The Role of the African Union and the Responsibility to Protect in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): An Analysis

Manasseh Bassey & Eyo O. Eminue

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Abstract

African Union (AU), formerly called the Organization for African Unity (OAU), was formed, primarily to foster harmony and cohesion among member states and has, played a crucial part in the inhibition and determination of crisis within Somalia (1980’s), Cote D’Ivoire (2002), Libya (2011), Burundi (2015) and Sudan (2023). The study applied both the English School of thought in international relations and the Qualitative Comparative Method to the study of Political Science in the analysis of the responsibility of the African Union in safeguarding humanitarian conventions and essential rights in wartime. This study explored the role of the African Union in upholding the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) within the context of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a Central African nation plagued by persistent conflict, mass atrocities, and humanitarian crises. The study evaluated qualitatively the capacity of the African Union to intercede in situations where the Congolese régime failed to defend its people from human rights abuses by analysing the African Union’s capabilities through its peace-keeping architecture and mechanism. The study also highlighted the African Union’s efforts to enforce African-led solutions, such as employing the use of regional forces and facilitating peace negotiations while also addressing the problems of limited resources, political will and harmonisation with other international bodies such as the United Nations (UN). This study assessed the successes and shortcomings or failures of the African Union’s interventions, especially in addressing armed clashes in the East of the DRC and perceived “justified” atrocities perpetrated by both governmental and non-governmental actors. The analysis shed deeper light on the application of the principle of R2P in Africa while also offering insights as to how Africa can strengthen its framework for civilian protection and conflict resolution amidst complex geopolitical realities.

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