ABSTRACT
It has been 20 years since the African Union (AU) was established. One of the founding principles of the AU is to intervene in a member state’s territorial affairs in cases of grave circumstances involving crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. This chapter revisits the AU’s right to intervene in the context of the conflict in Cabo Delgado. The discussion in the chapter does three things. First, it revisits the meaning of the right to intervene and clarifies the view that it constitutes a military intervention. In the same vein, it discusses the trigger mechanisms initiated to exercise the right to intervene in terms of article 4(h). Second, the chapter considers the applicability of the right to intervene by revisiting the role of the PSC in relation to its failed recommendation to the AU Assembly to intervene militarily in the Burundi conflict and its role in the Cabo Delgado conflict. Lastly, the chapter argues that, since the attacks in the Cabo Delgado conflict are not characterised as international crimes, military intervention as contemplated in article 4(h) of the Constitutive Act likely is impossible. The chapter concludes that 20 years after its adoption the AU is yet to exercise the right to intervene in terms of article 4(h) of the Constitutive Act.
