Article 4
Principles
The African Union functions in accordance with the following principles:
A. (A) Sovereign equality and interdependence of all of the Union’s member States.
This point is quite crucial for both the balance of power but also in regards to the relationships of the member States.
B. (B) Respect of the existing borders at the time of the accession to independence.
A priori, nobody can be against this statement, but in actual fact we can observe sensitive differences, and not merely sensitivities .
At this point we should see whether the AU is capable of imposing its vision and its good will, to all Member States in order to prevent any structural inconsistencies.
C. (C) Participation of the African nations throughout the activities of the Union.
D. (D) Creation of a common defense policy for the entire African continent.
A will which is both clear and straightforward, but what actually happens when we have internal conflicts, even terrorist actions within the Member States, with the support and direction of countries from other continents?
E. (e) Peaceful resolution of conflicts amongst Member States of the Union, with the appropriate means which may be decided by the Assembly of the Union.
This is indicative of the awareness of the difficulty in a previous point of time.
F. (f) Prohibition regarding the taking of action, or the threatening of using force amongst any Member States of the Union.
This prohibition could not be made any clearer, only, what would the Union’s position be when this prohibition is not respected?
G (g) Non-involvement of a Member State within the internal affairs of another Member State.
H (h) The right of the Union to intervene within a Member State as per the decision of the Assembly, in some serious conditions, such as war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
A substantial point from the perspective of Human Rights.
It is the generalization of the right to intervene in cases of humanitarian problems.
I. (I) Peaceful co-existence between the Member States of the Union and their right to live in peace and security.
J. (j) The right of the Member States to make an appeal for the Union’s intervention towards the restoration of peace and security.
It’s the institutional character in this case which is of interest.
It’s not therefore regarding a specific response as per the specific situation.
It is only through this meaning that it obtains more power, but the point is, that it has to actually be implemented.
K (k) Promotion of a collective self-reliance within the context of the Union.
L. (l) Promotion of equality between men and women.
This promotion is indicative of the ggod will and the absence of the reality factor.
This is especially evident in the current context.
M. (M) Respect towards the democratic principles, human rights, of the State law and of the righteous governance.
Of course this is a necessary factor, but how could we be convinced, when we come accross some extreme cases where this respect is no longer referred to as such.
N. (n) The promotion of social justice in order to achieve a well balanced economic growth.
Ο. (ο) Respect of the sacred character of the human life, and the condemnation, as well as the rejection of the impunity associated with political assassinations, of acts of terrorism and or subversive activities.
In reference to terrorism a validation would be necessary in order for us to understand not only the challenge of the matter, but also the specific methods with which to achieve this goal.
P. (p) Condemnation and rejection of unconstitutional changes of government.
This specific point is part of the African Union’s foundations, and the only one which unambiguously allows the activation of the suspension as that is defined in Article 30.