Africa’s Humanitarian Crisis: An African Union’s Diplomatic Management

Abstract

This study assessed the African Union’s diplomatic mechanisms in managing Africa’s humanitarian crises. Since the early post-colonial era, Africa has continued to be confronted with myriads of unbearable social, political and economic woes. Usually referred to as the poorest continent, Africa is confronted with a large amount of problems which have undermined its potentials; yet, a large amount of the solutions to the myriad of problems impeding its emergence into an enviable entity in the global arena depends on the determination of the Africans to address their plight. As man-made conflicts – economic, political, ethno-religious, environmental – and cases of natural disasters continue to go on unabated; the rising number of refugees and other displaced persons in the continent remain alarming. The incessant violent conflicts in Africa have compelled the populations to seek refuge beyond their countries. Humanitarian crisis in Africa has become a major challenge to the African Union since its displacement of the OAU in 2002. While the AU made significant efforts at addressing the problem of refugees on the continent irrespective of the myriad of challenges which confronted it, Africa continues to witness rising refugee flows, and humanitarian crises that turned into a menace. This research study assessed the role of the AU at addressing the African refugee crises since its inception. Through the generation of primary and secondary data, the research interrogated the AU’s diplomatic modes with regards to the humanitarian crises management. The study revealed that protracted refugee situations, intractable violent conflicts, and lack of capacity to manage refugee problems, as well as lack of commitment from member-States of the AU are some of the factors which resulted in the crisis situation. Hence, the study made policy recommendations such as improved multilateral arrangements aimed at preventing factors that cause forced population migration and more strategic cooperation.