AU "strengthened" by Peace and Security Council

Noting that Africa has armed itself to the teeth to tackle its raging conflicts, the African Union (AU) on Monday agreed to set up a UN-style Security Council, known as the Peace and Security Council (PSC). However, its formation still has to be ratified.

The PSC will have new powers aimed at tackling the continent’s wars and replacing the AU’s defunct conflict resolution body. It will be able to intervene in conflicts and could soon be matched with an African peacekeeping force, the AU said.

The PSC can act to restore order in a country or stop a country from forming an alliance that is “incompatible with the principles and objectives” of the Union. It can also take action if a country allows its territory to be used as a base for “subversion” against another African nation.

“It [AU] has been strengthened and it has been given more powers,” said AU legal counsel Ben Kioko. “The council will be able to take decisions and implement those decisions.”

But so far only Algeria has ratified the PSC, despite calls by South African President Thabo Mbeki urging leaders to follow suit.

There are also question marks over its powers. As yet the PSC can only intervene once member states agreed that action should be taken. But by setting up the council, which can call for a
peace force to be sent in, the AU can apply additional pressure on factions or leaders bent on war.

The announcement came after African heads of state, meeting in Addis Ababa, agreed on several sticking points that had hampered the newly-formed AU. A senior AU source told IRIN that the organisation's finances would be addressed at the next summit in Maputo, Mozambique, later this year.

Among the decisions made were involving the African Diaspora in the formation of the Union and ensuring that women play a full role in its work. The Union has also decided to promote common policies on trade and defence in order to strengthen the negotiating position of the continent.

It also agreed that Spanish and Kiswahili would be added to the working languages of Arabic, English, French and Portuguese.

Libyan leader Col Mu'ammar Qadhafi, seen as one of the driving forces behind the formation of the AU, stressed the international importance of the organisation.

"Those who look at it from an aggressive and negative view are foolish," he told reporters from his tent in the Ethiopian capital. "It will lead to balance in the international position and it will help in the stability and security of the world." He said African unity was "on the horizon".

Asked about the impending US-led war on Iraq, Qadhafi said the whole world was against war. "This is the first loss that America [has] encountered," he said. "And in the end, finally, terrorism will be victorious if you follow this course of war."