[INDEX |
NATIONAL
|
WORLD
|
PERSPECTIVE
|
COLUMNS
|
MONEY
|
ENTERTAINMENT
|
HEALTH
|
TECH
|
LETTERS
|
SUBSCRIBE]
FinalCall.com News
World News
Africa strides toward peace, prosperity
By Anaclet Rwegayura
Updated Feb 4, 2004 - 12:08:00 AM
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PANA) - After adoption of a common African defense and security policy document, member States of the African Union (AU) have marked yet another milestone toward meeting the challenges of the 21st century.
Whether these challenges emanate from economic globalization, attracting foreign investment flows, diversification of exports or providing decent education and employment for the rising population, only lasting peace and security will provide the bedrock for the continent’s prosperity.
AU defense ministers, counseled by their military aides and chiefs of defense staff, have worked out the policy document that heads of state and government are expected to endorse in February at an extraordinary summit in Libya.
Since the 1960s, Africa has had an unenviable share of internal conflicts. Many of them were often compounded by dirty tricks, distrust and suspicion, especially when negotiating parties failed to make a deal, were dead slow to compromise or their interests were diametrically opposed.
Such haggling may recur in the future, but the new continental policy aims to spare the vulnerable population and the victims of conflict from the agony of waiting for peace and security to return to their homes, communities and nations, let alone making contact with the perpetrators.
The policy objectives center on promotion of a culture of peace and pacific co-existence among AU member countries and within the regions.
Some of the things that past attempts to manage and resolve African conflicts revealed were the continent’s shortfall of influential arbiters and the inability to bear the costs of peace talks. This happened several times when a military reverse in the battlefield could give the winning side a strong incentive to slow down the negotiations.
Though the AU intends to bolster the common policy by creating an African Standby Force (ASF), member States have resolved to put emphasis on the use of peaceful means of conflict resolution such as preventive diplomacy, persuasion and adjudication.
The ASF should be an implementing mechanism for the decisions taken by the AU Peace and Security Council, a new organ being set up for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
As a general principle, the AU will have the right to intervene in a member State in order to restore peace and stability in case of grave circumstances such as genocide and crimes against humanity and serious threats to legitimate order, the defense ministers said in a declaration issued at the end of their meeting.
A Military Staff Committee shall be set up to advise the Peace and Security Council on all questions relating to military and security requirements for the promotion and maintenance of peace and security in Africa.
Promoting peace in Africa is too much a gargantuan task to be undertaken by AU organs based in Addis Ababa. Considering the vast size of the continent, the policy architects
recognized the various efforts made at sub-regional levels by economic groupings to establish common policies on defense and security issues.
Specifically, the ministers declared that these communities—ECOWAS, ECCAS, IGAD, SADC, the East African Community, CEN-SAD, the Arab Maghreb Union and COMESA—are among implementing organs of the continental policy at regional level.
