ABSTRACT
In its fifth year, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) has become a focus of collective security decisions by Africans for Africans. It has been at the centre of reforms of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU), changing both the procedures and norms of the continental organization. Procedurally, the 15-member council has been able to act more decisively than the larger Assembly of 53 member states in response to urgent political crises and conflicts. At the level of norms and principles, the PSC has shifted the AU from a tradition of strict non-interference in the affairs of member states to a new modus operandi of peace operations, sanctions and more assertive regional diplomacy.
