How African Organisations Support Peace Agreement Implementation: AU, IGAD and SADC mediation, guarantees and monitoring practices in Kenya, South Sudan and Zimbabwe

Over the past 20 years, the African Union (AU) and Regional Economic Communities (REC) have become pivotal peacemakers in Africa. The intergovernmental organisations, which jointly established the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), have facilitated numerous peace agreements to contain violent intrastate conflicts. These agreements, however, often collapse without being implemented. This report explores how African organisations support the implementation of framework agreements for transitions through continued mediation, guarantees and monitoring. To this end, it traces how the AU, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) supported the implementation of framework agreements in Kenya, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.

The case studies highlight the importance of independent, well-capacitated and credible implementation monitoring mechanisms (IMM) to inform the work of mediators and guarantors, keep track of progress, resolve disputes and render transitional mechanisms transparent to signatories and societal stakeholders. The outcome of the transitions and implementation support by the African organisations was mixed. Constraints included the organisations’ low capacity to provide sustained support, discords among member states and within the international community, poorly designed and resourced transitional mechanisms and, most importantly, signatories’ limited commitment to implement agreements.