel (a member for the Southern Africa region still has to be nominated) at the time of appointment was nearly 76 years.<\/p>\n
The panel\u2019s future
\nTurning the Panel of the Wise into a proactive pillar of the African Union\u2019s peace and security architecture requires at least three steps.<\/p>\n
First, provide it with independent funding.<\/p>\n
Second, beef up the secretariat\u2019s human resources so that it can provide services beyond simple travel logistics.<\/p>\n
Third, the panel needs to develop a strategic agenda with a focus on framing important challenges and possible policy responses to Africa\u2019s peace and security landscape. It must not get lost in ad hoc activities without visibility or strategic aim. The panel\u2019s inaugural meeting bodes well in this respect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the first years after its launch in November 2007, the African Union\u2019s Panel of the Wise was an important pillar of the African Peace and Security Architecture. The other pillars are the Peace and Security Council, the Continental Early Warning System, the African Standby Force and the Peace Fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":10403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,15],"tags":[7,26,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-10406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-politics","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n