The African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) includes the three central instruments conflict prevention, conflict management and peace building of the African Union (AU), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) as well as the Regional Mechanism (RMs).
The APSA evolved in the late 1990s, when the African continent was confronted with severe crises such as the civil war in Somalia, which was ongoing since 1991, and the genocide in Rwanda 1994.
[1] In order to be able to intervene in situations of severe human rights violations, the member states of the OAU decided to establish the African Union (AU) in 2002.
This normative shift increased when the founding protocol of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the AU came into effect December 26, 2003.
[6] Article 2 names the following five pillars of the APSA, including institutions and decision-making processes: -the Peace and Security Council (PSC), which is the central organ of the AU -the Panel of the Wise (PoW) -the Continental Early Warning System (CEWS) -the African Standby Force (ASF) -the Peace Fund The AU claims that its mandate in the area of peace and security is valid for the whole African continent.