Mark Malan

The African Standby Force: Progress and Prospects

The African Union is preparing for its enhanced role in the maintenance of peace and security by establishing a Peace and Security Council that is tasked with identifying threats and breaches of the peace. To this end, the AU has recommended the development of a common security policy and, by 2010, the establishment of an African Standby Force capable of rapid deployment to keep, or enforce, the peace. The ASF would comprise of standby brigades in each of the five regions, and incorporate a police and civilian expert capacity. G8 leaders have pledged support for the AU proposal through funding, training, and enhanced co-ordination of activities. For its part, the AU will need to undertake a realistic assessment of member capabilities, to clearly articulate its needs, and to set realistic and achievable goals. The latest plan for establishing a rapidly deployable African peacekeeping force will require something that similar proposals have lacked: the political will to fund and implement a long list of recommendations. Success will ultimately be judged by the AUs future responses to situations of armed conflict. Even if such responses are largely symbolic in the short term, a sufficient display of political will among African leaders could inspire the confidence needed to galvanise international support.

Disarming and demobilising child soldiers: The underlying challenges

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers believes that more than 120 000 children under 18 years of age are currently participating in armed conflicts throughout Africa. Some of these children are no more than seven or eight years old. The countries most affected by this problem are Algeria, Angola, Burundi, CongoBrazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Uganda.

The Post-9/11 Security Agenda and Peacekeeping in Africa

There are two mainstream schools of thought about the impact of the war against terror on international efforts to resolve African conflicts. One sees in the war against terrorism a renewed focus on eradicating the root causes of civil war in Africa and elsewhere, simply because it is believed that it is these conditions that foster the kind of political alienation that propels people into committing acts of terror. The other sees the continued marginalisation of Africa by powerful nations that, despite rhetoric to the contrary, have clearly become so preoccupied with their own security agenda that the bulk of resources will be directed towards combating the symptoms, rather than the root causes, of terrorism. This article asserts that the US, UN and African responses to 11 September open the door for a manipulation and redefinition of terrorism to justify crackdowns on legitimate dissent, and that peacekeeping and peace-building in Africa must inevitably take a back seat to the war on terror. It calls for a more sober and balanced perspective on what is needed to cope with the ever-increasing challenges to human security in Africa.

‘LAYERED RESPONSE’ TO AN AFRICAN CONFLICT: Or muddling through in Sierra Leone?

The aim of this essay is to outline the evolution of crisis and response in Sierra Leone as a case study in incrementalism and confusion on the use of force in peace missions. The case of ‘lean peacekeeping’ in Sierra Leone also illustrates that the Brahimi Report is no panacea for effectiveness in non-benign peace support environments. Sierra Leone has been the victim of international neglect, as evidenced by the uneven and unusual responses to its civil war. When the UN finally authorised a multinational intervention force, it deployed slowly, and soon proved to be inept. The mission publicly fell apart with thousands of UN troops in the country. In their attempts to bolster the fragile peace in Sierra Leone, both the UK and the US continued to work outside the UN framework. From a conceptual standpoint, the problem is not so much one of potential failure, but of success. If this intervention recipe does somehow succeed in creating stability and peace, how could it ever be replicated in other trouble spots? And how does it fit into the new blueprint for effective UN peace operations?

Physical protection in practice: International and regional peacekeeping in Africa

The nature and scope of humanitarian emergencies generated by conflict in Africa continue to exceed the international communitys will and capacity to respond. These crises increasingly occur where beleaguered state governments have lost control over substantial parts of their territories, and no longer have a monopoly over force and the means of mass violence. The control of armed force often devolves into the hands of a variety of subnational groupings, and the civilian population become the principal target of violence. In such a case, the control, division, relocation and even extermination of civilians become the primary war aims of opposing forces. 1

Kinetic responses to global terrorism: Lessons from Africa

ABSTRACT This essay recalls the immediate and longer-term responses of the US and its allies to the events of 9/11. It contends that the die for contemporary developments in transnational terrorism was cast in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 – in particular the launching of sustained ‘anti-terrorist’ military combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and more covert ‘kinetic’ operations elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa. The essay seeks specifically to expose the counter-productivity of using military operations as the primary antidote to transnational terrorism. Focusing on the African ‘laboratory’ and the spread of transnational terrorism and Islamic militancy, particularly in West and East Africa, the essay concludes that radical Islamists have mastered the ‘battle of the narrative’ and that the Western penchant for dispensing a kinetic brand of medication is feeding rather than fighting the virus of global terrorism.