3rd Annual Baraza
“From Myths to Mobilization: Reframing U.S. Africa Relations”
October 28 & 29, 2005
Africa's 911: Answering the Call to Peace
In the decade from 1990 to 2000, sub-Saharan Africa witnessed twice the
number of deaths from conflict of any other region in the world. While
significant progress has been made since then toward ending some of the
continent’s most deadly conflicts, continued violence and insecurity
affect millions of people, and U.S. and international support for conflict
resolution in Africa remains important.
Despite myths to the contrary, most of Africa is not at war. For each
of the major conflicts ongoing in Africa there exists a peace process,
often a settlement plan, and an African body to guide negotiations and
peace agreements. African nations and institutions like the African Union
(AU) continue to play a critical role in conflict resolution and in promoting
peace and security.
At the same time, where conflicts do exist in Africa, they affect not
only the stability of the countries involved, but also their neighbors,
and entire sub-regions. Refugees and internally displaced people across
the continent face appalling conditions. The U.S. and the international
community often fail to provide the financial, diplomatic and peacekeeping
support to help enforce negotiated agreements and to promote security
and stability. Yet they have important obligations and interests in doing
so. The achievement of peace in Africa is essential to regional and global
stability, and it is also a prerequisite for development and for democratic
progress.
In 2005, some of the largest countries on the African continent remain
plagued by insecurity and conflict. In the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC), the first general elections since independence
were planned for this year, but continued fighting and a massive humanitarian
crisis in the east of the country pose a real challenge to the election
process.
In Sudan, geographically Africa’s largest country,
this year saw the signing of an historic North-South peace deal. This
brought to an end the longest-running war in Africa and now brings hope
for the future democratization, political stability and economic prosperity
of that country. The untimely death of John Garang, long-time leader of
the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/ Army and briefly Vice President
in the re-organized Khartoum government, has left the North-South peace
process facing additional challenges.
At the same time as this apparent progress toward North-South peace in
Sudan, the ongoing genocide in Darfur in the west of
the country casts a long shadow. The U.S., which claims credit for its
role in promoting North-South peace, remains the only country to have
called the crisis in Darfur “genocide”, but has failed to
take action to protect the people of Darfur. The Bush Administration appears
to consider other geo-strategic interests in Sudan more important than
asserting leadership to stop genocide in Darfur.
The conflict in northern Uganda continues to be intractable
despite limited efforts at resolution, and has attracted international
attention to the broader question of child soldiers. The West
African sub-region remains unstable, as several countries emerge
from civil war seeking to consolidate peace processes and plan for elections.
There is still a large presence of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations
in the area, with more than 25,000 troops in Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Cote d’Ivoire combined. In Zimbabwe, a growing
political and economic crisis, and increasing human rights violations,
leave the country at increasing risk of conflict. In Somalia,
the ongoing power vacuum and absence of any social and economic infrastructure
have created dire conditions and should be a real cause of international
concern.
African nations and the African Union (AU) continue
to play an important role in conflict resolution on the continent. In
recent years, African peacemaking efforts have succeeded in moving peace
processes forward in DRC, in Sudan, in West Africa and elsewhere. In 2003,
the AU successfully deployed peacekeeping troops in Burundi, later handing
the mission over to the UN. In early 2005, the AU took action to support
democracy in Togo after the death of Africa's longest ruling dictator.
However, as the shortcomings of its mission in Darfur demonstrate, the
AU is a nascent organization and needs concerted international support
for its conflict resolution efforts. In Darfur, the AU has shown important
leadership in dispute resolution, but it lacks the troop strength, the
mandate, the logistical capacity or the political determination to stop
the genocide.
Despite the U.S.' historic responsibilities for many
of Africa’s current conflicts, and despite the U.S. capacity to
provide key support for conflict resolution on the continent, the current
U.S. approach to promoting security in Africa intends to keep the U.S.
one step removed from engagement with African initiatives. The focus is
on arming and training African armed forces rather than making a sustained
investment in conflict prevention and diplomacy. The U.S. refuses to participate
in multilateral peacekeeping efforts, committing only bare logistical
support in some cases, and it has failed to lead international action
to protect the people of Darfur. The “hands off” approach
of the U.S. undermines international peacekeeping operations and reveals
the lack of U.S. commitment to addressing Africa's most urgent challenges.
Instead, U.S. security cooperation with Africa in the post-9/11 world
has meant increased U.S. military presence in the Horn of Africa, and
elsewhere. The Bush Administration is concerned with the counter-terrorism
efforts of African countries to the extent that they provide security
for U.S. interests in the context of the so-called “War on Terror”.
The renewed U.S. preoccupation with narrow geo-strategic interests, and
the singular focus on militaries as key institutions in Africa, are unwelcome
harbingers of policies that support repressive rule in the name of security.
Yet if the U.S. is to expect African cooperation on U.S. priorities,
it must, in turn, be willing to address African priorities, including
conflict resolution and promoting peace and democracy. At last month’s
UN World Summit in New York, the international community affirmed a “Responsibility
to Protect” people against genocide, and stated that collective
action should be taken to stop such crimes against humanity. But no solid
commitment was made on this principle and there is no clear protocol for
an international response to such crises.
When African countries require and deserve international support to end
conflicts, address human rights crimes, and build peace, it is still not
clear who will answer that call.
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Africa's 911: Answering the Call to Peace <
