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Contributions from
the Column
Studies and reports
Afghanistan: coupling security and reconstruction?
“US NGOs are having a hard time with the present government”
Crisis prevention in Africa – promising progress
Cooperation – The path to successful peace work
Scant progress so far in the fight against bribery
12/2003 |
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[ InWEnt training for regional African organisation staff ]
Crisis prevention in Africa – promising progress
When Africa hits the headlines, it is usually because of wars. What is not so well known is that regional African organisations originally formed to promote economic integration are increasingly becoming actors in the field of crisis prevention and conflict management. “Along with Europe, Africa is the continent with the most experience in crisis prevention”, said Winrich Kühne, head of the Berlin Centre for International Peace Operations (ZIF), at a meeting of experts held on October 30 at InWEnt in Bonn. There are big differences between the organisations, of course. While the smallish East African Community (EAC) formed by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda has just begun to develop crisis prevention capacities, the 16-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been active in this field of policy for more than ten years and already looks back on four major peacekeeping missions – more, as Kühne points out, than the European Union.
The InWEnt meeting came at the end of a six-week training course for regional African organisation staff and was arranged to permit an exchange of experiences and help identify where more training is needed. Run by InWEnt’s Administrative Policy/Security Policy Division, the course was the last of its kind within the framework of a two-year pilot project for improving African crisis prevention and conflict management capacity (see D+C 2003:7, p. 300); according to Wilhelm Schirmer, who heads the InWEnt division, attempts are currently being made to get the Development Ministry to extend the project. Where the participants from Africa identified a need for more training was in conflict analysis, the development of professional armed forces and cooperation between civil and military actors in the field of conflict management. Daniel Yifru of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional organisation for the Horn of Africa, appealed to InWEnt to run more training courses in Africa because they would reach more regional organisation staff.
Where opinion was divided was over the issue of rigid perceptions of state sovereignty in Africa and how much of an obstacle they pose to the development of African crisis and conflict management capacities today. Jean-François Obembe (Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS) voiced confidence that the days of non-intervention in Africa being a sacrosanct principle were numbered. Brian Chigawa (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, COMESA), however, pointed out that many in positions of responsibility still lack awareness of the conflicts in their own countries. When COMESA sought at a parliamentarian meeting to address the wars in Sudan and Congo, he said, delegates from the two countries denied that any such problems existed. So in the area of awareness creation, too, a good deal more training is still needed. (ell)
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