African Union

==== 2021 hotspots ====
A disputed election in December 2020 has led to intensification of the [[Central African Republic Civil War]], displacing 200,000 people. United Nations peacekeepers, including soldiers from Russia and Rwanda, have kept the rebels out of [[Bangui]], but rebels control much of the rest of the country. The AU has not sent peacekeepers to the areas because of a lack of agreement on how to handle the situation: [[Chad]] and the [[Republic of the Congo]] support the rebels while [[Rwanda]] and [[Angola]] support the government.<ref name="2021_priorities"/>

The [[Tigray War]] in Ethiopia has left millions in need of humanitarian aid. Eritrean troops are said to be supporting the Ethiopian government, and there have been border conflicts with Sudan. The relationship between Sudan and Ethiopia is further complicated by the [[Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam]] project, which also directly affects Egypt.<ref name="2021_priorities"/>

===== Coup Belt =====
[[File:Coup belt.svg|200px|thumb|(Map of successful coups in Africa since 2020)]]

The term [[Coup Belt]] originated from coups that were staged beginning in the early 2020s, including in [[Mali]] in [[2020 Malian coup d'état|2020]] and [[2021 Malian coup d'état|2021]], [[2021 Guinean coup d'état|Guinea]], [[Mahamat Déby#President of the Transitional Military Council|Chad]], and [[2021 Sudan coup d'état|Sudan]] in 2021, two in [[Burkina Faso]] in [[January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état|January]] and [[September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état|September]] in 2022, and [[Niger]] and [[Gabon]] in 2023. The region also saw attempted coups in [[2021 Nigerien coup d'état attempt|Niger]] and [[September 2021 Sudanese coup d'état attempt|Sudan]] in 2021, [[2022 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état attempt|Guinea–Bissau]] and [[2022 Gambian coup d'état attempt|The Gambia]] in 2022, and [[2023 Sudan conflict|Sudan]] and [[2023 Sierra Leone coup plot|Sierra Leone]] in 2023. After the 2023 Nigerien coup, these countries formed a continuous chain stretching between the east and west coasts of Africa.