The Mauritanian Coup: an African Union Response

The African Union (AU) has condemned the military coup in Mauritania and insisted on a return to constitutional government while sending its peace and security commissioner ‘to assess the situation and assist in promoting a peaceful solution to the crisis’. The AU went further to suspend Mauritania's membership until a democratically elected government is in place and demanded the release of Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. The suspension is ‘a powerful reminder that Africa is not prepared to return to the dark days when military coups were the tradition’. Analysts have further called for the AU to urge the coup leaders to ‘immediately form a caretaker government’ to restore democracy. International condemnation of the coup has been widespread with threats by the United States and the European Union to cut non-humanitarian aid.

Still in peace and security news, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the AU has expressed concerns at the resignation of a number of cabinet ministers from the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and ‘its impact on the ongoing peace and reconciliation efforts’. The PSC also condemned the attacks against the AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and humanitarian workers saying that ‘all acts of violence aimed at undermining the ongoing process in Somalia furthered instability in the region as a whole’. The PSC also called on opposing parties in Burundi to avoid ‘procrastination and delay tactics’ that affect the implementation of the peace deal despite the return to Bujumbura of the representatives of Palipehutu/FNL. Meanwhile, ‘the Kenya style power sharing’ solution, favoured by the AU and the Southern African Development Community, appeared to be close to agreement in the Zimbabwe talks.

In health related news, the former Botswana president Festus Mogae ‘launched a new initiative that will try to use the energy and experience of a group of renowned and forthright African leaders to persuade their peers on the continent to inject fresh energy into their efforts to combat Aids’. The group will include former presidents and other African prominent individuals.

African and Turkish non governmental organisations will meet in Istanbul under the theme ‘cooperation and development’ to set a joint cooperation platform and declaration tackling issues of development, gender, communication and environment, amongst others, to be submitted to the ‘Turkey-Africa cooperation summit’. The aim of the heads of states and government summit is to promote and strengthen political, economic and cultural relations between Turkey and the continent.

Finally, in an interview with the Mail & Guardian, the AU Commission chairperson, Mr. Jean Ping noted with optimism the AU’s vision of an Africa free from war and dictatorships and noted the progress made in peace and security with only Somalia and Sudan remaining as protracted conflicts on the Continent. However, he noted that the AU faces considerable financial constraints and claimed that “we should build the capacity of the African Union to deal with all these issues. We should also convince the staff that they should move from reflection to action. There will be resistance everywhere—they are used to meetings and committees. I hope that before my departure we will triumph by bringing our tool, the African Union, into action’.