Summary: The African Union is to send over 90 poll observers to oversee Nigeria’s February 25th elections, where nearly 100 million people are expected to vote. The current incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, is term limited after two terms, leaving behind issues of widespread insecurity and a struggling economy for his successor. Uhuru Kenyatta, the former Kenyan president, will be heading the group. Kenyatta is well-known for his efforts in peace brokering in the Tigray War and meditation in the D.R. Congo. The AU’s goal is to provide an “accurate and impartial” assessment of the voting system and give further feedback to how Nigeria could better conduct its future elections.
Analysis: The African Union is attempting to insert itself into the Nigerian General Election, as the country is the biggest state and democracy in Africa, and it is attempting to preserve and further improve their democratic system. The African Union adopted a democracy charter in 2007 that would advocate that member states of the African Union would embrace democracy and human rights. The African Union has attempted to enforce this provision to maintain membership in the African Union, which unstable states such as Burkina Faso have sworn to transition to after each coup. Multiple states (including Burkina Faso) have been kicked out for either ignoring and or abusing this provision such as Mali, Sudan, and Guinea. Nigeria has a long and complicated history relating to its human rights, with many of its ethnic groups being divided historically and a major civil war between Biafra (Southern Nigeria) and Nigeria taking place and dividing the country, with western countries being divided on who to support. I believe if Nigeria is able to successfully uphold its democratic system and the African Union succeeds in helping them achieve that, the influence and power of their charter would greatly increase and they would see Nigeria as a model to potentially democratize ethnically diverse states such as the D.R.C and the Central African Republic.
Connection to Class: The African Union acts as a political IGO that includes most of the states within Africa. The organization intends to promote democracy and human rights, while also spurring economic growth and development of Africa to overcome its geographic and economic realities left to them by colonization. The African Union seeks the socio-economic integration of the continent and to create a unified African identity, straying away from ethnic identities that divided the continent for centuries. The African Union isn’t as powerful as IGOs such as the EU, but it has mediated various African ethnic conflicts and used its influence promote peace on the continent.
