The African Union’s Role in Maintaining Peace and Security in the Great Lakes Region

Abstract

This chapter analyses and interrogates the nature and mechanisms of the African Union (AU) in its role to address the insecurity and violence affecting the Great Lakes region. Based on a review of two recent conflicts in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, this chapter reveals some salient features of the AU’s application of its peace and security instruments in the region. Apart from the inconsistencies in the nature of the AU’s intervention in the region, this chapter reveals that AU’s role in the region has been heavily shaped by the political dynamics there. The future of the AU’s role thus depends on the emergence of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) as an effective platform for mobilising common regional action for addressing insecurity in the region.