From Africa Recovery, Vol.17 #2 (July 2003), page 4

Tackling conflict on a regional scale

Difficult peace efforts in West Africa's 'dangerous neighbourhood'

The multitude of armed conflicts in West Africa can only be adequately resolved if those working for peace adopt a regional perspective, declared representatives of 15 West African countries at an extraordinary summit in Abuja, Nigeria, on 28 May. As one concrete step in that direction, leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) vowed to activate standby units in each of their armies to facilitate the creation of a rapid response force for quick intervention when conflicts first erupt.

"We do not have a standing army," observed Mr. Ralph Uwechue, the ECOWAS chairman's special representative in Côte d'Ivoire. Therefore, a separate peacekeeping force now needs to be set up each time there is a crisis, as the regional grouping has already done several times - in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and now Côte d'Ivoire. Such an ad hoc approach often entails delays. In addition, Mr. Uwechue said, better regional mechanisms are needed as well to mediate disputes before they erupt into open warfare. "Prevention is better than cure."

With a renewed escalation of fighting in Liberia, continued instability in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone only recently emerging from civil war and large numbers of refugees and displaced people creating a major humanitarian emergency, there clearly is a need for a more active and integrated initiative to restore peace and security across West Africa, "a dangerous neighbourhood," as UN Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari terms it.

Just as ECOWAS leaders are moving towards regional solutions, so must the UN, Mr. Gambari told the Security Council on 30 May. "Regional dimensions of conflicts in Africa must be taken fully into account in United Nations efforts to resolve conflicts in the continent," he said. Mr. Gambari urged the Council to consider measures to enhance the capacity of African regional organizations to better undertake peace operations.

The lessons of earlier peacekeeping operations in Africa, Mr. Gambari said, point toward the need "to explore further the linkages between peace and security on the one hand, and social and economic development on the other." That relationship is a major element in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the development strategy adopted by African leaders in 2001. Mr. Gambari's Office of the Special Adviser on Africa has the responsibility, among other tasks, of coordinating the UN system's support for NEPAD.

Greater attention to social and economic development is vital for ensuring that old conflicts do not break out anew. "The failure of the international community to engage in serious efforts to consolidate peace in Central African Republic, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau after the end of the earlier peacekeeping operations," he told the Security Council, was one factor in the relapse into conflict in those countries. Most immediately, he recommended an assessment of Sierra Leone's vulnerability following the projected withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping mission there.

Such efforts have been made easier by the new determination of African leaders, through NEPAD, the ECOWAS summit and other recent initiatives, to more actively pursue peace. "It is true that the primary responsibility for resolving conflicts in Africa lies with the Africans themselves," Mr. Gambari said. And there is growing evidence "that the Africans are serious in their commitment to ensure peace and security."

TIMELINES SIERRA LEONE   March 1991: Revolutionary United Front (RUF) launches war from Liberian border. ECOWAS dispatches military force.  February 1996: Army relinquishes power to elected president, Mr. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.  1997-98: Army again seizes power, joins forces with RUF, but ECOWAS force returns Mr. Kabbah to office.  1999: Despite peace agreement, war continues. UN establishes mission.  April-May 2000: Rebels suffer military reversals.  January-May 2002: Disarmament of 45,000 fighters completed. Mr. Kabbah wins elections. LIBERIA   1988-90: Multi-sided civil war brings death of President Samuel Doe. ECOWAS sends a military force.  August 1995: Peace treaty among warring factions. July 1997: Rebel leader Charles Taylor is elected president.  1999: Attacks by anti-Taylor rebel groups along Guinean border. June 2003: President Taylor attends peace talks in Ghana, as Special Court in Sierra Leone indicts him for war crimes. CÔTE D'IVOIRE   December 1999: Coup by General Robert Gueï. October 2000: Disputed and violent elections,with Laurent Gbagbo emerging as president. September 2002: Mutiny of troops sparks civil war. ECOWAS sets up contact group and approves military force. 15-23 January 2003: Talks in Marcoussis, France, bring peace agreement. March 2003:  Meeting in Accra agrees on composition of coalition government. 13 May 2003: Security Council establishes UN Mission in Côte d'Ivoire (MINUCI).

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