The African Union, state sovereignty, and the responsibility to protect civilians

Abstract

In a 1999 report to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Secretary-General Kofi Annan (1999:21) identified political will as the fundamental barrier to intervention in the Rwandan Genocide. Later, others echoed this view, claiming that it was not some misplaced idea of maintaining sovereignty for Rwanda, but rather "lack of political will" in the international community to act that allowed the tragedy to unfold with horrific consequences (Wheeler, 2000).