African Peace Research Articles

The United Nations Charter and the African Union Constitutive Act: The search for compatibility in addressing African peace and security

ABSTRACT Collective security by regional organisations continues to be impacted by evolving global security threats. Previously focused at the global level, the shift from interstate conflicts to intra-state conflicts resulted in the acknowledgement of regionalism and the functions of collective security being implemented at the regional level. This paper examines the development of regionalism in the security sphere and the evolving relationship between the United Nations (UN) and regional organisations. Employing historical and comparative perspectives, it considers both the development of regional security projects and the reasons for their successes and failures. It also critically analyses the various constitutional developments that have occurred within regional arrangements looking particularly at the African Union (AU) and what accounts for such regional organisations to depart from the normative framework of regional arrangements contained in Chapter VIII of the UN Charter. The paper uses primary and secondary material to understand the compatibility of Chapter VIII of the UN Charter and the Constitutive Act of the AU as mechanisms used to respond to peace and security challenges on the African continent. The design of the study is qualitative research and the AU is used as a case study from other regional organisations. The theoretical framework adopted, based on its explanatory power, is collective security.

UN Peacekeeping Forces and Peace Negotiations in Africa

Abstract The aim of this article is to identify the factors underlying the success of peace negotiations in Africa, with particular emphasis on the role of UN peacekeepers. We analyze African Peace Processes (APP) data over the period 1989–2019 using the binary logistic model. Our results show that the deployment of UN peacekeepers is associated with the success of mediation efforts, both in intra-state and non-state conflicts. On the other hand, the presence of peacekeepers is detrimental to the success of bilateral negotiations. These results thus highlight that the ambiguity surrounding the effectiveness of UN forces in the peaceful management of conflicts depends on the presence or absence of a mediator. Consequently, political decision-makers should combine the deployment of peacekeeping forces with mediation initiatives to achieve peaceful conflict management. On the other hand, this should not be envisaged within the framework of bilateral negotiations, at the risk of producing opposite effects.

Examining the Impact of Regional Integration on Peace and Security in East African Community

Attempts at regionalization and integration are increasingly viewed as offering chances for guaranteeing peace, stability, and sustained economic growth in the face of Africa’s numerous security concerns. As a result, organizations dedicated to regional integration and cooperation, like EAC, are beginning to take on the role of conflict resolution experts in their particular areas. Therefore, this study’s primary goal was to evaluate how regional integration contributes to African peace and security. In particular, the study was conducted to determine the various missions that EAC members carried out to restore peace and security in member nations, as well as to assess the effects of various policies created by the EAC to address peace and security concerns among member states. Furthermore, this study exclusively used secondary data. From online books, articles, reports, conference papers, magazines other research papers and assess the effects of the various policies that the East Asian Community (EAC) established to address issues of peace and security among its member states. Additionally, the missions that the EAC members carried out to help member states that needed to regain peace and security and were affiliated with the East were reviewed. Furthermore, it was discovered that regional integration had the subsequent implications for security and peace: strengthened domestic peacekeeping forces by means of regional collaboration; provided members with monetary assistance to sustain peace and security; and made it simple to obtain support and assistance from non-member nations in emergency situations. East Africa is now united as a result of the EAC’s formation. But the EAC still has certain obstacles to the advancement of peace and security as well as regional integration. For instance, it was discovered that certain states are not fully dedicated to regional peace and security strategies, and it was also mentioned that a shortage of resources and training is one of the challenges to implementing peace. for these reasons I would recommend that members states pay on time their contribution, members states should be committed to the agenda of the community a finally, states should resolve conflicts between and among themselves.

Integrating Artificial Intelligence: A Step towards the African Peace and Security Architecture

The African Peace and Security Architecture, a complex set of interrelated institutions, includes the African Union's Peace and Security Council, the African Standby Force, the Continental Early Warning System, the Peace Fund, the Panel of the Wise, and regional mechanisms.The article explores the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in strengthening the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). It highlights the benefits of integrating AI into conflict prevention, crisis management and coordination of peacekeeping operations in Africa. Using practical examples, the article shows how AI can be used to analyze data, detect early signals of conflict, proactively manage crises, and facilitate coordination among security actors. However, it also emphasizes the importance of an ethical and inclusive approach to the adoption of these technologies in order to ensure a positive impact on peace and security in Africa.

Two Decades of the African Peace and Security Architecture: Call for Reforms

This article argues for the rethinking of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and calls for reforms in the wake of APSA’s 20th anniversary since its adoption. The article proposes the adoption of an APSA PLUS approach to allow for structured cooperation with other States and non-State actors beyond the African continent, as well as the expansion of the number and scope of the existing pillars from the current five to six. The findings of this article are intended to offer recommendations on key areas that could benefit from such efforts.

The African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) Organizational Structure in Context of Implementation of Peace and Security in Eastern Africa

The African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) was established in 2002 as a long-term structural response to the peace and security challenges across the continent. Unfortunately, Africa, especially the Eastern Africa region is involved in some of the world’s longest armed conflicts (DRC, Sudan / South Sudan, Somalia). The region is also occupied by states with vast geographical differences from the Horn of Africa countries, Small Island Developing States to majority of the African Great Lakes region states. The African Union (AU), despite its many attempts, has increasingly faced challenges in its work on conflict resolution and maintaining peace on the continent. Several challenges, for example lack of funds to support the institutions, have been cited over the years, however, one that strikingly misses is the organizational structure of APSA. As such, this article, using Eastern Africa region as a case study, seeks to critically analyse the APSA organizational structure. As a result, the author is able to unravel the gaps that exist in the architecture that does not reflect the distinct features of the region. The author concludes that there is an urgent need to restructure the APSA to offer tailor-made solutions to peace and security challenges that face the region.

The Inadvertent Influence of Peacekeeping and Peace Support Operations on Ghana’s Armed Forces

ABSTRACT Ghana’s Armed Forces (GAF) have demonstrated an aptitude for tackling insecurity, professionalism, and the capacity to contribute to and support United Nations-led Peacekeeping Operations (PKOs) and African Peace Support Operations (PSOs). Displaying its preparedness to deal with emerging challenges during these missions has gained GAF recognition as an active African force involved in peace and security matters and, more broadly, peacekeeping and PSOs across the African continent. However, Ghana and, more specifically, the GAF face numerous evolving threats, ranging from transnational non-state actors and violent extremism to domestic insurgencies. This paper argues that while GAFs have built a wealth of knowledge in peacekeeping, this expertise is not reflected in a similar ability to tackle Ghana’s emerging threats since GAFs’ development has focused primarily on capabilities gained from PKOs and PSOs, impacting the forces approach when dealing with new internal threats.

Enhancing the Effectiveness of African-led Peace Support Operations through an Adaptive Stabilisation Approach

Abstract The African continent’s security landscape is constantly changing. Alongside this evolution, changes in the global order have emerged, a decline of multilateralism and an overreliance on security tools to defeat terrorism across Africa. In contrast, these challenges have allowed the African continent and its peace and security mechanisms under the African Peace and Security Architecture to respond to these insecurities through African-led Peace Support Operations (pso)—amongst other mechanisms. These African capacities, particularly in pso, have not always been consistently deployed as part of a multidimensional approach to dealing with insecurity. African-led pso s have evolved and developed unique characteristics distinguishing them from traditional peacekeeping operations. However, their increased use as a sole mechanism to deal with insecurity has led to a deficiency in broader conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and peacemaking mechanisms. This has made it difficult for African-led pso s to tackle the growing and intersecting challenges and dynamics the continent faces now and in the future. This article posits that while African-led pso s have come to represent an increase in African agency, capability and utilisation, their increased use to deal with insecurity has led to African-led pso s failing to deal with intersecting and growing challenges and dynamics the continent faces. Thus, the article argues that there is a need for African-led pso s to be more agile, adaptive and comprehensive through the adoption of an Adaptive Stabilisation Approach.

An analysis of the nexus between youth urban mobility and COVID-19 trajectories for peace and development in Africa: Perspectives from Tanzania

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 posed prominent public policy concerns. It posed many unanswered questions, especially among the youth who require social protection in different contexts. The pandemic spread over 200 countries worldwide, infecting over 640 million individuals and resulting in the deaths of over 6.5 million people. However, the pandemic has a similar fundamental consequence, marked by widespread inequality across households and individuals. It is estimated that its consequences might be more detrimental, particularly among the youth in low-income families like Tanzania. The country received significant global attention for its COVID-19 response during the first year of the pandemic since it did not share pandemic statistics, implement lockdowns, and question vaccine efficacy while emphasizing traditional medicines. Despite the progress made, the ripple effects of the pandemic are still felt in the country and will probably remain for a long and drive policies for generations to come. Still, there is scanty information about how the youth have been affected by the pandemic, particularly in urban areas, and relatively little is known about the relationships between youth, urban mobility, and COVID-19 trajectories for peace and development in the country. This chapter uses Tanzania as a case study to assess the nexus between youth, urban mobility, and COVID-19 trajectories for African peace and development. The chapter relied on secondary data collected through a systematic review. Content analysis was applied to analyze the data. The chapter reveals several studies on youth and COVID-19 in Tanzania. Nevertheless, these studies are very few. Like other parts of Africa and the world over, COVID-19 has significantly impacted the youth in Tanzania. It also revealed determinants and challenges, like social, economic, health, mental, and learning effects, of urban youth mobility in the face of COVID-19. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has largely affected the lives of youth, this chapter provides relevant information that will prompt responsible authorities to adopt effective response measures for addressing the pandemic for enhanced peace and development in Tanzania and Africa.

Post-Apartheid South Africa and its Contribution to African Peace and Security

Abstract This study has two main research questions. (i) Which factors have led to post-apartheid South Africa developing the Developmental Peacekeeping (DP) and Post-conflict reconstruction and development (PCRD) peace and security strategies? (ii) Has post-apartheid South Africa’s peace and security innovations led to the resolution of African conflicts? These two questions were answered. First, using a thematic qualitative method approach, we found out that post-apartheid South Africa has, since 1994, been innovative to find permanent solutions to African crises. The second research question unravels that what is observable and discernable from the literature is that there is a sort of dependence on the Republic of South Africa because of its power capabilities. The theory that guides this study is the International Relations Structural Realism as advanced by Kenneth Waltz. The theory was tested for its efficacy in an African peace and security context. Although the paper does not perform a confirmation of the theory, it suggests that the Rational Persuasion theory (KP = W) be considered as a route that can be taken by African states in their quest for Continental peace.

Generation three and a half peacekeeping: Understanding the evolutionary character of African-led Peace Support Operations

ABSTRACT African-led Peace Support Operations (PSOs) were established to support the African peace and security architecture by developing integrated capacities for deployment in crises. However, since the deployment of the first African-led PSOs, there has also been the emergence of new types of African-led PSOs, such as the African Union Mission in Somalia; the Lake Chad Basin Commission Multinational Joint Task Force; the Joint Force for the Group of Five for the Sahel; the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique; and the East African Community Force in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The paper examines why African-led PSOs have emerged, arguing that these operations have allowed for increased African agency and shaped the African peace and security space. The paper finds that African-led PSO reflects a more regional and local-specific response in a declining era of new United Nations peacekeeping operations but has also resulted in an overreliance on force to solve the continent’s peace and security issues. Consequently, the paper arrives at a novel conceptualisation of African-led PSOs, positing that they represent generation three and a half of peacekeeping which focus on the effectiveness of force and the morality of using force to deal with insecurity and multifaceted crisis.

The European Peace Facility in action: rethinking EU-Africa partnership on peace and security?

The European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) have had and continue to maintain a long-standing partnership on peace and security, which dates back to the establishment of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) at the beginning of the 2000s. However, in 2021, the EU embarked on a different pathway of financing its activities in the field of peace and security by establishing the European Peace Facility (EPF). This new financial instrument allows the EU to directly finance (bypassing the AU) national and sub-regional military initiatives on the African continent, to finance lethal equipment for African armies and expand its scope globally. While the vast majority of current debates and research focus solely on the „train and equip“ provision of the EPF and its implications in the Ukrainian war, the EU engagement in Africa through the instrument mentioned above is scarcely assessed. Therefore, drawing on the theory of interregional security cooperation, this paper considers how establishing the EPF impacts the EU‘s engagement on the African continent in the security field. Empirically assessing the instances in which the EPF has been implemented on the African continent, this paper aims to answer the research question: how does the establishment and implementation of the EPF impact the EU-AU partnership on peace and security? This paper employs a qualitative research design, namely a case study approach of inquiry and process tracing methods. The results of this approach show two distinct tendencies. First, while implementing the EPF in Africa can solve certain operational and technical aspects of the EU engagement on the continent, the EU-AU partnership must be reinforced on the political and strategic levels. Moreover, considering the plethora of international and regional actors involved in managing the security dynamics on the African continent, it is essential to prioritise the political dimension of the EU-AU partnership.

Comparison of the Western and Traditional African Methods of Conflict Resolution on the Example of International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR) and Gacaca Method in the Context of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide

Local traditions of conflict resolution have been overlooked since the dominant methods of dealing with these issues are often centered on Western approaches to conflict resolution. This highlights the urgent need to prioritize engagement with indigenous knowledge and processes, particularly in conflict resolution and broadening our perspectives. While conflicts continue to rise in Africa(post-independence), we need to revisit the conflict resolution approaches that incorporate local traditions embedded in various African communities. The article highlights African approaches towards conflict resolution in Sub-Saharan Africa, e.g., such methods as Gacaca, in comparison with the Western concepts of conflict resolution. The author’s extensive experience and fascination with African traditions also makes it possible to introduce readers to various issues of peace studies of African origins. The qualitative methods with a reliance on various reports from Western and African peace and security experts as well as subject literature discourses on African indigenous conflict resolution methods have been used for the purposes of the article. The author’s analysis is also based on the interviews. Interviews were conducted to evaluate Gacaca courts and the procedures which included confessions, punishment or forgiveness then followed by reconciliation and integration into the society. The interviews included the victims of the genocide, a retired journalist, a former member of the Rwandan government, and a former employee of a non-governmental organization.

The Egyptian-Ethiopian Dispute over the Nile: Lessons from the Past for Future African Peace and Prosperity

Abstract: Many African water-related conflicts have their roots in so-called colonial treaties. This article examines the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia regarding the construction and operation of an Ethiopian dam at the headwaters of the River Nile. We start by reviewing these countries' current political and economic circumstances as a prerequisite to assessing the severity of the conflict. We then trace the dispute back to the treaties used by each country to prove its rights to the Nile's water. We identify political circumstances that provide hidden motives behind the stalled negotiations. We conclude that current bilateral economic and political circumstances push decision makers away from reaching a concrete settlement of the dispute and argue that the treaties are only worsening the situation. Cooperation in the field of development in general is required to break the current deadlock, strengthen Egyptian-Ethiopian relations, and promote regional prosperity.

The Egyptian-Ethiopian Dispute over the Nile: Lessons from the Past for Future African Peace and Prosperity

The Egyptian-Ethiopian Dispute over the Nile: Lessons from the Past for Future African Peace and Prosperity

Nomads and Warlords, Chadian Forces in African Peace Operations

Abstract Despite criticism of the United Nations (UN) as peacekeepers “hiding behind sandbags,” by the former president of Chad, the Chadian military has become a critical enabler of African-led and UN peace operations. This paper posits that the effectiveness of the Chadian forces stems from refined and modified nomad and warlord structures and attributes used during Chad’s various conflicts to build and improve its national army. This has allowed the Chadian regime to exercise and project power, thus, producing one of Africa’s most effective forces for current conflicts and challenges. Thus, Chad’s military leadership reflects a trend of states that use military prowess to project force, while maintaining international partnerships with permanent members of the unsc (the US and France), UN peacekeeping missions and African ad hoc security initiatives. Finally, the paper examines the implications of this trend for the evolving nature of African Peace and Security Architecture.

Military ad hoc coalitions and functional differentiation in inter-organisational relations

AbstractThe emergence of military ad hoc coalitions (AHCs) in Africa as a tool for conflict management outside established institutional frameworks brings about a number of questions: are they undermining existing security structures such as the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) or are they contributing to further regime complexity? In order to answer these questions, the article applies the logic of functional differentiation as it is used in the literature on regime complexity and inter-organisational studies. Scope conditions are developed exploring when and how functional differentiation operates and what consequences it brings about for interacting institutions. Empirically the example of military ad hoc coalitions in the Lake Chad Basin and Sahel is at the centre of analysis. It will be argued that ad hoc coalitions are part of a functionally differentiated system response within the African Security Regime Complex and not in direct competition to the APSA.

Overcoming ‘Smallness’: Niger as an Elected Member of the UN Security Council, 2020–2022

ABSTRACT Niger served on the Security Council in the period 2020–2021 and remained throughout its tenure an active player in its West African region on security issues. The government in Niamey also leveraged its moral high ground in the region, based on its experience of democratic transfers of power in presidential elections in early 2021. Niger had expertise on security challenges in one of the focus regions of the Council, the Sahel, while it also enjoyed a good geopolitical partnership with two permanent members of the Council, France and the US, thanks to earlier cooperation on counter-terrorism initiatives in the Sahel. This article empirically examines how Niger used these factors to show agency in overcoming apparent structural deficiencies to address its own security challenges and promote aspects of the African Peace and Security Architecture.

Security and Development, the Two Wins of China's African Strategy: Initial Research into China's Win-Win Strategy's for African Security

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is lauded as a watershed for stability and African peace by China, while the West cautions their African partners against supposed false promises. Under Xi Jinping, China adopted a “win-win” foreign policy, in which what benefits their partners benefits China and vice versa. Despite these promises, the continent continues to suffer from violence, with the number of armed conflicts continually increasing. At the systemic level, neither the BRI nor the win-win methodology act as bulwarks against either interstate or intrastate conflict, as such the international community must explore the rationale and intentions behind China's renewed involvement in Africa. Through an analysis of Chinese pronouncements and documentation, Chinese and Western academic analysis, and conflict assessment data, the international community can better understand China's views on conflict assessment and prevention, as well as China's involvement in international peacekeeping. China's pledge of a novel approach to international development holds promise for developing nations; however, it must be understood that China's approach yields similar results to Western aid and more opportunities for misuse.

Development trajectories of mediation support structures in the AU, ECOWAS, IGAD and SADC

ABSTRACT The intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) that form the African Peace and Security Architecture introduced mediation support structures (MSS) to improve their ability to mediate in conflicts. But the effectiveness of MSS has been mixed. This study examines whether and why the MSS of four IGOs – the African Union, Economic Community of West African States, Intergovernmental Authority for Development and Southern African Development Community – developed the ability to fulfil the four core functions of MSS: (1) supporting mediators, (2) providing training, (3) managing knowledge, and (4) networking. It compares the operationalisation and utilisation of MSS and explores market dynamics in their development. The study found that MSS capabilities, utilisation and sustainability depended on whether their development was driven mainly by the demand for professional support by mediators, technical staff and political decision-makers, or by the supply of services offered by entrepreneurial non-government organisations and by readily available funding from international development partners.