The 18th ordinary summit of the Assembly of the African Union has just concluded. This historical summit took the unprecedented decision of putting the AU Commission for the first time under a care-taker leadership until another election is held at the next summit. The February issue of the PSC Report offers a review of the summit with brief reflections on the election for the position of the Chairperson of the AU Commission.

Notwithstanding that it received no attention during the summit, this issue covers the rising terrorist attacks that Boko Haram has continued to perpetrate in Nigeria in recent months.

While much of the focus has been on the rising tension between Sudan and South Sudan, the analysis on South Sudan draws attention to the inter-communal violence that recently devastated Jonglei. Apart from offering an in-depth analysis into the conflict, this section highlights that inter-communal conflict has come to present to Africa’s newest state one of the most serious security challenges, involving risks of possible genocide or ethnic cleansing.

Although Côte d’Ivoire made significant progress in consolidating peace and stability following the assumption of power by President Ouattara and the establishment, on 1 June 2011, of the new Government, the country has yet to address its various security challenges and the underlying divisions that precipitated the crisis. The analysis on Côte d’Ivoire identifies the existing and emerging issues the country has to overcome to sustain peace and stability.

The section on the AU report on AU-UN strategic partnership offered an overview of the recent PSC and UNSC decisions and of the areas of convergence and outstanding differences between the AU and UN.

Report by the Institute for Security Studies