African Union

=== Darfur, Sudan ===
{{main|African Union Mission in Sudan}}
[[File:Eritrea - Flickr - Al Jazeera English.jpg|thumb|[[South Sudanese independence referendum, 2011]]]]
In response to the ongoing [[Darfur conflict]] in Sudan, the AU has deployed 7,000 peacekeepers, many from Rwanda and Nigeria, to [[Darfur]]. While a donor's conference in Addis Ababa in 2005 helped raise funds to sustain the peacekeepers through that year and into 2006, in July 2006 the AU said it would pull out at the end of September when its mandate expires.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5124608.stm |work=BBC News |title=AU Darfur mission 'to end soon' |date=28 June 2006 |access-date=23 April 2010 |archive-date=26 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826204932/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5124608.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Critics of the AU peacekeepers, including [[Eric Reeves]], have said these forces are largely ineffective due to lack of funds, personnel, and expertise. Monitoring an area roughly the size of France has made it even more difficult to sustain an effective mission. In June 2006, the [[United States Congress]] appropriated US$173&nbsp;million for the AU force. Some, such as the [[Genocide Intervention Network]], have called for UN or [[NATO]] intervention to augment and/or replace the AU peacekeepers. The UN has considered deploying a force, though it would not likely enter the country until at least October 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/sc9089.doc.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815184454/http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/sc9089.doc.htm|url-status=dead |archive-date=15 August 2007 |title=Security Council Authorises Deployment of United Nations-African Union 'Hybrid' Peace Operation in Bid To Resolve Darfur Conflict |publisher=United Nations |access-date=26 November 2012}}</ref> The under-funded and badly equipped AU mission was set to expire on 31 December 2006 but was extended to 30 June 2007 and merged with the [[United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur]] in October 2007. In July 2009 the African Union ceased cooperation with the [[International Criminal Court]], refusing to recognise the international arrest warrant it had issued against Sudan's leader, [[Omar al-Bashir]], who was indicted in 2008 for [[war crime]]s.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8134718.stm |work=BBC News |title=African move on Bashir dismissed |date=5 July 2009 |access-date=23 April 2010 |archive-date=25 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225224733/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8134718.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The AU struggled to have a strategic role in the independence talks and the reconciliation process of [[South Sudan]], due to overwhelming interests of African and non-African powers, its influence is still limited and not consistent.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sulaiman |first=Abubkar o. |author2=Agoha, Ifeanyi Chuckwu |title=South Sudan Negotiated Independence: A Critique of African Union's Role |journal=European Journal of Sustainable Development |date=1 October 2013 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=145–154 |doi=10.14207/ejsd.2013.v2n3p145|doi-access=free }}</ref>