This thesis explores the quest for a more effective African peacekeeping capability.<br />It seeks to answer the question what is different now that can enable the African<br />Union (AU) to establish an effective peacekeeping capability after the Organisation<br />of African Unity (OAU) failed to do so in the past. The study is a descriptive<br />analysis of efforts by the AU to enhance its peacekeeping capabilities in resolving<br />conflicts in Africa. The thesis traces the challenges that limited security cooperation<br />and conditions that enhanced such cooperation in recent years, culminating in the<br />approval of a continental standby force. It establishes that Africa was stagnated by<br />security problems and at the same time it was reluctant to directly commit itself to<br />resolve such problems, but instead sought assistance from the international<br />community or relied on its own ad hoc arrangements. The study identifies the<br />reason for this approach to have been the value of sovereignty entrenched in the<br />OAU Charter, which forced leaders to pledge non-interference in each other’s<br />internal affairs.<br />The study further reveals that the establishment of the AU in 2000 was meant to give<br />Africa the capability to resolve its own problems by consolidating intra-African<br />security cooperation. The establishment of the Peace and Security Council (PSC)<br />and its implementation tools such as the African Standby Force (ASF) opened a new<br />window of hope in peace and security matters. However, the PSC is facing<br />operational challenges, principally because of financial and logistical constraints,<br />above its own lack of institutionalised mechanisms to ensure effective partnerships<br />and burden sharing with its partners. This is against the revelation that the AU has<br />insufficient capacity to embark on multidimensional peacekeeping operations on its<br />own. This was highlighted by the AU peacekeeping operations in Burundi and<br />Darfur (Sudan).<br />The study concludes that although there is more political will, an improved<br />continental security architecture and better United Nations-African cooperation, it is<br />unlikely that the AU will be able to achieve an effective peacekeeping capability in<br />the short to medium-term. This is against the backdrop that at the moment, the AU<br />has severe limitations in both material and human resources. The AU is also unable<br />to raise sufficient funds to pursue its peace and security agenda, and therefore the<br />AU is still heavily dependent on external donors in its peacekeeping endeavours.<br />However, the intended operationalisation of the ASF represents a promising<br />achievement towards a long-standing Pan-African ideal that calls for “African<br />solutions to African problems”.