As Senior Adviser, African Union (AU), Liesl engages and coordinates interactions with policymakers within the AU and regional economic communities to build broad-based support for Crisis Group’s policy recommendations. She monitors and analyses AU policy developments to contribute to the formulation of recommendations for the AU to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts on the continent.

Liesl has worked on African peace and security issues for over 25 years. She started out as a journalist and foreign correspondent, working in many African countries as the Africa editor for the Media24 group in South Africa. Liesl then moved to the Institute for Security Studies where she was the editor of the organisation’s flagship report on the African Union, The PSC Report. She was also project lead for Southern Africa, with a focus on the Southern African Development Community and regional crises. Liesl has a MA in Political Science from the University of Pretoria and is the author of several books and research publications.

• The African Union and its organs
• Africa’s regional economic communities
• Peace and security in Africa
• Governance

• English
• French

• Italian Institute for International Political Studies, June 2022, Can the African Union speak with one Voice?
• ISS Policy Brief 172, March 2022, Coordination: key to success of African solutions for Mozambique.
• Centre for Contemporary Studies, Barcelona, IDEES no. 56, 2021, ‘The African Union’s 20th anniversary: a celebration with plenty of work ahead’.
• ISS, Policy Brief 136, December 2019, Leading through consensus: South Africa chairs the AU (with Mohamed Diatta).
• ISS, Southern Africa Report 24, September 2019, ‘Fair elections key to stability in Mozambique.
• ISS, Policy Brief, April 2019, Power and influence: identifying champions of change in SADC.
• ISS, North Africa Report 1, January 2018: The meaning of Morocco’s return to the AU.
• ISS Policy Brief 94, December 2016, Is South Africa a norm-entrepreneur in Africa.