Is the African Union Up to the Continent's Challenges?-

8/8/2019 Is the African Union Up to the Continent's Challenges?-

1/34

Student 1984 May 31, 2006Page 1

THE AFRICAN UNION (AU) : FACING AFRICAS CHALLENGES

The state of Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world. But if the world as a

community focused on it, we could heal it. And if we dont it will become deeper and

angrier. This quote is from the speech the British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave to the

Labour party conference in October 2001 where he also proposed a Marshall Plan for

Africa. If one were to analyze this quote superficially, it would seem as if Tony Blair is

implying that all Africa needs to solve its numerous problems that vary from instability to

corruption to violent mostly intrastate wars, is for the outside world to give it money, for

more aid to come pouring into the continent. To believe that the answer to Africas

problems is that easy is an extremely nave and narrow view of the continents situation.

Africas problems today have very complicated and deep causes that can be properly

tackled only by the continent itself; the outside world can provide some help but the root

of Africas problems can and will be resolved only by Africans. At the beginning of the

new century the world was witness to the transformation of the regional African

organizations the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the African Economic

Community (AEC) into the African Union (AU). The new organization is comprised of

several organs and programs that are designed to be able to bring solutions to the

continents complicated problems. In the following paragraphs we will first approach a

brief descriptive view of the African Union and of its programs; we will then have a

detailed look at the root causes of Africas current problems while evaluating how the

AU is planning or acting to correct or deal with said issues; we will then continue with

the matter of the implementation of these programs and the matter of why aid has not and


2/34


will not solve alone Africas problems; finally, we will take a look at the efforts of the

AU in dealing with the prevention and resolution of conflicts on the continent

The creation of the African Union

The decision to establish the successor of the Organization of African Unity,

which was established on May 25, 1963, the African Union was issued in the Sirte

Declaration on September 9, 1999. The OAU was often criticized, among other things for

doing little to protect the rights and liberties of the people of Africa from their own

political leaders. The Declaration was followed by summits at Lom in 2000, when the

Constitutive Act of the African Union was adopted. It formally entered into force in 2001

with the ratification by two-thirds of the member states; at the Lusaka Summit in 2001

the founders drew a read map for the implementation of the organization. It was decided

to let the new organization coexist with the OAU for one year in order to ease the

transition; thus, on July 9-10 2002, in Durban, South Africa the African Union was

inaugurated by its first President Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa. The AU

covers the entire continent except for Morocco, which opposes the membership of

Western Sahara as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. The current chairman of the

AU is Dennis Sassou-Nguesso and the Commission Chairman is Alpha Oumar Konare.

As Thomas Kwasi Tieku states in his article Explaining the Clash and

Accommodation of Interests of Major Actors in The Creation of the African Union, The

transformation of the OAU into the AU began with a grandiose project for continental


3/34


unity pushed by President Muammar El Qaddafi of Libya; a project to promote

democracy on the continent pushed by the President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki; and a

project President Obasanjo of Nigeria based on the need for liberal principles such as

respect for the rule of law, human rights good governance and the participation of

African citizens in public affairs. The organization was, thus formed to resemble the

European Union. Along the way it acquired human rights content; the OAUs absolute

commitment to non-interference in the internal affairs of States was significantly

modified by explicit promises to promote and protect human and peoples rights in

accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and other relevant

human rights instruments1Among its principles are respect for democratic principles,

human rights, the rule of law and good governance; condemnation and rejection of

unconstitutional changes of governments; the right of the Union to intervene in a

Member State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances,

namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.2 We will now turn to the

organizations organs and programs while taking a closer look at the Peace and Security

Council; NEPAD: the New Partnership for Africas Development, and CSSDCA: The

Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa.

The Organs of the organization

The AU is composed of eight internal organs and several financial institutions:

1Manby, Bronwen. The African Union, NEPAD and Human Rights: the Missing Agenda Human Rights QuarterlyVolume

26, November 4, pp. 983-1027

2Manby, Bronwen. The African Union, NEPAD and Human Rights: the Missing Agenda Human Rights QuaterlyVolume

26, November 4, pp. 983-1027


4/34


5/34


The Permanent Representatives Committee composed of permanent

representatives of member states accredited to the Union and is charged with

the responsibility of preparing the work of the Executive Council.

The Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) is composed

of different social and professional groups of the member states of the Union.

It is similar to the European Economic and Social Council.

Specialized technical committees

Financial institutions of the African Union:

o The Africa Central Bank

o The African Monetary Fund

o The African Investment Bank3

The Peace and Security Council (PSC): Similar to the Security

Council of the United Nations. The Council is composed of fifteen countries,

of which five are elected to three-year terms, and ten to two-year terms.

Countries are immediately eligible upon the expiration of their terms.

Although not seen as a human rights instrument, the protocol for the PSC

includes important human rights language, recognizing that the development

of strong democratic institutions and culture, observance of human rights and

the rule of law, as -well as the implementation of post-conflict recovery

program and sustainable development policies, are essential for the promotion

of collective security, durable peace and stability, as well as for the prevention

3Wikipedia contributors, African Union. (May 30, 2006)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

title=African_Union&oldid=55979405
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405


6/34


of conflicts.4 Another one of the PSCs objectives is among others, to

promote and encourage democratic practices, good governance and the rule

of law, protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for the

sanctity of human life and international humanitarian law as part of efforts for

preventing conflicts5 in accordance with the AU Constitutive Act the PSC is

charged with recommending to the AU Assembly intervention in cases of war

crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. The PSC will also be

comprised of an African Standby Force to enable the PSC to deploy

peacekeeping missions and intervene pursuant to the provisions of the AU

Constitutive Act. The force will be multinational and empowered to intervene

in serious conflicts around the continent such as border wars and internal

conflicts and will consist of five regionally based brigades. This force shows

Africas commitment to policing its own trouble spots. It stands to be seen

whether it will be implemented and put into effect to bring the continent the

help it needs.

The Programs of the AU

CSSDCA: The Conference on Security, Stability, Development and

Cooperation in Africa. It is an initiative loosely based on the Organization

for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was adopted at the 36 th

session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2000

in Lom, Togo. There the Memorandum of Understanding on Security,


26, November 4, pp. 983-1027


26, November 4, pp. 983-1027


7/34


Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa was adopted and

includes a set of positions on political governance in relation to the four

themes of security, stability, development and cooperation.6 The policies

include commitments on a wide range of issues related to human rights,

democracy and the rule of law with deadlines by which the commitments

are to be fulfilled. The CSSDCA also includes a range of economic

indicators. It has an implementation mechanism that resembles but in

some respects is stronger than the one we will later see in NEPADs case.

This is because a unit in the AU Commission is responsible for monitoring

all member states commitments made in the CSSDCA MOU. Also,

while, as we will see the NEPAD African Peer Review Mechanism is a

voluntary system whose detailed commitments are still in development the

CSSDCA commitments and monitoring mechanisms are already

elaborated and are binding on and accepted by all AU member states

because of the decision at the Durban Summit. The program is also

charged with strengthening the AUs link with civil society. The creation

of a Civil Society Officer within the CSSDCA is the direct result of a

sustained effort by the AU to work in collaboration with civil society

organizations as key partners in efforts for peace, security, stability, good

governance, regional integration and development in Africa.7 In the longer

6Manby, Bronwen. The African Union, NEPAD and Human Rights: the Missing Agenda Human Rights

QuarterlyVolume 26, November 4, pp. 983-1027

7Wikipedia contributors. Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation. Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia (24 March 2006)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806


8/34


term, however, the AUs interactions with civil society are supposed to be

handled by the new organ ECOSOCC.

NEPAD: the New Partnership for Africas Development was adopted in 2001

by the OAU summit in Lusaka under the name of the New Africa

Initiative. It is a fusion of different plans of an African renaissance

developed by Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun

Obasanjo of Nigeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, and Abdoulaye

Wade of Senegal as well as the United Nations Economic Commission for

Africa (UNECA)8 the document is primarily focused on economics: on

agriculture, science, and technology, capital flows and market access; its

aim is to lift Africa out of poverty. It envisaged three African

commitments; clear accountability and open government; and end to gross

human rights abuses; and an end to African wars and the imposition of

African peacekeeping. In return the West would provide more aid for

infrastructure, development and education as well as increased investment

and the lifting of existing trade barriers.9 In July 2002, the Durban summit

of African leaders adopted a Declaration on Democracy, Political,

Economic and Corporate Governance, (the Declaration on Democracy and

Governance DDG), in which they reaffirm their commitment to the

promotion of democracy and its core values in their respective countries.

The DDG in its plan focuses on support for democratic institutions of



9Arnold, Guy. Africa:A Modern History. Pg. 960 Atlantic books Ltd. November 9, 2005


9/34


government, good governance (including strengthening the civil service

and judicial system ) and human rightsunder which states pledge to

facilitate the development of vibrant civil society institutions, support the

African Charter on Human and ensure freedom of the press, and

strengthen cooperation with the Office for the UN High Commissioner for

Human Rights.10 A key feature of NEPAD is the development of an

African Peer Review Mechanism to monitor compliance with the

programs objectives which means that states that have adopted the

Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate

Governance undertake to submit to and facilitate periodic peer reviews

directed and managed by a group of African Eminent persons to

ascertain progress being made towards achieving mutually agreed goals.

unlike the CSSDCA NEPAD is a voluntary instrument.

It is obvious that the two programs are in some ways similar even though they started on

parallel but independent lines and so there is an attempt to coordinate the two processes

with ongoing discussions about harmonizing the standards used and dividing the

responsibilities under the different review systems, moreover the CSSDCA is involved in

advising on the political governance standards that will be used by NEPAD.11 We have

just gone through a descriptive look of the AU and its organs and programs. Through the




QuaterlyVolume 26, November 4, pp. 983-1027


10/34


next sections we will look at the root of the problems, internal and external, that make

Africa the unstable and troublesome continent that it is today. We will first look at the

causes of the weakness of the state in Africa and what the organs of the African Union is

planning to or dealing with the issues; we will then address the matter of how these

factors contribute or are at the root of the incessant wars that plague the continent.

The Weakness of the State in Africa

This theme is the most complicated one and yet the first factor in understanding

the continents problems today. We will address 4 themes that concern the

ineffectiveness of the state on most of the continent12: first at the strategies for dealing

with conflict that do not include efforts to end impunity for atrocities in war, for abuse of

office more generally, or to prevent the financing of war from outside the continent; the

HIV/AID epidemic; the questions raised by migration and citizenship.

A. Impunity

The worst abuses on the African continent are associated with the brutal wars that have in

recent years devastated not a small number of the African union member states: Algeria,

Angola, Burundi, central African republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Cote Divoire, Rwanda,

the current situation of the Sudan and the DRC. NEPAD does acknowledge that these

wars undermine the chances for development on the continent. The problem to be




11/34


addressed here is the fact that there is a blatant impunity for abuses: Even though step

have been taken internationally or within the continent to address this matter, such the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, or

national courts like those in South Africa, Chad, Uganda, Ghana, or other countries, these

efforts are not enough to stop the abuses from being done again in other or the same

countries. What is needed is preemptive action that need to be taken by the African

Union. Even though it is written in the objectives of its Peace and Security Council the

African Union has so far failed to take preemptive action urging accountability for human

rights abuses as a means to prevent conflicts. A first case, as points out Manby in her

article is the one of when serious human rights issues were raised by the October and

December 2000 elections in Cote dIvoire and neither the OAU not the ECOWAS took

any measures in response. Had they done so, had they insisted on the need for the

perpetrators to be brought to justice and for elections to be held in an atmosphere free of

intimidation the crisis that erupted in September 2002 might have been avoided. Another

example is the case of July 2002 when President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria offered

President Charles Taylor of Liberia, recently indicted for war crimes by the special court

for Sierra Leone, a safe haven if he were to leave office as part of the peace agreement

even though past amnesties in Liberia had not let to peace13this tendency shows that even

with the commitment made by African heads of state and government condemning

genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the continent and their plan

cooperate with relevant institutions set up to prosecute the perpetrators, the leaders tend




12/34


to take the view that justice must be traded for peace while forgetting the fact that there

can be no long term peace without justice.14 The victim cannot go on without the

knowledge that there has been justice done, and there is also the need for maintaining the

rule of law and most importantly deter future abuses. The impunity applies also to most

other abuses of power: for example, the use of violence and fraud to ensure reelection;

the stealing of funds appropriated to schools and hospitals; the lack of assurance that

schools and hospitals are built in all the state and not only in their home village; the

preference of one ethnic group over the other. To let impunity go on happening is to not

stop all these abuses that may seem minor but that all together push people to resort to

violence because they see it as the only way to correct the injustice. Even though it is also

stated in the CSSDCA and the Constitutive Act of the African Union, It still remains to

be seen whether the organization will actually act on these commitments to end impunity

on the continent.

There is a need, however to point out that the failure of most African states to

bring those who abuse power to justice is closely related to the weak state of their

institutions and legislations that absolutely need to be rebuilt (except South Africa who

has done so since 1994). This deficiency goes back to these institutions dating from

colonial times when police forces were fundamentally structured to address control rather

than protect the population; formal justice systems in most of the countries work poorly.

At this stage, even creating new laws an institutions to for example combat corruption,

they are and will be mostly ineffective because they will still be attached to the old still




13/34


existing framework. The African Union has adopted in 2003 a Convention on Preventing

and Combating Corruption which makes important commitments to transparency in

government and also requires states to create offences designed to halt corrupt activities,

broadly defined and to establish strong national anticorruption agencies15 it still remains

to be seen whether this brilliant attempt on paper will be put into action and permitted to

make a difference in combating the matter.

B. Prevention of the Financing of War From Outside The Continent

Globalization is a big contributor to many wars on the African continent. These wars are

funded by the purchase of raw materials like diamonds, gold or oil and fueled by the sale

of weapons, especially small arms, to the continent. The profits of war and corruption are

frequently passed through banks in the developed world. The United Nations has paid

particular attention to this matter with the establishment of the Kimberley Process for

monitoring conflict diamonds and has so far not solved but deal at least a little with the

matter. NEPAD proposes four key areas for building Africas capacity to manage all

aspects of conflicts which include the need for strengthening regional institutions for

conflict prevention, management and resolution; for peacekeeping; for post conflict

reconstruction; and for combating the illicit proliferation of small arms, light weapons

and land mines16 one can obviously observe that while these propositions are necessary






14/34


and important it would be useless unless the deeper causes of impunity and finances of

war are dealt with efficiently. Also, the protocol that established the PSC gives it powers

without giving it resources or goals to analyze the problems and address them. The

CSSDCA did request that the PSC develop by 2005 a framework for addressing this

matter of illegal exploitation of resources in Africa and combating all networks

plundering the resources of Africa and using them to fuel conflicts. This has as of yet not

happened and needs to be urgently addressed by the African Union.

B. The HIV/AIDS Epidemic

Next to issues of peace and security, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is the most serious

challenge currently facing the continent and is so critical that it has been identified by the

UN Security Council to be a threat to international peace and security17. More than 15

million people are estimated to have died; more than 26 million are living with the

disease and 11 million children are orphaned and as a result life expectancy has fallen to

forty-eight and is still dropping. The effects of the epidemic is proving to be very

profound: already weak African government systems will be further weakened by the

epidemic, it could significantly worsen the effect of other crises (an example is the case

of the DRC where now that there has been and continue to be a serious problem

concerning the Interahamwe of Rwanda and the rebels that have crossed the Rwanda

border and are raping the women, the next worry now is that a huge number of the

population has been contaminated and will be wiped out by the epidemic in the coming




15/34


years if nothing is done). HIV/AIDS could have also very negative effects on progress

towards democratization because educated people will be sidetracked to caring for family

members or become sick themselves. Disenfranchised youth could resort to violence

because they expect to die before any progress in the field of education, training or hard

work is made in the country or because they are themselves orphans with no social

support or people that believe in them.

One of the most important issues this epidemic brings is the matter of the rights of

these living with it: their right to treatment, and the vulnerability that will be created by

the fear of discrimination. Another issue is the fact that access to treatment and the matter

of who will be entitle to state-provided drugs will create other conflicts. There is

currently a very big need for resources that only wealthy nations can provide; there is a

need for affordable drugs and for reinforcing the state health programs (this is in

particular because among the dying are politicians, civil servants, teachers, doctors,

nurses, basically those that would be the biggest help). There is an undeniable need to

address discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS and in particular those whose

marginalization in the society make them particularly vulnerable to the infection. This

includes intravenous drug users, sex workers, men having sex with men, but most

importantly a large percent of the female population. The women that one must

remember usually take care of the sick and this will increase or push them to poverty and

isolation from political participation. Another issue today and also challenge concerning

the epidemic is the need to guarantee the rights of orphaned children to education, to

health case, to protection from abuse, and to a home.


16/34


The NEPAD document stoops only to putting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the

same category as malaria ,meaning it is treated only as a public health problem. The

Declaration on Democracy and Governance briefly mentions the need to enhance human

resources, better health care with priority attention to addressing HIV/AIDS and other

pandemic disease but does not mention how to go about doing so. In the CSSDCA

memorandum and during an African Summit on infectious diseases held in Abuja in 2001

a declaration was made that includes a commitment to allocating 15 percent of national

budgets to the improvement of the health sector. As we can see, this is only for now also

words that have not as yet yielded any positive results to this terrible and massive

challenge.

D. Migration, Nationality, and Citizenship

Both involuntary and voluntary migration on the African continent cause crucial concerns

for the peace and stability of its citizens. According to the UN High Commissioner for

Refugees African countries hosted at least 2.8 million refugees at the beginning of 2004,

30 percent of the total number of refugees in the world. the conditions of these refugees

are more neglected than those in other regions: they have inadequate access to basic

needs assistance and have been exposed to serious human rights abuses and since many

of the refugee cams are continuously placed dangerously close to international borders

theyre subject to military infiltration and recruitment of adults and children. In the case

of voluntary migration, tens of millions of Africans live or work in other African

countries, some having done so to be with people with whom they share a language and


17/34


culture and others to find work in industrial or agricultural centers like Egypt or South

Africa. Going back again to the need of rebuilding among other institutions the legislative

and judicial systems of most African member, we can see again in this case that many of

the countries do not currently have properly functioning systems to deliver judgment on

asylum claims or grant refugee status, some have even no legislation to do so; a lot also

have no effective system enabling long-term residents to naturalize and to acquire

citizenship. Those displaced internally by conflict often have legal status issues and

entitlement in the communities in which they find themselves. An example that other

African countries can learn and take example from is the case of Angola which had one

of the continents largest populations of internally displaced people and who has

incorporated the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement into domestic law. It

needs to be, however said that despite this incorporation the state authorities have trouble

following its principles. A result of migration, which may create conflicts in the long run

is significant discrimination, harassment from security forces, arbitrary deportation, and

demands for bribes from interior ministry officials or violence from the native population

from which they are not or barely protected. It is quite a surprise to notice that NEPAD

which is supposed to promote economic integration does not address this issue at all but

concentrates on Africans leaving for wealthy nations the brain drain.

The matter of identity of Africans in todays states brings also problems because

ethnic diversity and the legacy of illogical colonial borders have resulted in significant

strains on the cohesion of polity. This means that even if their legal status is not in

question entire ethnic groups can be effectively excluded from participation in the

political process because of a presumed lack of loyalty to the state and social spending


18/34


reserved only to those communities identified with the government in power. The issue of

migration whether voluntary or involuntary, and the matter of identity is at the root of

many of the conflicts that affect so many of African countries. Civil wars, occasional

upsurges in communal violence, leading to thousands of deaths in Burundi between the

Hutu and Tutsi, if not civil war. In some cases to ethnic cleansing or worse, genocide as

was the case of Rwanda in 1994. The status of migrants to Cote dIvoire from

neighboring countries, in particular Burkina Faso, was central to the crisis that erupted in

September 2002 and deal with the status of Northerners or Muslims, the extent to which

they are real Ivorians. Another well-known case is the one of the DRC. In Nigeria the

question of who was indigene of a particular state or local government area and who is a

settler has also resulted in violent conflicts across the country. Some countries,

however have succeeded in avoiding conflict based on identity politics: for example the

Hutu and Tutsi live in Tanzania just like in Rwanda and Burundi without any civil war

erupting.

While NEPAD does not address the problem of ethnic diversity and minority

rights, the CSSDCA does provide objectives on refugee protection, measures to ensure

that political parties are not based on ethnic, religious or other extremism; and also on the

protection and defense of the rights of citizenship as acquired at independence and as

provided for in national constitutions18. The document, however does not address the

issue of minority rights. Even though it tries to address part of the problem the AU really

does not because when examining all documents one realizes that even though there is an




19/34


emphasis placed on the promotion of regional integration and African citizenship there is

no insistence on equal treatment and nondiscrimination as foundations of political and

economic stability and justice19

As can be observed, even though these four themes are indeed deep roots to the

problems that plague the continent, there is still much to be done to deal efficiently with

the issues and all that needs to be done needs to be done by Africans themselves and not

any outsider. The question to address now is whether NEPAD and the African Unions

numerous documents are just words or have they been implemented on the continent to

deal effectively with its problem?

Implementations

The AU and NEPAD commitments open a political space in which issues of

democracy and the rule of law can be more discussed and prove that they are indeed

serious about their responsibility for the development of democracy in Africa.

Implementation depends on the political will of African leaders who need to encourage

the concept of close inspection of performance on good governance. There is clearly also

unease noticeable among many African leaders especially about the peer review

mechanism that involves human rights assessments in a process designed to attract

greater foreign aide and investment. As we might remember, in return for good

governance practices, clear accountability and open government and all the other




20/34


principles of NEPAD the West would provide more aid for infrastructure, development

and education as well as increased investment and the lifting of existing trade barriers.20

Some officials, especially Libyas Colonel Gaddafi has accused the NEPAD concept of

reeking of neo-colonialism: is it? Now, NEPAD is supposed to imply a new relationship

with the North, especially Britain, France and the EU, and the United States so how was

the old relationship? In the 1960s dozens of new states were suddenly made independent

on the African continent as the departing French, British, Belgians and Italians quickly

invented, flags, national anthems and even names for the new countries and set up

parliaments and armies, airlines and national banks; Africans themselves had little or no

part in the creation or development of their new states 21. This resulted of course in a mess

of power struggles in which ruthless dictators such as Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire or

Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo, mobilized ethnic and religious differences to get into

power. The first two decades of independence coincided with the Cold War and so the

Soviet Union and the West competed for sides: nothing mattered, whether democracy,

human rights or economic policy as long as the dictators picked their side. The new states

would get aid from one of the sides for uniting with them. The Cold War as followed by a

decade of neglect as governments, businesses and development agencies switched their

attention from Africa to Eastern Europe. But now there is a renewed interest in Africa

that brings one to ask what does the EU and the United States want out of Africa today.

Aid has been the Wests main weapon in the manipulation process and attitudes that

20Arnold, Guy. Africa:A Modern History. Pg. 957-970 Atlantic books Ltd. November 9, 2005

21Dowden, Richard. Removing the barriers to change: the role of the West in Africa (The Royal African Society,

May 29, 2006) http://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/nrc_article
http://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/nrc_articlehttp://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/nrc_article


21/34


divide the rich donors from their African recipients and this is since the 1960s.22 Prior to

independence the colonies were largely supposed to pay for themselves but the result of

decades of aid has been to create aid dependency on the one hand and mountains of debt

on the other that both stop any African country from economic choice. All this aid that

the continent has received has resulted in little development in most of the countries and

also has made the leaders more accountable to the outside world than to their own people

which broadens the gap between the ruler and the ruled. NEPAD does nothing but

legitimize the present North-South relationship under a new name because as soon as it

was created there was a demand from the British Prime Minister for African leaders to

deal with the Zimbabwean situation for Britain to recognize and approve the new

program; Bush asked that countries that rooted out corruption, restructured their

economies and opened up their markets would be the only ones to get US aids. In brief

nothing has changed, it is still a relationship of do what we tell you and you will get aid.

There is also a double standard that is obvious in this North-South relationship:

what the West insists Africa has to do is disregarded in Europe. An example is that when

President Bush was being particular the need to root corruption out the Enron scandal

was unfolding. Also the undemocratic nature of current International Organizations like

the United Nations who is supposed to try and speak for the poor and least developed but

all important decisions are made practically by the Security Council where the five

permanent members have the veto power. The World Bank and the IMF are also

undemocratic because the weighed voting power of the major donors always enables the



22/34


West to control policy. The democratic structure of the WTO is nonexistent because all

the key decisions are made before open sessions take place. The West is only interested

in natural resources of Africa. Take for example the United States who now, because of

oil, trades more with Africa than with the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

combined (African Development Bank). One can even deduct that the West is not trying

to help the African continent because if that was the case it would not be offering more

aid to the continent when they do not understand how it functions. That is the reason why

all the aid that has been given to Africa all these years has only succeeded in increasing

the continents problems because all that aid was pocketed by the dictators and leaders

without bringing any help to the people. There is even another consideration for a

Marshall Plan type aid that should be given to Africa for its development. Lets

remember that this aid was given to a Europe that was ready to rebuild everything that

was destroyed by the war, which means it existed before. This would be pointless

because before most African countries can even address the matter of their development

they first have to deal with the weakness of their individual states, its politics starting

with building a totally new legislative and judicial system that will be appropriate given

the particular state; otherwise, as Richard Dowden states, it would be a pipedream so if

that is the solution that was found to heal Africa it will have no such effect but will

most likely make matters worse. One could wonder where that conscience of the world

was when Africa was becoming the mess that it is in today. Now that the continent is

actually waking up in terms of taking care of the deep roots of its problems with the help

of the African Union and needs financial help from the West, the West, it seems is try to

get as much from a continent that has nothing more to give. Today, the West can actually


23/34


help Africa but it stands to be seen whether it will do so: it can end subsidies to its

farmers to give African agricultural products a chance to penetrate the huge Western

markets and stop requiring the continent to open its market when it should be doing the

opposite to protect African farmers from the robust outside competition. It is a fact that a

NEPAD funded by the West will do nothing by tie Africa more closely into an economic

situation it cannot control. The Vice-Chairman of the Southern African Institute of

International Affairs in South Africa, Moeletsi Mbeki said the dependency of African

governments seems to be at the center of the relationship with the G8. After 40 years of

self-rule it is sad that the rulers have no idea about how to mobilize African skills and

capital to solve some of Africas problems23. This is true because too many African

leaders look outside the continent for solutions to their problems instead of relying on

self-transformation, which is desperately needed on the continent. This is, as Arnold

states, because of two reasons: first most of the leaders preside over such small weak

economies that they barely have any room to maneuver; second, and the more common

cause many are more concerned to keep themselves in power at almost any cost rather

than pursue genuine development and to assure themselves in power they accept Western

capitalism. The turnaround can be done on the continent, all is needed is the strong will

of the leaders. They now have the African Union to help them in the process if they wish

and the example of South Africa that works today with almost no outside aid mainly

because most of the issues we invoked earlier as the deep roots to Africas problems have

been addressed successfully. Now we are going to tackle the subject of prevention and

resolution of conflicts on the continent by the African Union.



24/34


Prevention and Resolution of Conflicts

Even though this is addressed in the AUs Constitutive Act, the Peace and

Security Council is the organ of the organization to address the prevention and resolution

of conflicts. We will see first how the organization itself has reacted to conflicts on the

continent since it came into effect in 2002. Then, on a case by case basis which we do

not have a lot given that its a new organization first the Burundi and then the current

case of the Sudan. We will not waste any time on a descriptive view of the causes for

conflicts on the continent as we have already gone through them: impunity and financing

of wars from outside the continent, HIV/AIDS epidemic, migration and citizenship

matters. The most pressing need at the present time is the need for peacekeeping on the

continent. In the cases of Sierra Leone, or Cote dIvoire, instead of involving the AU in

peacekeeping exercises the then and first chairman of the Union Thabo Mbeki chose to

let the colonial powers do the peacekeeping. In the other case of Liberia, after 14 year of

civil war, the people welcomed U.S. intervention while at the same time ECOWAS was

organizing a peacekeeping operation. This particular example shows that the organization

still has a lot to do to gain the trust and respect of the African people. A diplomatic

conflict is when the United States bypassed the UN to invade Iraq without a UN mandate

to do so Africa was mute. Maybe they forgot the monumental role the Un played in the

1950s and 60s to bring around independence on the continent and the integrity of the UN

is most important to its weakest members; or maybe they were afraid of offending the

two Western powers because it was relying upon their generosity to make NEPAD work.


25/34


The case also of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where predatory

activities of the Congos neighbors, especially Uganda and Rwanda whose raping of the

countrys resources and arming of its militias is international piracy, also the ethnic

violence in the Ituri region of north-east Congo between Lendu and Hema could very

likely develop into full-scale genocide. As we can see the causes here are migration, and

the question of citizenship. What has been done to deal with this situation? First on the

international level, after many delays the UN Security Council voted in July 2003 to

impose an arms embargo on DRC yet Britain and the US wouldnt allow this to extend to

Rwanda and Uganda which back the militias responsible for the killing of civilians. It

must have come as no surprise that even though there was undeniable proof that Rwanda

has been heavily involved in the DRCs North and South Kivu provinces pillaging vast

amounts of gold, diamonds and coltan while claiming to be fighting against the

Interahamwe extremists responsible for the 1994 genocide, fueled the killing of more

than four million in the conflict, the outside world has done nothing to intervene. Article

Four of the Constitution Act of the African Union states: (h) the right of the Union to

intervene in a Member state pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave

circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Even though

it is blatant that the AU had to act in the matter, it acted instead like its old organization

the OAU, did nothing about the internal affairs of a member state even though it had

every right and obligation to do so. Now we will deal with the case of Burundi.

In October 1993 Burundi experienced a slow motion coup in which Melchior

Ndadaye, the elected president, as well as the next two officials in line to succeed to the

presidency were killed. The result was waves of violence between the minority Tutsi and


26/34


majority Hutu population that killed between 250,000 and 300,000 lives mostly civilians.

Mandela successfully helped negotiate the Arusha agreement on August 28, 2000. He

announced six months later a more concrete three year peace process that involved power

sharing between Tutsi and Hutu political parties. Because, however, of several revel

groups like Pierre Nkurunzizas Force for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) and

Agathon Rwasas National Liberation Front (FNL) the accord did little to reduce the

fighting. So to get the peace process back on track Mandela sent the South African

Protection Support Detachment (SAPSD). The UN, again signaled that no peacekeepers

would be sent to Burundi. It endorsed, however the SAPSD and the Burundi government

asked for the deployment of the force. Despite South African presence, however, the

security and humanitarian situation in the country continued to worse. On December 2,

2002 another cease-fire agreement was signed in Arusha between Burundis transitional

government and the CNDD-FDD which included provision for an African mission to

monitor the cease-fire, supervise the cantonment of fighters, as well as ensure the two

sides observed commitments to halt arms shipments, free political prisoners, and

withdraw foreign troops. In February 2003 AU heads of state approved the unions first

armed peace operation and it April more than 900 South African troops were deployed as

part of the AU mission with troops from Mozambique and Ethiopia for an initial period

of one year. After some trouble, lack of funds, by December 2003 AMIBs strength stood

at 2,645 troops. AMIB faced many troubles: militarily, it couldnt avoid being caught up

in the civil war, it have a lot of trouble disarming approximately 70,000 rebel fighters

because several factions were reluctant to participate and the mission lacked the resources

to meet the basic needs of those combatants it did disarm; it also was confronted with


27/34


many problems that UN peacekeepers had faced in the 1990s: inexperience,

underfunding, insufficient equipments. Politically AMIB became caught up in differences

on how to best resolve the civil war. They also faced serious financial difficulties: in late

2003, of the $120 million required to fund AMIBs operation for a year, only $20 million

had been made available. The mission, despite its difficulties was, nonetheless able to

stabilize the situation sufficiently for the new UN Operation in Burundi to assume its

responsibility in 2004.

The other final and current case that we will address is the current case of Darfur, in the

Sudan. Darfurs war stems from centuries-old conflict, essentially the competition for

land between settled farmers and the cattle-herding pastoralists. Today the competition

for land and the alarming spread of automatic rifles means that there is no more time for

agreement or to settle disputes with a few spears or swords but to go directly to war.

Tensions always existed between islamists and secular arabists among the northern

Arabised elite who have ruled Sudan since independence. However, when the Islamist

leader, Hassan al Turabi came into play in the late 1980s black African Darfurian

Muslims were integrated into the fold even though by culture they were not arabs. Turabi

was pushed out of power by President Beshir who wanted to woo the Americans who

saw him as an Islamist threat. But Turabi had allies among the leaders of Darfur's rebel

movements, the Justice and Equity Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army. Beshir

threw everything he had on the rebels because he knew that if he even negotiated with the

rebels the whole country would see that if you make a war you get part of the power,

which he absolutely did not want to happen. At its 35th session in Banjul, Gambia, the

African Commission adopted a Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights in Darfur,


28/34


Sudan the AU assembly, in its decision on Darfur adopted in July 2004, expressed the

need to address the crisis and although it acknowledges that the humanitarian situation

in Darfur is serious it is reluctant to use forceful measures to end the crisis. The AU has

brokered several Inter-Sudanese Peace Talks, aimed at reaching peaceful solutions to the

crisis. Parties to the September 1 2004 Protocol committed themselves to guaranteeing

unimpeded and unrestricted access for humanitarian workers and assistance to reach all

the needy parts of Darfur. The African Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) was established to

monitor and observe compliance with all the ceasefire agreements. Despite this big step

the AU is contradictory because it doesnt seem to want to hold the Government of Sudan

directly responsible for the ethnic cleansing and continuing abuses in Darfur, as the

UNSC had already done. It came as a shock when the AU decided to hold its January

2006 summit in Khartoum despite the absence there of a favorable political atmosphere

in Sudan which is a requirement for the hosting of the AU Assembly under its 2002 Rules

of procedures. It did refuse that the President Beshir preside but to hold the Assembly

there is enough to make one wonder if the AU is clear on its goals of protecting human

rights of the citizens and not the dictators as was the case with the OAU. It is obvious

that diplomacy and the mandate of humanitarian action taken by the AU has failed today

when one counts close to 300,000 dead and more than 2 million displaced. This failure is

mostly due to the same difficulties that the AMIB mission encountered in Burundi. The

Mission is being handed over to the United Nations in a matter of months. Here it is

obvious that through no particular fault of theirs because they were in need of too many

resources they did not have, their number was too small and their mandate was not

adequate to deal with the situation at hand. It stands to be seen how the PSC will progress


29/34


now that its efficiency has been put in question not only by the international community

but by Africans themselves. There needs to be at least a recognition that while the whole

world sat on its hand watching the tragedy unfold, despite numerous pledges post-

Rwanda 1994, no one did anything to rectify the problem but the African Union. Will the

organization prove itself enough in the future to push the world to believe that African

problems can, indeed, be handled by Africans themselves?

In conclusion, the African Union, as we have seen is still very new, a bit too new

to make one be optimistic or pessimist. In some cases it has, indeed pushed some

progress in the continent by pushing a couple of African countries to take the way of

democracy namely Madagascar, Togo and it is still in need to put into action the plans

it has in place to deal with the deep roots that cause so many plights on the continent.

And to do so it needs financial help and this is where the African countries that are

already prosperous like South Africa can help the process; the International community

also can help all this change on the continent if they wish and if they are not so concerned

solely with what they could obtain out of Africans or in the least try to make the profits a

two way street. In this sense, Tony Blairs question, quoted in the introduction, is indeed

a question that Western countries need to ask themselves and the only way that they can

stop the scar from getting angrier and deeper is to decide to help the continent just

because it needs help instead of immediately thinking up ways to keep these countries

dependent on them. The West has to decide to help Africans do what need to be done

themselves not impose to them what they think they should do because accountability


30/34


and legitimacy can come only from the African people and cannot be imposed from the

outside world. It stands to be see whether that will be understood soon enough before

the scar gets angrier and deeper.


31/34


BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

Andemicael, Berhanykun.Peaceful settlement among African States; roles of the

United Nations and the Organization of African Unity. New York United NationsInstitute for Training and Research, 1972.

Andemicael, Berhanykun. The OAU and the UN: relations between othe Organization ofAfrican Unity and the United Nations. New York: Africana Publishing Company.1976

Arnold, Guy. Africa:A Modern History. Pg. 957-970 Atlantic books Ltd. November 9,2005

Cervenka, Zdenek. The Organization of African Unity and its Charter. New York: F.A.Praeger 1969

Esedebe, Olisawuche P.Pan-Africanism: the Idea and Movement, 1776-1991, 2nd ed.Washington, D.C. Howard University, 1994

Legum, Colin. The origin of African Unity in 1986: Unity of Purpose but still few solid

achievements, African Contemporary Record. New York: Holmes & MeierPublishers, Inc., 1988

Murray, Rachel. Human Rights in Africa: from the OAU to the African Union. PortChester, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Sesay, Amadu. Ojo, Olusola. Fasesun, Orobola. The OAU after Twenty Years Boulderand London: Westview Press, Inc. 1984

Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe, Ed. And Eyoh Dickson, Ed. Encyclopedia of the Twentieth-century African HistoryNew York, NY Routledge, 2004

Newspaper or Magazine Articles:


32/34


Asante, Ben. African Union Forward Ever.New African. March 2005 Issue 438, Pg.39.

Dowden, Richard. Whats Right and Wrong with Africa? The Independent, 1st June

2005http://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/Article

%20for%20the%20Independent

Sengupta, Somini. African Union Strives to End Deadly Cycle in Darfur.New YorkTimes 29 November 2004. Vol 154 Issue 53048, p. A3. 3 pages.

African Union Members agree to quadruple budget.New York Amsterdam News,December 16, 2005. Vol. 95 Issue 51

Pusch, Commey. The Union takes shapeNew African. June 2003 Issue 419

Carmody, Padraig. Transforming Globalization and Security: Africa and America Post9/11.Africa Today 52-1 pg 97-120. Indiana University Press, 2005

Scholarly Articles and Journals

Udombane, Nsongurua J. When neutrality is a sin: The Darfur Crisis and theCrisis of Humanitarian Intervention in Sudan. Human Rights Quarterly 27.7 pg 1149-1199. The John Hopkins Universtiry Press, 2005

Neethling, Theo; Litt D. Phil. Shaping the African Standby Force: Developments,Chanllenges and Prospects. Military Review. May-June 2005

Berman Eric. African Regional Organizations Peace Operations. AfricanSecurity Review. 2002, Vol.11 Issue 4, p33, 12p

Manby, Bronwen. The African Union, NEPAD and Human Rights: the MissingAgendaHuman Rights Quaterly Volume 26, November 4, pp. 983-1027

Moller, Bjorn. The pros and cons of subsidiary: the role of African regional andsubregional organizations in ensuring peace and security in AFricaDanishInstitute for International Studies (DIIS) Copenhagen, Denmark, 2005
http://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/Article%20for%20the%20Independenthttp://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/Article%20for%20the%20Independenthttp://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/Article%20for%20the%20Independenthttp://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/Article%20for%20the%20Independenthttp://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/Article%20for%20the%20Independent


33/34


Nash, Michael L. The European Union as a Template Contemporary Review. Jan 2003,Vol. 281 Issue 1644, P7, 7p

Packer, Corinne A. A., and Ronald Rukane. The New African Union and its ConstitutiveAct. American Journal of International law. Vol. 96, Issue 2. pp.365-380

Tieku, Thomas Kwasi Explaining the clash and accommodation of interests of majoractors in the creation of the African UnionAfrican Affairs (2004), 103, 249-267

Internet Sources

Organization of African Unity World History.comhttp://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/o/organisation-of-African_unity.htm

Dowden, Richard. Removing the barriers to change: the role of the West in Africa

(The Royal African Society, May 29, 2006)

http://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/nrc_article

EU and AU sign 12 million euro financial agreement www.mbendi.com

http://www.mbendi.co.za/a_sndmsg/news_view.asp?PG=11&I=47843&M=0

Thabo Mbeki, Scheep delivered on October 11, 1999 at the launch of the AfricanRenaissance Institute (Pretoria 1999).http://www.polity.org.za/html/govdocs/speeches/1999/

Official Website of the African Union:www.Africa-union.org

Prendergast, John: Thomas-Jensen, Colin. Matching Rhetoric with Action in Darfurhttp://allafrica.com/stories/200603170100.html (March 17, 2006)
http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/o/organisation-of-African_unity.htmhttp://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/nrc_articlehttp://www.mbendi.com/http://www.mbendi.co.za/a_sndmsg/news_view.asp?PG=11&I=47843&M=0http://www.polity.org.za/html/govdocs/speeches/1999/http://www.africa-union.org/http://allafrica.com/stories/200603170100.htmlhttp://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/o/organisation-of-African_unity.htmhttp://www.royalafricansociety.org/reports_publications/articles/nrc_articlehttp://www.mbendi.com/http://www.mbendi.co.za/a_sndmsg/news_view.asp?PG=11&I=47843&M=0http://www.polity.org.za/html/govdocs/speeches/1999/http://www.africa-union.org/http://allafrica.com/stories/200603170100.html


34/34


Mutume, Gumisai. Beyond the Ballot: Widening African Reform Africa Renewal(New York) [Excerpted. For full text seehttp://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol18no4/184govern.htm

Bechir Prefere lUA a lONU (03/28/2006)http://www.afriquecentrale.info/fr/news/news.asp?newsID=4052Copyright 2006 - afriquecentrale.info

LUA espre assurer la paix en Afrique (05/23/2004)http://www.afriquecentrale.info/fr/news/news.asp?rubID=1&srubID=13&themeID=1&newsID=331Copyright 2006 - afriquecentrale.info

L union Africaine est essentielle a la paix et a la securite, dit M. Danforth (11-19-2004)

http://www.uspolicy.be/Article.asp?ID=674539C4-B9EE-4F7F-BF62-437751AACB23&L=FR

Wikipedia contributors. African Union. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia(May 30, 2006)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405

Wikipedia contributors. Conference on Security, Stability, Development andCooperation. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (24 March 2006)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol18no4/184govern.htmhttp://www.afriquecentrale.info/fr/news/news.asp?newsID=4052http://www.afriquecentrale.info/fr/news/news.asp?rubID=1&srubID=13&themeID=1&newsID=331http://www.afriquecentrale.info/fr/news/news.asp?rubID=1&srubID=13&themeID=1&newsID=331http://www.uspolicy.be/Article.asp?ID=674539C4-B9EE-4F7F-BF62-437751AACB23&L=FRhttp://www.uspolicy.be/Article.asp?ID=674539C4-B9EE-4F7F-BF62-437751AACB23&L=FRhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol18no4/184govern.htmhttp://www.afriquecentrale.info/fr/news/news.asp?newsID=4052http://www.afriquecentrale.info/fr/news/news.asp?rubID=1&srubID=13&themeID=1&newsID=331http://www.afriquecentrale.info/fr/news/news.asp?rubID=1&srubID=13&themeID=1&newsID=331http://www.uspolicy.be/Article.asp?ID=674539C4-B9EE-4F7F-BF62-437751AACB23&L=FRhttp://www.uspolicy.be/Article.asp?ID=674539C4-B9EE-4F7F-BF62-437751AACB23&L=FRhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_Union&oldid=55979405http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conference_on_Security%2C_Stability%2C_Development_and_Cooperation&oldid=45198806

Documents

Is the African Union Up to the Continent's Challenges?-