Abstract:
The African continent is inextricably linked to the development of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm and the latter’s ethical interpretation of the duties associated
with state sovereignty. With the African Union (AU) having institutionalised R2P in
its legal-institutional foundation of 2000, the stage seemed set for the new African
Peace and Security Architecture to demonstrate the continent’s ramped-up
interventionist approach to security. One of the first cases that presented an
opportunity to do so was the humanitarian crisis that erupted after the 2010
elections in Côte d’Ivoire. As the crisis unfolded, however, it became clear that the
AU was not only unable to operationalise its institutionalised R2P mechanisms,
but indeed reluctant to invoke R2P explicitly. This raises serious concerns about
the AU’s willingness to intervene in its member states when humanitarian
atrocities are perpetrated by governments against their own people, and throws
into serious doubt the AU’s promise to provide ‘African solutions to African
problems’.
