The African test

Africa represents the ideal field for testing the procedures of the European Security and Defence Policy. That is the view of Niagalé Bagayoko-Penone, an expert on Security and Development at Sussex University’s Institute for Development Studies (IDS) in the United Kingdom.

It all began with Operation Artemis, the first EU intervention outside its immediate neighbourhood. It was conducted from 12 June to 1 September 2003 in Bunia, in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, close to the Ugandan border, and the scene of violent clashes. Seventeen European countries participated in the operation – assisted by Brazil, Canada and South Africa – in which 2,000 men were deployed. It was then relieved by MONUC, the United Nations Mission in the DRC. Niagalé Bagayoko-Penone sees this operation as validation of the procedures and means of a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) that proved it could be implemented autonomously without recourse to NATO capabilities.

Another point to stress is that Artemis was initially a largely French operation that was subsequently ‘Europeanised’ with France playing the role of ‘framework nation’, a concept subsequently adopted in other ESDP projects and programmes. After having long acted alone in operations often judged to be of neo-colonial inspiration, in seeking UN legitimacy France agreed to move towards a more multilateral framework, explains the IDS researcher. Subsequently, it was Darfur, in Sudan, that became the major field of intervention for the ESDP, where the EU supported the African Union peacekeeping operation.

These military missions are also backed up by many civilian programmes which unite support for national authorities with reform of their security sectors – including the police and its interaction with the judicial authorities – as is the case of the EUPOL mission in the DR Congo, or assistance with defence sector reform, such as the EUSEC mission, also in the DRC.

All these missions are based on a multitude of European legal instruments and action plans. These include the Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the EU and ACP countries. Signed in 2000 for 20 years, Article 11 of this agreement states that the EU will make the means available to its partners to prevent, manage and resolve armed conflicts and their consequences. In regard to Africa, and by virtue of the EU-Africa Strategy signed in 2007, in addition to preventative diplomacy the EU can help Africa organise the military management of its conflicts and their peaceful resolution, including by offering institutional support to regional organisations. The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, benefits, for example, from the 9th European Development Fund that helps finance its mechanism for crisis prevention and resolution.

Supporting peace in Africa

In 2004, the EU and AU launched the African Peace Facility (APF). In marked contrast to the Western interventionism that has been the rule since the end of the colonial era, the Facility is based on the principle of African appropriation. It supports peacekeeping operations conducted by African countries in Africa as well as a strengthening of the capacity of the AU’s nascent security structure. These operations are launched and implemented by AU organisations and/or sub-regional organisations.

The EU has allocated 740 million euros since the Facility was set up, with most of the funds – 600 million euros – going to peacekeeping activities. In 2007 its field of activity was widened to include crisis prevention and post-conflict stabilisation as well as speeding up coordination and decision-making processes. The AU mission in Darfur/Sudan (AMIS) was the first to receive financing, followed by the mission to support security for the elections in the Comoros (AMISEC). In addition to these two completed missions, two others are still in progress: the AU mission in Somalia (AMISON) (see separate article) and the peace consolidation mission in the Central African Republic (MICOPAX). Since July 2008 this latter mission has been conducted under the responsibility of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It is the successor to the FOMUC operation launched in October 2002 following a decision of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).

African armies for the Africans

Interventionism is in the past. Today the emphasis is on logistics support - which does not rule out ‘multilateral’ intervention, very often under the aegis of the UN.

Troop training in security, mine clearance and peacekeeping are the issues on today’s agenda. The flagship project RECAMP, Reinforcement of African Peacekeeping Capacities, a French initiative launched in 1998 to boost the effectiveness of troops in the field, was subsequently incorporated in a European framework to become EURORECAMP. Today this includes around 40 African, European and non-European partners.

The ASF is kept waiting

Another initiative is the AMANI Africa ('Peace in Africa' in Swahili) training cycle that also provides a performance assessment of African officials, both military and civilian. Launched in 2008, the programme organises joint military and civilian activities with the aim of teaching African officials to plan crisis management. AMANI Africa is seeking to help the African Union to set up the African Standby Force (ASF) through training and assessment of African decision-makers.

In 2005, the AU’s Peace and Security Council implemented the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). This includes a symbolic component, the African Standby Force (ASF), whose role is to deploy rapidly in the event of a major crisis on the African continent. It is the mission of AMANI Africa to provide the AFS with the capacities to act. Following numerous delays, the AFS, originally due to be operational in 2010, will not now be ready before 2015. At the time of going to press, at the end of May 2011, a new roadmap was about to be approved by the defence ministers.

Green Helmets and Blue Helmets

Almost two-thirds of the 110,000 United Nations Blue Helmets are deployed on the African continent, of which almost a third are African. That does not of course include the African troops participating in regional or continental organisations. It is in this capacity that we find AU “Green Helmets’ serving in the Darfur region of Sudan – UNAMID – or with AMISON in Somalia.

Marie-Martine Buckens