In perhaps his most important political report to date, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has analyzed in remarkably candid terms the causes of conflict in Africa. In the report, issued in April, Mr. Annan also proposed a comprehensive set of far-reaching, "realistic and achievable" measures designed to significantly reduce political tensions and violence within and between African states.
The report, The Causes of Conflict and the Promotion of Durable Peace
and Sustainable Development in Africa*, which the Security Council had
requested, came against a backdrop of significant political and economic
achievements on the continent, and the emergence of leaders with confidence
in Africa's ability to chart a path to peace and higher levels of development.
These recent successes have sparked renewed international interest in Africa,
and the report has the potential to secure wide African and international
support at a time when, the Secretary-General observed, efforts to break
with past patterns "are at last beginning to succeed."
Photo: UN / Milton Grant
The Secretary-General's recommendations derive strength in significant part from the candour with which his report analyzed causes -- and responsibility -- for conflict in Africa.
"By not averting these colossal human tragedies [as in Rwanda, Somalia and Liberia]," said the Secretary-General, "African leaders have failed the peoples of Africa; the international community has failed them; the United Nations has failed them." Repeatedly, the Secretary-General called on all concerned to "summon the political will" to produce positive change in Africa.
"The United Nations stands ready to play its part," Mr. Annan declared. "So must the world. So must Africa."
Africa today must more than ever look at itself, the Secretary-General asserted, given the renewed momentum in the continent's quest for peace and greater prosperity. However, he added, African efforts need stronger international support politically, as well as in the economic area, where greater debt relief and market access for more diversified African exports are crucial to ensuring the higher living standards that promote stability.
In what is one of the most concise and authoritative primers on the causes and cures for African conflict, the report noted that 14 of the continent's 53 countries were afflicted by armed conflict in 1996 alone, and over 30 wars have occurred in Africa since 1970, mostly within states. These accounted for "more than half of all war-related deaths worldwide" and caused over 8 million people to become refugees, returnees and displaced persons.
While no transgressors were named, the report went on to say that even in this post-Cold War period, foreign interests continue to play a large role in sustaining some conflicts in the competition for oil and other African resources.
African states were not spared either: even as he paid them tribute for their growing peacekeeping and mediation efforts, the Secretary-General pointed out that the role some of them play "in supporting and sometimes even in instigating conflicts in neighbouring countries must be candidly acknowledged."
In focusing on the various actors who help to fan conflict, Mr. Annan strongly criticized international arms merchants as being among those "who profit from conflict in Africa." He recommended that Member States pass legislation making the violation of Security Council arms embargoes by individuals or corporations a criminal offense under their national laws. Although public identification of arms merchants has been difficult, the Secretary-General asserted that possibly no other single initiative would do more to help combat the flow of illicit arms to Africa. The report asked the Security Council to address this issue as a matter of urgency, including how the UN might support the compiling, tracking and publicizing of such information.
At the same time, while recognizing the rights of states to provide for their own defence, the Secretary-General called upon African states to reduce their purchases of arms and munitions to below 1.5 per cent of GDP, and to commit themselves to a zero-growth policy for defence budgets for a period of 10 years.
He noted the "long-term distortions" in Africa's political economy and the authoritarian legacies of colonialism which helped produce the "winner-takes-all" and highly personalized forms of governance seen in parts of the continent. With the frequent lack of peaceful means to change or replace leadership and the "often violent politicization of ethnicity," Mr. Annan said conflict becomes virtually inevitable.
Turning to the United Nations itself, Mr. Annan called for a reversal of the international community's "great reluctance in recent years to assume the political and financial exposure associated with deploying peacekeeping operations." Memories of the Somalia experience "continue to hobble" UN capacity to respond swiftly and decisively to crises; and within Africa, the lack of forceful United Nations action to stop the 1994 Rwanda genocide has had a "particularly harsh" impact, leading to the tendency of some African governments to marginalize the UN from political involvement in regional affairs. The "horrifying suffering of the Rwandese people sends the clear and unmistakable message that the international community must never again tolerate such inaction," the Secretary-General asserted.
The Secretary-General urged member states to provide renewed and better coordinated support for early and decisive action to prevent or resolve conflict in Africa. He said UN peacekeeping could achieve much if "deployed with a credible deterrent capacity, equipped with appropriate resources, and backed by sufficient political will." Mr. Annan called for support for regional and sub-regional initiatives, and strongly encouraged UN member states to contribute to the UN and Organization of African Unity (OAU) Trust Funds for conflict prevention and peacekeeping. "Such support is necessary because the United Nations lacks the capacity, resources and expertise to address all problems that may arise in Africa," he said. "It is also desirable because wherever possible the international community should strive to complement rather than supplant African efforts to resolve Africa's problems."
He said Africa must demonstrate the political will to rely upon political rather than military responses to problems, protect democratic channels for pursuing legitimate interests and expressing dissent, and respect and legitimize political opposition. Africa must also take good governance seriously -- ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law, strengthening democratization, and promoting transparent and accountable public administration. "Unless good governance is prized, Africa will not break free of the threat and the reality of conflict which are so evident today."
Mr. Annan urged governments in conflict situations to consider appointing special mediators or special commissions to build confidence and recommend practical solutions. Mr. Annan also called for the establishment of "contact groups" of interested countries or a "special conference" in conflict and post-conflict situations, as done in the case of Liberia. Sanctions should also be better targeted, since "in some cases, the hardship imposed on the civilian population is greatly disproportionate to the likely impact of the sanctions on the behaviour of the protagonists." Mr. Annan suggested the use of sanctions aimed at decision-makers and their families, including the freezing of personal and organizational assets as well as restrictions on travel.
Turning to the international community, Mr. Annan said development aid should be "restructured, focusing on high impact areas and on reducing dependency." He noted that after more than 40 years of technical assistance programmes, 90 per cent of the $12 bn a year of technical assistance is spent on non-African consultants despite the availability of African experts in many fields. In this light, Mr. Annan urged donors to make sure that "at least 50 per cent of their aid to Africa is spent in Africa."
Mr. Annan called for "new sources of funding" as well as "better use of existing resources and the enactment of trade and debt measures that will enable Africa to generate and better reinvest its own resources." He called on the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries to consider eliminating trade barriers to African products. He also called for deeper reduction of Africa's "unsustainable" external debt -- $328.9 bn in 1995 -- which would promote and reinforce economic reforms. Such relief should be structured "in ways that will not undermine Africa's future capacity to attract investment, but will instead enhance that capacity by lifting past burdens from present operations," the Secretary-General added.
Regional and sub-regional integration processes should be strengthened, the Secretary-General said, calling on the UN system (including the Bretton Woods institutions), along with inter-governmental organizations such as the European Union, to reinforce African countries' own efforts. He also called for "a hard look" at the important international initiatives aimed at promoting peace and development in Africa. These include the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s (UN-NADAF) and its implementing component, the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa (UNSIA), the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), and Commitment 7 of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development.
Innovations in addressing African conflictsA number of innovations that the Secretary-General has introduced in the strategic management of the United Nations have already helped improve the manner in which it has dealt with conflict and instability in Africa. Innovations that are mentioned in the report include:
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