Human Security: The Panacea for Africa's Security Challenges

Abstract

The failure of human security and in most cases lack of it in most African states has led to an increasing wave of violence, protests and intrastate conflict all across the continent. Countries such as Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda have been involved in or are still in the middle of intrastate armed conflicts all of which threaten international peace and security. These armed conflicts have produced over 10 million refugees and internally displaced persons while several thousands of people, men and women, young and old have been murdered. All of these have however pushed governments on the continent to invest more on internal state security rather than focusing human security by tackling the persistent poverty; massive unemployment, poor health care issues as well as creating equal opportunity for people to enjoy all their rights and fully develop their human potentials. Increasingly, research and strategies are focusing on the importance of human security to development, peace and security. Given that conflicts and disaster risks are on the rise on the continent, the importance of having a better understanding of human security is evident. Using comparative analysis of selected counties in the western world and in Africa, this paper argues that although state security remains pivotal to peace, security and stability, it can only be complementary to human security which remains the only solution to the internal conflicts on the continent of Africa and the bedrock for guaranteed lasting peace and stability.