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An African initiative

It is encouraging that African countries are taking the initiative to tackle some of the continent’s longstanding problems, although they do not have the resources necessary to achieve their objectives. Sudan, which has been resisting, for over a year, a plan for the deployment of an enlarged multi-national peacekeeping force in the Darfur region, has finally given the green signal. Khartoum came around only after the United Nations Security Council conceded that the African Union could take the lead in contributing contingents to this force and oversee its day-to-day operations. The composition of the force reflects a compromise between the demands of the West and the objections of the Sudanese government. Washington and London threatened to intensify sanctions if international peacekeepers were not allowed into Darfur. The government of President Omar al-Bashir insisted that the induction of a non-African force would create the impression that it was accepting a reversion to colonial rule. The compromise might not have come about but for the major role the leading powers of the continent played in the negotiations. The force, expected to be about 20,000-strong when fully deployed by the end of the year, will include units from other continents though it will have an African face.

Apart from the 7000 troops it already maintains in Sudan, the African Union has either deployed or committed to deploy contingents in Somalia and other conflict-ridden sub-Saharan regions. Since the continent lacks the military resources and the economic capacity required to solve all its problems by itself, it has to look up to the international community for assistance. Some form of external monitoring might also be necessary, since African military units that undertook peacekeeping operations on earlier occasions were accused of having committed horrendous human rights abuses. For all that, peacekeeping forces drawn largely from within the continent are likely to be more effective as they would be better attuned to local conditions. The sensitivity the African nations can bring into play will be all the more useful when they deal with political issues. President Robert Mugabe has always opposed international intervention in Zimbabwe’s affairs on the ground that western governments especially do not factor in the country’s colonial past when they prescribe solutions to present-day problems. Mr. Mugabe could not raise such objections when a group led by South Africa worked on him to open negotiations with the opposition in order to set the rules for a fair election.

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