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Abstract
It can be confidently stated that, since its constitutive act came into effect in July, 2001, the African Union (AU) has enjoyed increasing attention at the administrative level from a number of scholars. Most of these scholars focus, however, on the evolution of the AU in general or on the Peace and Security Council and its components and how it links with regional organisations and the United Nations. This article adds to the existing literature by looking closely at the role and place of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) in the decision-making framework of the AU. It also critically analyses the potential of the PRC and the challenges facing it as one of the most important decision-making committees of the AU. Lastly, it examines the evolution of the PRC and its functions. Finally, among other things, the article questions the lack of transparency practised by the PRC and proposes new approaches.
Notes on contributor
Jacob Lisakafu is a lecturer of international relations at the Open University of Tanzania, and the associate director of postgraduate studies. He holds a PhD from the Graduate Centre Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Leipzig.
Notes
1 AU (African Union), Assembly of the African Union: Rules of Procedures of the Permanent Representative Committee, Durban, South Africa, 9–10 July 2002.
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4 AU, Address by the African Union Commission Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. Addis Ababa: African Union, 15 October 2012, p. 13.
5 See Noël E, ‘The Committee of Permanent Representatives’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 5.3, 1976, pp. 219–51. Hayes-Renshaw F, C Lequesne & MP Lopez, ‘The permanent representations of the Member States to the European Communities’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 28.2, December, 1989, pp. 119–37. Lewis J, ‘Is the “hard bargaining” image of the Council misleading? The Committee of Permanent Representatives and the Local Elections Directive’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 36.4, 1989, pp. 479–504. De Zwaan JW, The Permanent Representatives Committee: Its Role in European Union Decision-Making. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1995. Westlake M, The Council of the European Union. London: Cartermill, 1995. Bostock D, ‘COREPER Revisited’, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 40.2, 2002, pp. 215–34. Lempp J, ‘COREPER enlarged: How enlargement affected the functioning of the Committee of Permanent Representatives’, European Political Economy Review, 6, March 2007, pp. 31–52.
6 See Kassim MK, Promoting the African Union. Washington DC: Lilian Barber Press, 2008.
7 Other Organs of the African Union include the Assembly of the Union, the Executive Council, the Pan-African Parliament, the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, the Specialised Technical Committees, the Financial Institutions, the Peace and Security Council, the Economic, Social and Cultural Council, African Union Commission on International Law Advisory Board on Corruption and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
8 COREPER is the French acronym for ‘Comité des Représentants Permanents’ (in English: Committee of Permanent Representatives).
9 See, for example, Hayes-Renshaw F, C Lequesne & MP Lopez, ‘The permanent representations of the Member States to the European Communities’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 28.2, 1989, pp. 119–37. De Zwaan JW, The Permanent Representatives Committee: Its Role in European Union Decision-Making. Amsterdam: Emerald, 1995. Lewis J, ‘Is the “hard bargaining” image of the Council misleading? The Committee of Permanent Representatives and the Local Elections Directive’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 36.4, 1989, pp. 481–2.
10 Lewis J, ‘Is the “hard bargaining” image of the Council misleading? The Committee of Permanent Representatives and the Local Elections Directive’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 36.4, 1989, pp. 479–504.
11 See de Zwaan JW, The Permanent Representatives Committee: Its Role in European Union Decision-Making. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1995. Johnston MT, Handbook of Public Administration and Policy in the European Union. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2005, p. 141.
12 Association of Southern Asian Nations (ASEAN), The ASEAN Charter. Jakarta: The ASEAN Secretariat, 2008, § 12.
13 See Cross MKD, ‘Rethinking epistemic communities twenty years later’, Review of International Studies, 19, 2013, pp. 137–60.
14 Peter MH, ‘Introduction: Epistemic communities and international policy coordination’, International Organization, 46.1, 1992, pp. 1–35 at p. 3.
15 Cross MKD, ‘Rethinking epistemic communities twenty years later’, Review of International Studies, 19, 2013, pp. 137–60 at p. 142.
16 See for example, Engel U & JG Porto, ‘The African Peace and Security Architecture: An evolving security regime?’ in Engel U & JG Porto (eds) Africa's New Peace and Security Architecture: Promoting Norms and Institutionalising Solutions. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010, p. 156. Cross MKD, ‘The limits of epistemic communities: EU security agencies’, Politics and Governance, 3.1, 2015, pp. 90–100. Faleg G, ‘Between knowledge and power: Epistemic communities and the emergence of security sector reform in the EU security architecture’, European Security, 21.2, 2012, pp. 161–84. Kolodziej EA, ‘Epistemic communities searching for regional cooperation’, Mershon International Studies Review, 41.1, 1997, pp. 93–8.
17 Dunlop CA, ‘Epistemic communities, relational distance and the two goals of delegation: Hormone growth promoters in the European Union’, Science and Public Policy, 37.3, April 2010, pp. 205–17, http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/beech/spp (accessed 22 February 2015).
18 Ibid.
19 Cross MKD, ‘Rethinking epistemic communities twenty years later’, Review of International Studies, 19, 2013, pp. 137–60 at p. 142.
20 Dunlop CA, ‘Epistemic communities, relational distance and the two goals of delegation: Hormone growth promoters in the European Union’, Science and Public Policy, 37.3, April 2010, pp. 205–17, http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/beech/spp (accessed 22 February 2015).
21 I would like to thank Kassim Mohamed Khamis, Political Analyst, and Panel of the Wise, Peace and Security Directorate (African Union) who gave me preliminary information about the PRC. Though he is the Political Analyst for the AU Commission, he will participate in this study on an individual capacity as an independent analyst.
22 Crotty M, The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process. London: Sage, 1998.
23 See OAU (Organisation of African Unity)/AU Profile (no date, p. 6). Khamis MK, Promoting the African Union. Washington, DC: Lillian Barber Press, 2008, pp. 11, 104. Van Walraven K, Dreams of Power: The Role of the Organization of African Unity in the Politics of Africa 1963–1993. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999, p. 180.
24 OAU/AU Profile (no date, p. 6). Van Walraven K, Dreams of Power: The Role of the Organization of African Unity in the Politics of Africa 1963–1993. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999. Khamis MK, Promoting the African Union. Washington, DC: Lillian Barber Press, 2008.
25 OAU, Resolution on the Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, CM/Res. 528 (XXVIII) of 21–27 February 1977. Addis Ababa: African Union, para. 2. Van Walraven K, Dreams of Power: The Role of the Organization of African Unity in the Politics of Africa 1963–1993. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999, p. 180.
26 OAU, Resolution Relating to the Composition of the OAU Advisory Committee on Administrative, Budgetary and Financial Matters, CM/Res.951 (XLI), of March 1985. Addis Ababa: African Union, http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/24CoM_1985a.pdf (16 October 2012).
27 OAU, Resolution on the Methodology of the Sessions of the Council of Ministers, CM/Res.1557(LXI), January 1995. Addis Ababa: African Union, para. 4. Khamis MK, Promoting the African Union. Washington, DC: Lillian Barber Press, 2008, p. 104.
28 Khamis MK, Promoting the African Union. Washington, DC: Lillian Barber Press, 2008, p. 104.
29 Ibid., p. 147. Personal interview, Kassim Mohamed Khamis, Political Analyst, Panel of the Wise, Peace and Security Council of the African Union, Addis Ababa, 4 July 2014.
30 Ibid.
31 Article 5 (1) of the Constitutive Act outline define nine organs of the AU Commission including: (a) the Assembly of the Union; (b) the Executive Council; (c) the Pan-African Parliament; (d) the Court of Justice; (e) the Commission; (f) the Permanent Representative Committee; (f) the Specialised Technical Committee; (g) the Economic, Social and Cultural Council; and (h) the Financial Institutions.
Khamis MK, Promoting the African Union. Washington, DC: Lillian Barber Press, 2008, p. 144.
32 Ibid., p. 144.
33 AU, ‘Explanatory notes on the Libyan proposals for amendment of the Constitutive Act of the African Union’, Proposed Amendments to Articles of the Constitutive Act of the African Union (proposed by the Great Socialist Peoples’ Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), AHG/238(XXXVIII). Addis Ababa: African Union.
34 Personal interview, Kassim Mohamed Khamis, Political Analyst, Panel of the Wise, Peace and Security Council of the African Union, Addis Ababa, 4 July 2014.
35 AU, ‘Decision on the implementation of the Sirte Summit Decision on the African Union’, 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of States and Government, AHG/Dec. 1 (XXXVII). Addis Ababa: African Union, 9–11 July 2001, para. 4.
36 Ibid., para. 4.
37 AU, The Durban Declaration in Tribune to the Organization of African Unity and on the Launching of the African Union. Assembly of the African Union First Ordinary Session, ASS/AU/Draft/Decl. 2 (I), 9–10 July 2002. Addis Ababa: African Union.
38 See Article 21 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union. Addis Ababa: African Union, 2000. Khamis MK, Promoting the African Union. Washington, DC: Lillian Barber Press, 2008, p. 147.
39 Article 21(1) of the Constitutive Act of the AU state that there shall be established a Permanent Representatives Committee. It shall be composed of Permanent Representatives to the Union and other Plenipotentiaries of Member States.
40 See AU, Rules of Procedure of the Permanent Representative Committee. Assembly of the African Union First Ordinary Session, Durban, ASS/AU/ 2(1)-c, July 2002. Addis Ababa: African Union.
41 Ibid., Rule 3.
42 Ibid., Rule 4(1).
43 See Article 5(1) (a–i) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union. Addis Ababa: African Union, 2000.
44 AU, Press Release: The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Receives the Credentials of the Permanent Representatives of Botswana and Slovenia. Addis Ababa: African Union, 31 August 2011.
45 AU, The High Level Panel: Audit of the African Union. Addis Ababa: African Union, 18 December 2007, para. 9.
46 Ibid., Rule 4, para. 91.
47 Constitutive Act of the African Union. Addis Ababa: African Union, 2000, §21 (2).
48 AU, Permanent Representatives’ Committee Twenty-Second Ordinary Session 23–24 June PRC/Rpt (XXII), 2011b. Addis Ababa: African Union, 2011.
49 AU, Rules of Procedures of the Permanent Representative Committee. Addis Ababa, African Union, 9–10 July 2002; Rule 5 and 11. AU, African Union Handbook: A Guide for those Working with and Within the African Union, 2nd edn. Addis Ababa, African Union and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, p. 28. According to the AU auditing report of 2007, in practice, this has not been observed owing to the pressure of other meetings (see AU, The High Level Panel: Audit of the African Union. Addis Ababa: African Union, 18 December 2007, para. 92).
50 AU 2002: Rule 9 of the AU Rules of Procedures of the Permanent Representative Committee. Addis Ababa: African Union, 9–10 July 2002.
51 See Constitutive Act of the African Union Articles 23(1), 23(2) and 30; Rule 35 of the Rules and Procedure of the Assembly of the Union. AU 2002, ASS/AU/2(I) – a. Addis Ababa: African Union.
52 AU, Communiqué of the 363rd on the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR). PSC/PR/COMM. (CCCLXIII). Addis Ababa: African Union, 25 March 2013. AU, Communiqué of the 586th on the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR). PSC/PR/COMM. (DLXXXV). Addis Ababa: African Union, 31 March 2016.
53 Personal interview, African Union Official, Addis Ababa, 14 April 2014.
54 See Rule 9 of the Rules of Procedure of the AU Executive Council. Assembly of the African Union First Ordinary Session, Durban, ASS/AU/ 2(1)-c. Addis Ababa: African Union, 9–10 July, 2002.
55 Rule 9, Rules of Procedure of Executive Council. Addis Ababa: African Union, ASS/AU/2(I) – b, 2002.
56 Haas PM ‘Introduction: Epistemic communities and international policy coordination’, International Organization, 46.1, 1992, pp. 1–35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 14–15.
57 Oxfam, Strengthening Popular Participation in the African Union: A Guide to AU Structures and Processes. Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa and Oxfam GB, South Africa, 2009, p. 38.
58 Personal interview, African Union Official, Addis Ababa, 14 April 2014.
59 See AU, Press Release, ‘The African Union deploys an Observer Mission in Lesotho’, 2012, www.africa-org (accessed 12 August 2014). AU, ‘The African Union deploys an Election Observation Mission to the 15 October 2014 Presidential, Legislative and Provincial Assembly Elections in the Republic of Mozambique’, 2014, http://pa.au.int/en/content/african-union-deploys-election-observation-mission-15-october-2014-presidential-legislative- (6 December 2014). AU, ‘African union Election observation Mission to the 20th May 2014 Tripartite Elections in the Republic of Malawi’, Final Report, 2014, p. 1.
60 AU, African Union Commission Report of African Union Elections Observation Mission to the 7 December 2012 General Elections in the Republic of Ghana. Addis Ababa: African Union, 2012, p. 5.
61 AU, Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union. Addis Ababa: African Union, 2002, § 8(2).
62 Derrso S (ed.), Annual Review of the African Union Peace and Security Council 2013/2014. Pretoria: Institute of Security Studies, Pretoria, 2013, p. 38.
63 AU, Rules of Procedures of the Permanent Representative Committee. Addis Ababa: African Union, 9–10 July 2002.
64 Personal interview, Admore Kambudzi, Secretary, Peace and Security Council of the African Union, Addis Ababa, 30 March 2012. See also the AU Commission Strategic Plan of 2009–2012 (AU, African Union Commission: Strategic Plan 2009–2012, EX.CL/501(XV) Rev.2. Addis Ababa: African Union, May 2009, p. 17). AU, Draft Strategic Plan 2014–2017 for the African Union Commission. Assembly/AU/3(XXI). Addis Ababa: African Union, May 2013. AU, The High Level Panel: Audit of the African Union. Addis Ababa: African Union, December 2007, pp. 148–51. AU, Progress Report of the High Level Panel on Alternative Sources of Financing the African Union, Chaired by HE Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria consultations with Member States. Assembly/AU/18, XIXth Assembly of the African Union, Nineteenth Ordinary Session 15–16 July 2012, http://ccpau.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Obasanjo-Panel-Progress-Report-Assembly-AU-18-XIX-2012-_E.pdf (accessed 23 March 2015), para. 1.
65 Ibid.
66 Personal interview, Jorum Biswaro, Former Tanzanian Ambassador to Ethiopia and African Union, Dar es Salaam, 17 February 2015.
67 See a similar observation from Engel U & JG Porto, ‘The African Peace and Security architecture: An evolving security regime?’ in Engel U & JG Porto (eds) Africa's New Peace and Security Architecture: Promoting Norms and Institutionalising Solutions. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010, p. 156. Engel U, The African Union Finances-How Does it Work? Working Paper Series. Centre for Area Studies, University of Leipzig, 2015.
68 AU, Progress Report of the High Level Panel on alternative sources of financing the African Union Chaired by H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President of Nigeria Consultations with Member States. Assembly/AU/18, XIXth Assembly of the African Union-Nineteenth Ordinary Session, 15–16 July 2012, para.6.
69 See Article 23(1) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union. Addis Ababa: African Union, 2000.
70 Personal interview, Admore Kambudzi, Secretary, Peace and Security Council of the African union, Addis Ababa, 30 March 2012. Kassim Mohamed Khamis, Political Analyst, Panel of the Wise, Peace and Security Council of the African Union, Addis Ababa, 4 July 2014.
71 Personal interview, Admore Kambudzi, Addis Ababa, 30 March 2012.
72 AU, Opening Speech of the 24th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representative Committee by Erastus Mwencha Deputy Chair of the AU Commission. Addis Ababa: African Union, 9 July 2012, para. 25.
73 AU, Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union. Addis Ababa: African Union, 2002: § 8(2).
74 AU, The AU Commission Strategic Plan of 2014–2017. Addis Ababa: African Union, 2013.
75 Rule 7 of the Rules of Procedure of the AU Executive Council. Assembly of the African Union First Ordinary Session, Durban, ASS/AU/ 2(1)-c. Addis Ababa: African Union, 9–10 July, 2002.