Promoting a durable peace

The practical steps needed for peace and sustainable development

What is therefore now necessary, Mr. Annan states, is a sober and honest re-examination of the experience of the UN and others in Africa. As a contribution toward such a re-examination - and with the aim of shifting the terms of debate over Africa's problems and opportunities - the Secretary-General analyzes the political, historical, economic and social causes of conflict in Africa. He draws clear conclusions after candidly reviewing the shortcomings and successes of previous peacemaking, peacekeeping, humanitarian and post-conflict initiatives in Africa. Conflict and peace cannot be addressed in isolation, but must be approached with a more comprehensive perspective, he says. Such a perspective would take into account not only the complex roots of conflict, but also the need for good governance and sustainable development, which help provide the conditions for lasting peace. While primarily analytical, the Secretary-General's report includes several practical recommendations for Africa, the UN and the international community (see page 2).

The report comes in response to a request by the UN Security Council, convened on 25 September 1997 at the level of foreign ministers, to examine the problem of conflicts in Africa. Reflecting the multidimensional scope of the challenge, Mr. Annan is submitting the report not only to the Security Council, but also to the General Assembly and other parts of the United Nations system that have responsibilities in Africa, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Roots of conflict

Colonial rule bequeathed to Africa not only arbitrary boundaries which contributed to conflicts between states and made national unity within states more difficult, but it also left a legacy of authoritarian governance. In far too many African countries, the leaders of the newly independent states pursued a heavy centralization of political and economic power and suppressed political pluralism. This, the Secretary-General observes, "often led to corruption, nepotism, complacency and the abuse of power." In many countries, a "winner-takes-all" form of political power has raised the stakes of political control to dangerously high levels. In states that are multi-ethnic, as are most in Africa, such competition can lead to a violent politicization of ethnicity.

In some regions, such as central Africa, conflict has been exacerbated by competition for scarce land and water resources. The report notes that where significant reductions in social spending caused by "painful structural adjustment programmes" are coupled "with a perception that certain groups are not receiving a fair share of diminishing resources, the potential for conflict is evident."

Moreover, Mr. Annan says, despite the devastation of war, "there are many who profit from chaos" and have an interest in prolonging conflict. One of the principal objectives of the warring parties in Liberia, for example, was to exploit diamonds, timber and other raw materials, while struggles for control over Angola's lucrative diamond fields have made the peace process there more protracted and difficult.

• More effective coordination and preparation is needed. Toward that end, the UN has established an Executive Committee on Peace and Security, convened by the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, and has recently set up a UN liaison office at the OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Coordination between the UN, OAU and Africa's sub-regional organizations also needs to be strengthened, in part to help facilitate common approaches to conflicts by neighbouring states.
• Rival mediation efforts should be avoided. In this vein, Mr. Annan notes the appointment of a joint UN-OAU Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region, and the UN's support for former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere's mediation efforts in Burundi and Togo's efforts to mediate a territorial dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon.

• To better mobilize international support for peace efforts, greater use can be made of contact groups of interested countries and special conferences to highlight problems and needs.
• Sanctions, the Secretary-General affirms, can be a potentially effective tool, but "economic sanctions especially are too often a blunt instrument," sometimes imposing severe hardship on the civilian population, and little on the protagonists. He therefore suggests that sanctions be targeted at decision-makers and their families, including the freezing of assets and restrictions on travel. Where arms embargoes have been imposed, arms exporting countries must not only refrain from official transactions, but also discourage their nationals and corporations from violating the sanctions. Mr. Annan suggests that member states pass legislation to criminalize violations of Security Council arms embargoes.
• To better restrict arms exports to conflict zones, it is important to identify international arms merchants and their activities. According to Mr. Annan, "perhaps no other single initiative would do more to help combat the flow of illicit arms to Africa," and he suggests that the Security Council urgently address the role the UN might play in compiling, tracking and publicizing such information. In addition, he proposes that African governments reduce arms purchases to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), at most, and adopt a zero-growth policy on defence budgets for the next decade. They also should participate in the UN Register of Conventional Arms, which seeks to track major conventional weapons systems (only seven African countries currently participate).

Peacekeeping:

• As the experience of Somalia shows, peacekeeping operations without the agreement of the major warring factions can be counterproductive. While comprehensive settlements such as those in Namibia and Mozambique are the most successful, more limited agreements can also provide an opportunity for UN peacekeepers to step in to help separate the antagonists.
• There is a greater potential role for preventive deployments of UN peacekeepers. Such a "pro-active response to the threat of conflict" is reflected in the UN Security Council's decision in March 1998 to deploy a new UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINURCA), which became effective on 15 April for an initial three-month period, following up on earlier African mediation and peacekeeping initiatives.
• Africa's own capacity to mount peacekeeping missions must be reinforced, the Secretary-General affirms. He urges all countries to contribute to the UN and OAU Trust Funds for that purpose. Regional initiatives are both necessary and desirable, he says, but not all responsibilities can be delegated solely to regional organizations, because of their limited capacities and the possibility that some member states may not be neutral in certain conflicts. Support for African peacekeeping and conflict prevention efforts "are not in any way intended to relieve the broader international community of its collective obligations," the Secretary-General stresses.
• In cases where the UN may authorize forceful action by member states, such as the US-led UNITAF force in Somalia, the Secretary-General suggests that the Security Council's ability to monitor such activities be enhanced.

Humanitarian assistance:

Against this background, Mr. Annan makes several proposals:

• Adherence to international humanitarian and human rights norms remains a priority in the work of the UN, the Secretary-General insists. He recommends that combatants who deliberately target civilians be held financially liable to their victims under international law, and that international legal machinery be developed to help find, attach and seize the assets of transgressing parties and their leaders.
• In the past, voluntary contributions have proved inadequate for funding the deployment of special human rights missions. Mr. Annan recommends that in future these be funded from assessed UN contributions.
• The Secretary-General urges the establishment of an international mechanism to assist governments that host large populations of refugees to better maintain the security and neutrality of refugee camps and settlements.
• The activities of various humanitarian organizations often overlap and lead to a duplication of efforts. Coordinating humanitarian assistance remains one of the greatest challenges facing the international community's response to conflicts in Africa. Mr. Annan notes a number of steps the UN has already taken to improve the coordination of its own humanitarian actions and to ensure that they are consistent with broader UN peace and development activities.
• While providing aid to the victims of conflict is a moral imperative, such assistance deals only with the symptoms of conflict, not its causes. It is therefore important, the Secretary-General insists, that humanitarian assistance not be treated as a substitute for political action or be provided at the expense of addressing the conflict's root causes.

Post-conflict peace-building:

• Peace-building elements should be explicitly and clearly identified and integrated, from the outset, into the mandates of peacekeeping operations.
• Besides paying special attention to the financing of quick-impact micro-projects which can help reintegrate former combatants, refugees and displaced persons, consideration should also be given to "relaxing the normally strict financial conditions" imposed on governments by the international lending institutions, the Secretary-General suggests. "Where economic reform is needed it is necessary to consider how best to provide for a `peace-friendly' structural adjustment programme while easing the conditionality that normally accompanies loans from the Bretton Woods institutions."
• The multidimensional nature of post-conflict peace-building demands effective coordination, Mr. Annan says. In Liberia, he notes, the UN has opened its first Peace-Building Support Office, designed both to strengthen and harmonize UN efforts, and to mobilize international support for the country's reconstruction and recovery and for Liberian efforts to promote reconciliation and respect for human rights.

Peace and development

Respect for human rights and the rule of law are vital components of any effort to make peace durable, and are also cornerstones of good governance, Mr. Annan says. He calls on all African countries to ratify the UN and African instruments on human rights and, as a priority, embody them in national law. Laws must be fairly and impartially enforced, he says, for if laws are applied only selectively or are particularly harsh toward certain groups, "it creates resentment and fosters the environment for a violent response." African government must "make the fight against corruption a genuine priority."

While a majority of African countries have held multiparty elections in recent years, much more needs to be done to ensure that individuals feel protected, civil society is able to flourish and governments carry out their responsibilities effectively and transparently. "Democratization gives people a stake in society," Mr. Annan argues. "Its importance cannot be overstated, for unless people feel that they have a true stake in society lasting peace will not be possible and sustainable development will not be achieved."

Development is a human right, the Secretary-General affirms, and is central to the prospects for reducing conflict in Africa. Governments should review their priorities to focus on basic human needs and place a primary emphasis on reducing poverty. Investment in human development is crucial, especially to ensure basic education and public health priorities. In addition, Mr. Annan adds, "attention to social justice is vital if development and economic growth are to produce positive results and if society is to develop in a balanced way." In this direction, the institutional barriers that prevent women's exercise of equal rights must be identified and removed through comprehensive policy reform.

African governments that have not completed "the first generation of economic reforms" must implement them without delay, the Secretary-General urges. He suggests that they convene national conventions to explain the need for and ramifications of structural adjustment and to consider any modifications that may be warranted.

Photo credit: UNDP

Sustainable livelihoods: Development is a human right, and is central to the prospects for reducing conflict in Africa.

Africa's debt burden remains unsustainable, the Secretary-General declares, noting that actual debt repayments consumed more than 17 per cent of the continent's export earnings in 1995 while arrears mounted. Despite the urgency of Africa's debt crisis, international debt-reduction initiatives have been "disappointing," he affirms. Among other measures, he recommends that the scope of the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund be greatly expanded, since only four African countries currently meet its requirements.

Long-term sustainable growth in Africa also will depend on the continent's capacity to diversify exports and achieve export-led growth in manufactures, alongside the production of primary commodities. Unfortunately, the practice of "tariff escalation," whereby tariffs increase in proportion to the degree of processing of African exports, serves to discourage and penalize African efforts to develop. Mr. Annan recommends that the next meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized countries take up the question of eliminating trade barriers to African products.