Towards an Effective United Nations-African Union Partnership for Peace: A Critical Outlook based on the Implementation of the R2P in Libya

Abstract. Over 10 years, the African Union has succeeded in building an impressive record of institutional and operational achievements and has grown to become a privileged partner of the United Nations. As young as the AU is the ground-breaking responsibility to protect principle. Following its formal adoption by the international community in 2005, the UN has importantly emphasised the need for an effective global-regional partnership in implementing the R2P. At the regional level, the African Union stands out from other regional organisations for the particularly interventionist stance adopted on the terms of implementation of the principle. Comprehended as an instance of R2P, the 2011 Libyan crisis provides an outstanding opportunity to gain insight into the realisation of this global-regional partnership. To this end, the paper situates the actions of the United Nations and the African Union within the R2P three-pillar strategy and assesses the consistency of their respective approach as well as the extent of their cooperation. In light of the adverse consequences ensuing from the manifest lack of cooperation between the UN and the AU in Libya, avenues are considered to strengthen their existing cooperation.