The African Union (AU), which brings together 55 states, celebrated its 20th anniversary on Saturday with challenges, such as the recent wave of coups, but increasingly consolidated in its continental leadership.

The bloc is celebrating two decades of life since its official launch in Durban, South Africa, in 2002, replacing its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Born as the embodiment of Pan-Africanism, the organization faces a complex moment after six coups d'état in the last two years (two in Mali and one each in Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea-Conakry, and Sudan) and with conflicts and attacks by Islamist organizations threatening stability in the region.

However, the AU has different achievements behind it, such as the recent peaceful transfers of power in Zambia, Malawi or Somalia and continental integration.

"We should not forget that the AU has gone in 20 years from a paper experiment to a reality with different tools that can positively impact the peace and security landscape on the continent, and that is no small thing," said Imogen Hooper, an analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG) in an interview with Spanish news agency EFE and quoted by Lusa.

The AU celebrates its 20th anniversary with several hurdles to meet, which was one of the defining elements in its transition: "The movement from non-interference to non-indifference," says Hooper, indicating that there has been a tendency for countries to classify crises as internal problems, which makes it difficult for the AU to intervene because of the mandate to respect the sovereignty of its members.

Another of the organization's founding principles also seems undermined on this anniversary: the rejection of unconstitutional changes of government.

While the AU briefly suspended Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso following coups, the organization kept Chad - after a military junta took power in the country following the death of President Idriss Déby in April 2021 - and faced a split following last October's coup.

At the AU's XXXV Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government in February, the organization's current chairman and head of state of Senegal, Macky Sall, admitted that the AU should be "stricter with these unconstitutional changes of government."

Despite the difficulties, the AU has managed to consolidate itself as a unifying instrument that promotes different continental treaties and a growing integration of the continent.

Among its achievements are the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which went into action in January 2021, and the unitary campaign to acquire covid-19 vaccines against hoarding by rich countries.

The AU "has become a channel for an African-led response to the continent's peace and security problems," Hooper says, citing the organization's military mission in Somalia, AMISOM, as an example, now replaced by the transitional mission ATMIS.

After two decades of operation, the AU celebrates this anniversary with outstanding challenges, such as strengthening the funding of its peace and security operations - some 60% dependent on external donors - or completing the structural reform that has been dragging on for years.

The organization should also prioritize the climate crisis, given that the continent is already being hit hard by its consequences and in view of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) this year in Egypt.

Despite the obstacles "it is still a vital organization," Hooper concludes, and "has a long way to go, but without it the continent would be in a much worse place.