Mahemud Eshtu

The African Union Right of Intervention: a New Development Under International Law Mahemud Eshtu

Since the end of the 1990s, the African continent has been marginalized in ways it had not been during the height of the cold war. This remains true in the area of international peace and security, where African states have come to realize that they cannot depend on member states of the SC to ensure stability on the continent. As a result, African leaders have established norm creating security mechanisms that chiseling away at traditional prohibitions against use of force outside the authority of SC. However, the probe of such mechanisms against the stipulations of UN Charter tends to show the legal troubles revolving on the prohibition of use of force and the primacy of SC. In attempt to resolve the legal trouble, the paper addresses the issues whether the AU right of intervention requires SC authorization and Is the establishment of AUPSC meant to take the supremacy of SC or not. To this end, it analysis the legal Documents of AU vis-à-vis the jus add bellum norms of the charter and argue that the AU right of intervention requires neither the SC authorization nor the consent of member state. Finally, it shows the existence of shift in paradigm.