African Union Peace and Security Council

Delegates, you sit within the primary decision-making organ of the African Union’s Peace and Security Architecture, a body built on the foundational principle of "African Solutions to African Problems." Under the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council, you hold the unique legal authority to intervene in Member States during grave circumstances, impose sanctions for unconstitutional changes of government, and authorize peace support missions. Today, the heart of the Sahel is breaking, and the continent looks to this room for a decisive response that balances regional sovereignty with immediate military necessity.

It is April 7, 2012, and Mali, once a beacon of stable democracy in West Africa, is currently a state in name only. Over the last three weeks, a catastrophic "perfect storm" has effectively split the nation in two. In the South, a military junta led by Captain Amadou Sanogo remains embedded in the halls of power in Bamako following the March 22 coup against President Amadou Toumani Touré. While a Framework Agreement was signed just yesterday to return power to civilians, the situation remains incredibly volatile. The junta’s presence has triggered crippling sanctions and Mali's suspension from the Union, leaving the government paralyzed at the exact moment it needs to be strongest.

Simultaneously, the Republic faces an existential threat in the North. Taking advantage of the chaos in the capital, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) has swept across the northern desert, and just twenty-four hours ago, they officially declared the unilateral independence of the "State of Azawad." This marks the first time in the history of the African Union that the borders of a Member State have been redrawn by force. Ancient cities like Timbuktu and Gao are now under the control of a fractured alliance of secular separatists and radical extremist groups like Ansar Dine, who have already begun imposing a strict and violent interpretation of Sharia law.

As a member of this Council, your task is not merely to discuss these events but to legislate and mandate a path forward. You are faced with a dual emergency that challenges the very core of the AU’s Lomé Declaration. Your objectives are to ensure the military junta actually vacates power to allow for a civilian-led transition, to formulate a response to the declaration of Azawad that preserves Mali's territorial integrity, and to coordinate a humanitarian response for the 200,000 displaced people currently fleeing toward the borders of Niger, Mauritania, and Burkina Faso.