African Standby Force Research Articles

The African Union's mandating authority and processes for deploying an ASF mission

Currently, the African Union is in the process of operationalising the various components of the African Peace and Security Architecture. One of these is the African Standby Force (ASF). Once the ASF becomes operationally ready, it will be used by the AU and regional economic communities for undertaking peace support operations as chief means of conflict management and resolution. In the discussion on this subject, one issue that received very little or no attention is the question of the AU's mandating authority and the decision-making processes for deploying an ASF mission. The purpose of this article is accordingly to identify the legal and institutional processes leading towards the deployment of the ASF. To this end, the article seeks to determine the various legally identifiable situations in respect of which the ASF is intended to be deployed as one of the AU's response mechanisms to crisis situations on the continent. It also involves examination of the legal sources of the AU's mandating authority, the decision-making processes involved in respect to each of the legally identifiable situations, and the role various actors play in this.

Security cooperation in Africa: a reappraisal

Introduction. Theorizing Security Cooperation in Africa. The Early Quest for Continental Security Cooperation. The Regionalization of Security Cooperation. The Revival of Continental Security Cooperation. The Surge in African-Led Peace Operations. Africa's Peace and Security Architecture. The African Standby Force. The Continental Early Warning System. The Nature of Contemporary Security Cooperation in Africa. Conclusion.

Whither peacekeeping in Africa: Revisiting the evolving role of the United Nations

Post-Cold War turbulence between 1990 and 1994 led to huge UN peacekeeping operations and the cost of these operations increased six-fold over this period. However, as the number of peacekeepers declined sharply towards the end of the 1990s, critics were quick to contend that the UN Security Council had been lax in carrying out its mandate and responsibility to maintain international peace and security. Specifically, it was argued that the Security Council had limited responsibility and commitment to deploy Blue Helmets in sizeable numbers on the African continent where involvement in conflicts had been among the UN's most challenging endeavours. The tide has turned in recent years and today the UN deploys more peacekeepers in international peacekeeping theatres than ever before - the majority on African soil. The question arises : What does this imply with regard to the political will of the international community to invest in or contribute to peacekeeping operations in Africa? Furthermore, where does this leave important African roleplayers such as the AU and the envisaged African Standby Force? Against the above background this article aims at providing a better understanding of UN peacekeeping operations with special reference to African peacekeeping challenges.

AMIS in Darfur: Africa's litmus test in peacekeeping and political mediation

This article aims to look at the Darfur conflict within the framework of conflict resolution and peacekeeping under the African Union. The operational effectiveness of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), which was mandated to deal with the conflict, is critically examined. In addition to analysing the adequacy of the mandate attention is focused on the critical issues of finance, logistics and, most importantly, politics as it relates to the AU-led mission. The article concludes that efforts to operationalise the efforts the African Union's peace and security architecture, including the African Standby Force, are steps in the right direction but with enormous challenges.

The African Standby Force: Major Issues under 'Mission Scenario Six'

The African Standby Force is a key institution for the implementation of the peace and security architecture of the African Union (AU), the continental organization of African States. The AU is given the right to intervene in its member states to pre-empt or bring to halt genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The African Standby Force (ASF) is the AU organ mandated to implement the AU's right of intervention by using military force inside member states. This article analyzes the mandate and the role of the African Standby Force in implementing the AU's right of intervention and appraises the prospects and challenges of military intervention by the ASF. It will be argued that there is a need for clarity of doctrine and sustainable funding system to make the African Standby Force an effective organ of military intervention under mission scenario six (use of military force against genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.)

The African Union's evolving role in peace operations: the African Union Mission in Burundi, the African Union Mission in Sudan and the AfricanUnion Mission in Somalia

The African Union has been operational for close to five years now and it is appropriate to reflect on whether its peace and security architecture will achieve its objectives. In 2002, the AU adopted the Protocol on Peace and Security, which launched the creation of the Peace and Security Council, the African Standby Force, the Continental Early Warning Mechanism and the Panel of the Wise. This architecture is designed to oversee the successful implementation of the AU's peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding initiatives. This article assesses the evolving role of the AU in peace operations. It argues that given the youthfulness of its institutions, the AU has made a significant effort to conduct peace operations, notably in Burundi. However, the limitations of its fledgling institutions have been exposed in the complex humanitarian situation in the Darfur region of Sudan and in Somalia. Ultimately, it is too early to pass a definitive judgment on the AU's peace operations since the paradigm shift in attitudes that the AU is attempting to bring about, and the institutions that it has developed to do so, have to be given the opportunity to work.

Cosmopolitan peacekeeping and peacebuilding in Sierra Leone: what can Africa contribute?

The article is organized into two main parts. First, it presents the termination of the conflict in Sierra Leone as a case-study to examine the degree to which cosmopolitan values connecting peacekeeping and peacebuilding are (or are not) evident. The case-study looks at the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) as a model of successful peacekeeping in the sense that everyday security was provided for the people of Sierra Leone through the deployment of a robust peacekeeping mission. This assessment needs to be qualified in relation to serious deficits still to be addressed in post-conflict peacebuilding, yet the success of this mission does provide encouragement for those who see the construction of a cosmopolitan security architecture for Africa as both desirable and achievable. Second, it explores the degree to which an appropriate model of cosmopolitan peacekeeping might emerge at regional and continental levels in Africa through the development of the African Standby Force (ASF). What the case-study presented here and the survey of the African Union (AU)/ASF in the second part of the article have in common is that taken together, they provide some evidence to suggest that, however fragile, the AU is beginning to define an agenda that represents a continent wide and, in that sense at least, a cosmopolitan response to African security issues.

Changing Concepts and Methods of Confl ict Management in Africa: The Responsibility to Protect and the African Standby Force

The current security debate centres on state security vs human security, and explores the imperative to intervene on humanitarian grounds, despite international norms on confl ict intervention and state sovereignty. Rhetoric was replaced with action via the Responsibility to Protect report, which revised the concept of sovereignty and framed it as the state's responsibility to protect its citizens, but also reoriented the security debate on the African continent from a principle of ‘non-interference' to one of ‘non-indifference'. Concurrently, the AU's Peace and Security Council approved the development of an independent African Standby Force to react rapidly to confl ict in Africa. This article argues that the principles of The Responsibility to Protect document, in combination with the developing African Standby Force, have the potential to effectively address the present security concerns in Africa. African Insight Vol. 36 (3&4) 2006: pp. 26-40

Evolution of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union and the African Standby Force, up to 2006

This article explores the issues of national and continental security since the formation of the Organization of African Unity. Although the OAU established a mechanism for confl ict prevention, it has not been able to effectively intervene in the many confl icts on the African continent. The subsequent African Union's Peace and Security Council seeks to promote peace and human security in Africa via the establishment of an African Standby Force. Another positive indicator is the ability of the AU to mount properly constituted peace operations such as the AU Missions in Burundi and Sudan. However, even at this early stage, the author cautions that serious challenges, such as a lack of adequate manpower and funding for African peace operations, already plague the PSC. African Insight Vol. 36 (3&4) 2006: pp. 41-56

A Pan-African army: The evolution of an idea and its eventual realisation in the African Standby Force

The idea of establishing a permanent Pan-African army has for long caught the imagination of Africans as a potential solution to many of their continent's manifold security problems. This feature tracks the quest for a Pan-African military force through the past five decades covering the feeble attempts of Africa's freedom fighters to join forces, the repeated failure to establish an African High Command (AHC) in the early years of decolonisation, the subsequent inability of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Defence Commission to agree on a common defence structure, and the various fruitless initiatives of the international community to set up a Pan-African peacekeeping force in the 1990s. On the basis of this retrospective journey, the article argues that the African Union's current initiative to establish an African Standby Force (ASF) based on five regionally administered standby brigades should be seen in the tradition of this long quest and not as a groundbreaking new conceptual development, as argued by some. It further contends that even though the ASF is conceptually closer to the Standby Arrangement of the United Nations (UNSAS) than to a Pan-African army as envisioned by leading Pan-Africanists such as Kwame Nkrumah, it nonetheless marks a substantial development in Africa's continental self-emancipation which should be greeted and supported by Africans and the international community alike.

The African Union's standby force: Canadian foreign and defence policy options

The recently established African Union mandates the creation of an African Standby Force. This policy paper reviews the current engagement by other Western nations with the new African Union and its Peace and Security Council to address challenges to security in Africa through the African Standby Force, its accompanying early warning system, and civil society engagement. Building on Canada's long‐standing expertise in peacekeeping and peace building, the report presents foreign and defence policy options that can put Canada in a better position to help build the indigenous capacity of Africa to address security issues, as well as to carve out a distinctly Canadian approach to peace and security on the continent. This paper makes a total of 35 specific recommendations to the Government of Canada with specific reference to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces on the roles Canada can play in supporting the AU's African Standby Force.

CONSOLIDATING PEACE AND SECURITY IN AFRICA

Africa is faced with a range of security challenges, all of which require a long-term capacity-building approach. There are no quick solutions to instability and insecurity in Africa and the UK government should champion Africa at every meeting of the G8 and commit itself to the global reforms and initiatives required for an improvement in the continent’s current situation – a long-haul process. Since there is an abundance of literature on the inequalities in the global system that inhibit African development, the rest of this paper engages narrowly on matters relating to peace and security. Recent years have seen unprecedented levels of African engagement and leadership in conflict management, including support provided to the African Standby Force (ASF) and other components of the Peace and Security Council (PSC). Currently the most serious gaps in Africa as far as peace and security issues are concerned are twofold. The first is the tentative nature of African commitment to operationalise the linkage between conflict prevention and governance – despite the stated intent of the NEPAD APRM to undertake studies on governance standards and capacity. Moving from a focus on conflict intervention and mediation to conflict prevention and its associated focus on human rights, democracy, good governance and the strengthening of civil society institutions demands that the UK and others should not focus only on the ASF (conflict intervention), but retain a focus on conflict prevention. Africa may suffer unintended long-term damage if the current focus on conflict intervention and the potential diversion of development assistance to emergency response and peacekeeping replaces approaches that address the root causes of conflict and deprivation. The second relates to post-conflict reconstruction. In an environment characterised by extreme poverty, Africa’s conflicts are recognised to reflect strong economic incentives. By implication, many current peacemaking approaches, predicated on the achievement of a political agreement between warring elites, ignore the developmental and economic nature of conflict, and therefore its long-term resolution. In response, the international community needs to move beyond the concept of integrated peace missions. Consolidating peace from war requires not only greater coherence and coordination among the various UN departments and agencies and a more integrated crisis management system, but also a clear command and control structure for all UN entities on the ground and coherence in the approaches between agencies as diverse as the World Bank and the UNDPKO. When applied to existing concepts of peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction, implementation of the concept CONSOLIDATING PEACE AND SECURITY IN AFRICA Recommendations to the Commission for Africa

PREPARE AND PARTICIPATE

“Africa has an indispensable contribution to make in ensuring that 2005 becomes a turning point for the continent, the United Nations and the world.” According to UN SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan’s statement on January 30th, 2005 to the 4th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of African Union held in Abuja, Nigeria, this contribution includes continued involvement in peacekeeping “when prevention fails, UN peacekeepers, including men and women in uniform from this continent, have proven time and again their value in helping to end civil wars.” Later in his presentation he called for closer peacekeeping ties between the UN and Africa and the African Union and acknowledged that “we must work hard to achieve” those ties. In his conclusion, he noted that “We are at a defining moment for the international community and its primary instrument of common progress, the United Nations.” This article will examine and comment on some recent writing and reports on African participation in peacekeeping and peacekeeping-related activities and submit some considerations for future research, exploration and action. As of the end of December 2004, according to UN statistics, just over 30 % of the 102 countries supplying peacekeepers are from Africa. African countries have suffered 457 of the 1965 peacekeeping fatalities suffered by UN forces to date. It is thus clear that the majority of African countries are participating in peacekeeping activities. It is also clear that a large number of countries have yet to take part in a single mission. Of course, these figures also need to be understood within the context of the participation of African countries in non-UN peacekeeping missions in Africa and elsewhere. Three articles on various aspects of African present and future contributions to peacekeeping writ large are featured in Volume 13, #2, 2004 of the African Security Review. The first is African Standby Force: East Africa Moves On by Nelson Alusala of the Institute for Security Studies. Alusala comments on African endeavours to develop a common security policy and then to form an African Standby Force (ASF) within that policy. Dealing with the “early prevention of conflicts and maintenance of durable peace in Africa”, he quotes other sources as believing that “the African challenge is a complex one...reflected in the continent’s economic decline as well as its political and institutional failures.” The author concludes his introductory material by asserting that “Africa therefore continues to demonstrate PREPARE AND PARTICIPATE Africa’s contribution to peacekeeping

AFRICAN STANDBY FORCE

This paper traces briefly the efforts undertaken by African states through the African Union (AU) to find a common African security policy that envisages the establishment of an African Standby Force (ASF). The paper then goes on to discuss East African countries’ efforts to establish an Eastern Africa standby brigade, in line with the requirements of the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC).1 The need for a common African defence and security policy was stressed during the Inaugural Summit of the AU held in Durban, South Africa, in July 2002, when the Assembly of Heads of State and Government deliberated the proposal of Libyan leader that Africa establishes a single continental army. The African leaders were also motivated to respond to the multifaceted challenges to stability, security and cooperation on the continent. It is in this context that the Constitutive Act of the AU in Article 4(d) calls for the establishment of a common defence policy for the African continent.

THE AFRICAN STANDBY FORCE

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 AU's 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.