Description
The African Union (AU) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), which jointly form the African Peace and Security Architecture, have facilitated numerous peace agreements in the past two decades. But many agreements broke down shortly after their conclusion without being implemented. Comparative research on peace-making shows that continued third-party support after the conclusion of agreements can better the chances of their implementation. Intergovernmental organisations may support implementation processes through continued mediation, third-party guarantees and monitoring. Whilst policies of the AU and REC recognise the need to support agreements which their mediators facilitate, how the organisations support implementation processes in practice constitutes a major research gap.
The objective of the paper is, therefore, to explore how African organisations support the implementation of Comprehensive Peace Agreements (CPA) through mediation, guarantees and monitoring in practice; how these three forms of support interdepend; why the organisations do or do not provide support; and how their support practices affect the outcome of peace processes. To explore these issues, the study process-traces and compares the implementation support practices of three African organisations in peace processes in Kenya, South Sudan and Zimbabwe, where CPAs were facilitated by the AU, Intergovernmental Authority on Development and Southern African Development Community.
