How much weight for military capabilities? Africa's new peace and security architecture and the role of external actors

Abstract

"Peace and security have become a priority issue for the African continent itself, but also for the international community. The dynamics that Africa has developed on its own as well as the dynamics currently involved in outside support for Africa are concerned not exclusively but in large measure with military capabilities. In fact, there have in the past been only too many examples that clearly indicate that mechanisms put in place by African nations themselves (e.g. the Organisation for African Unity) or by the international community have been unwilling or unable to intervene militarily in extreme emergency situations to protect civilian populations. Against this background, the present paper will outline the conflict situation given in Africa at present; in doing so, it will seek to determine (i) what the constitutive elements of the new African peace and security architecture are, (ii) how and in what form external actors are supporting African efforts in this regard, and (iii) what shape future challenges may take on. The paper will furthermore discuss whether the ongoing debate on the military dimension is more an indication of a 'backlog' of issues that demand more attention, or whether the discussion must instead been seen as an indication of an overly narrow focus on the military. And not least, the paper will look into the implications all this has for development policy. The present paper comes to the conclusion that the ongoing African efforts and measures aimed at implementing a new peace and security architecture must, on the whole, be seen as positive. However, there are still a number of structural deficits that must be overcome to implement a truly effective peace and security architecture. The efforts currently being undertaken by external actors in this field must be seen as positive. However, it would certainly not be advisable to concentrate solely on military security. There is, on the one hand, a need to enlarge the options available for short-term responses and peace missions. Seen in these terms, there is certainly still much work to be done in this area. On the other hand, this should not be allowed to obscure the fact that it is essential to assign high priority to long-term efforts." (author's abstract)