Humanitarian action and peace operations in Africa David Ambrosetti (CNRS

1
Humanitarian action and peace operations in
AfricaDavid Ambrosetti(CNRS Université Paris
Ouest Nanterre)
2

• I Africa, a cradle of the humanitarian action
  and peace operations
• II Effects and stakes of this international
  interventionism

3
I Africa, a cradle of the humanitarian action
and peace operations

• A) Two founding  episodes  in current
  humanitarian action Biafra and Ethiopia
• B) UN peace operations and Africa

4
A) 1. Biafra (1967-1970)

• Nigeria Abuja Ibo
• Lieutenant-colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu
• Joint Church Aid 55 000 tons of supplies
• International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
  22 000 tons
• Bernard Kouchner Médecins sans frontières (1971)
• Jacques Foccart Nuclear test in Reggane (déc.
  1960)
• Félix Houphouët-Boigny Léopold Sédar Senghor
  (Sénégal)
• Markpress (Genève)

5
2. Ethiopia (1984-1985)

• Wollo (nord) charity business Bob Geldof
• Band Aid (nov. 1984) Live Aid (juil. 1985)
• 1 200 000 tons of aid
• The Derg Mengistu Haïle-Mariam
• Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front
• Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front
• Forced displacements of 600 000 persons, 200 000
  died

6
B) UN peace operations and Africa

• 1. ONUC a turn
• 2. The post Cold War renewal (1988-1993)
• 3. Blazing failures and withdrawal (1993-1999)
• 4. The current unprecedented rise of UN peace
  operations (2000 decade, till now)

7
1. The ONUC (1960-1964)

• Congo-Léopoldville / République démocratique du
  Congo (RDC) / Zaïre (Congo-Kinshasa)
• Patrice Lumumba Katanga Moïse Tshombé
• Dag Hammarskjöld ( en sept. 1961)
• Resolution 143 of the UNSC ? withdrawal of
  Belgian forces
• 19 500 personals
• 30 contributor states (Africa and Asia)

8
2. The end of the Cold War and the renewal of
peace operations (1988-1993)

• Perestroïka
• Namibia Angola Mozambique
• Somalia Restore Hope (UNITAF / Dec. 92- March
  93) et ONUSOM II (ONU / March 93 March 95)
• 28 000 personals
• Mohamed Farah Aideed
• June 1993 (24 Pakistani blue helmets)
• 3 October 1993 (18 US Marines and one UN
  Malaysian)
• US Congress (Jesse Helms)
• Boutros Boutros-Ghali UN Secretary-General
• Kofi Annan Deputy-UNSG Chief of the DPKO

9
3. Blazing failures and withdrawal (1993-1999)

• MINUAR in Rwanda (5 October 1993)
• General R. Dallaire
• Michael Barnett US delegation to the UN
• President J. Habyarimana ( 6 April 1994)
• Rwandan Patriotic Front (P. Kagamé)
• Hutu Power Col. Théoneste Bagosora
• Resolution 925 withdrawal of 2 000 Blue Helmets
  in the heart of the genocide ( g -word)
• 500 000 to one million died
• Then Bosnia - Zaïre 1996-1997
• Withdrawal 70 000 UN personals in 1993, 13 000
  in February 1998. Budget decline (from 3,6
  billion to 1 billion )

10
4. The current unprecedented rise (decade 2000)

• Lakhdar Brahimi report (July 2000)
• Peace building, even state building
• Security Sector Reform
• Regionalization (African ownership)
• UNAMSIL in Sierra Leone (1999-2005)
• UK leader, rescuing the UN in May 2000
• Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
• President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah

11

• African dossiers some 70-75 of the UNSC
  agenda
• In 2010, Africa
• half of the UN operations deployed around the
  world (8 out of 16)
• three-quarters (73 500) out of the 100 000
  personals in uniform deployed around the world
• Sudan alone a third (30 000, 20 000 for Darfur
  and 10 000 for South Sudan)
• DRC 20 000 Liberia 11 000 Côte-dIvoire
  8500
• Pakistan, Bangladesh and India (3 major troop
  contributors) 28 of the total
• 9 African states among the 20 major contributors
• Negligible financial contributions Zambia and
  Somalia 0,001 of the UN budget each South
  Africa 0,29

12
II Effects and stakes of this international
interventionism

1. Some figures a call for modesty
2. Strategic learning from African actors
3. The  Africanization  of peace and security
   matters in Africa towards a new peace and
   security architecture in Africa

13
A) Some figures a call for modesty

• 1. The decrease of death tolls due to armed
  violence in Africa
• Human Security Center Death tolls related to
  armed conflicts regularly increased from 1960 to
  1990. Decreasing since then.
• In 1960, Africa 68 of the total of people
  killed in armed conflicts around the world
• 13 in 2005 (African bank for development).
• Proposed causes transformations of the forms of
  violence and improvement of sanitary conditions
  and humanitarian relief.

14
2. Engaged means remain modest

• Multidimensional operations, very intrusive
• ? Security Sector Reform (Sierra Leone, RDC,
  Liberia, Côte-dIvoire)
• But limited means
• UN peace operations 7,7 billion per year
  around the world UNAMSIL in Sierra Leone (750
  million per year in 2002 for 17 500 personals
  in uniform)
• Comparison arms trade around the world 30
  billion per year and the total of state
  military budgets around the world 800 billion
  per year.
• 20 000 personals in uniform to cover the whole
  Darfur (size of France, very divided habitat,
  rudimentary or inexistent infrastructures)
• Weak strategic commitment, short-term objectives,
  improvisation, personal professionalization
  improved but still insufficient
• ? scandal of sexual abuses (Sierra Leone,
  Liberia, DRC)

15
B) Strategic learning from African actors

• Commitment of African states in peace operations
• Access to foreign currencies, opportunities for
  training (Burundi), risky military kept away,
  multilateral visibility as a regional power
• Sidelining and direct opposition strategies
• Political weakness of international forces
  rapidly analyzed and exploited (Somalia 93,
  Rwanda 94, Sierra Leone 2000, UA au Darfur
  2004-2007)
• Obstacles, UN (Western) personal expelled
  (Eritrea and the border commission for Badme 2005
  Sudan and Jan Pronk 2006 Chad et MINURCAT
  2010)
• Medias, humanitarian action and military
  strategies
• Kamajors and LURD (Danny Hoffman)

16
C) The  Africanisation  of peace and security
in Africa

• 1. Context
• Pan-African Movement ? Organization of the
  African Unity (OAU, May 1963)
• Bilateral interferences from ex colonial powers ?
  20 French armed operations from 1963 to 1983.
• First OAU peace operation in Chad in 1981.
  Withdrawn in June 1982 on a failure.
• OAU Mechanism for prevention, management and
  resolution of conflict in 1990 (military
  observation missions in Rwanda, Burundi, Comoros)
• Continental integration weakened by a rapid
  process of sub-regional cooperation ? seven
  regional organizations in Africa today
• ? ECOMOG by ECOWAS in Liberia (1990-1997) and
  Sierra Leone (1991-1999)

17
2. The African Union (AU) in 2002

• Innovations
• Inspired by the European Union (Commission) and
  the UN (PSC)
• Article 4 of the constitutive Act
• Department of Peace and Security
• Operations in Burundi, Darfur and Comoros
• The African Stand By Force and the Continental
  Early Warning System (AU and the five Regional
  Economic Communities) in progress

18
3. Limits

• External
• Strong commitment of foreign partners
• Peace Facility of the EU, then the Europe /
  Africa Partnership in Lisbon, financial support
  from the G8 ?  a rush among donors   in the
  context of a new scramble for African mineral
  resources
• Donor conditionality strong presence of foreign
  (Western) experts in Addis Ababa surrounding
  these projects
• AU used in a ad hoc way, selectivity according to
  the interests of the foreign powers with
  important projection forces in Africa (US,
  France, UK)
• Reluctance to provide the African forces with
  better military equipment
• Internal
• Weak political commitment of the African states ?
  only when competition for regional hegemony
• Military contributors Nigeria, Rwanda, South
  Africa, Uganda
• Financial contributors Ethiopia, Libya, Kenya
• Difference to make between  Africanization  and
   ownership  (Benedikt Franke)