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"However, compared to other challenges on the continent, Southern Africa is regarded as relatively peaceful. This affords it an important opportunity to build and consolidate its peace and security capacity."
—from Crisis Group’s latest report, “Implementing Peace and Security Architecture (II): Southern Africa”
"The SADC Standby Force has demonstrated its readiness for deployment, successfully conducting joint exercises, though it needs further strengthening to expand its humanitarian and disaster management roles."
—from Crisis Group’s latest report, “Implementing Peace and Security Architecture (II): Southern Africa”
"The secretariat is expected to function as SADC’s implementing arm, but lacks capacity and the authority to enforce decisions and is not empowered to engage in independent diplomatic action to address conflict situations."
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from Crisis Group’s latest report, “Implementing Peace and Security Architecture (II): Southern Africa”
"The last part of Africa to be decolonised, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, remains one of the most peaceful. Yet, despite comprehensive protocols and agreements, SADC faces acute challenges characterised by tensions between member states, resource deficits, citizens’ exclusion, social discontent and limited internal and external coordination."
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from Crisis Group’s latest report, “Implementing Peace and Security Architecture (II): Southern Africa”
"It must develop an effective common security policy framework, improve coordination with international partners, harmonise and clarify its role with other SADC structures, broaden engagement with civil society, ensure member-state commitment to African Union (AU) efforts on human and people’s rights and build capacity for evaluation and monitoring."
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from Crisis Group’s latest report, “Implementing Peace and Security Architecture (II): Southern Africa”
Implementing Peace and Security Architecture (II): Southern Africa
Johannesburg/Brussels | 15 Oct 2012
To preserve Southern Africa’s relative peace in the face of rising challenges and threats, Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states must collectively reinforce its peace and security architecture.
Implementing Peace and Security Architecture (II): Southern Africa, the latest International Crisis Group report, examines the weaknesses that hinder SADC from effectively dealing with rising threats to regional peace and security, including maritime security and piracy and socio-economic unrest. The reluctance of its member states to cede greater authority to a centralised structure and the lack of capacity of its Secretariat compromise the potential success of its endeavours.
“SADC member states have shown more willingness for economic than political integration”, says Trevor Maisiri, Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Southern Africa. “But regional security cooperation requires genuine commitment to harmonise national policies at the regional level”.
Recent interventions by SADC in Madagascar and Zimbabwe have exposed several weaknesses, such as limited capacity to follow through on agreements it brokered. A fragmented approach and the lack of a common policy hinder regional security cooperation. The same applies to the foreign partnerships concluded by each country, which pursue competing interests.
In order to strengthen the SADC conflict resolution structures, member states should grant greater support to the Secretariat, for example by providing for proper resources to the mediation unit, and by a greater involvement of civil society, non-governmental organisations and academics in the regional early warning system. The competences of the Standby Force need to be reinforced, notably through the inclusion of a civilian component, in order to build its capacities in humanitarian and natural disasters crisis management.
The development of regional cooperation requires the establishment and implementation of a common security policy to align national security institutions towards a common system. SADC member states should also coordinate international partnerships through existing thematic structures.
“Compared to other challenges on the continent, Southern Africa is regarded as relatively peaceful”, says Piers Pigou, Crisis Group’s Southern Africa Project Director. “This affords it an important opportunity to build and consolidate its peace and security capacity”.
Ethiopia Charts a Chinese Course | IPS
By Ed McKenna
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 3 2012 (IPS) - The death of Ethiopia’s leader of 21 years has raised fears of instability in one of Africa’s fastest-growing non-oil producing nations, which could potentially slow investment activity.
Former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who passed away in August, saw foreign direct investment (FDI) as key to his development plan for Ethiopia. This attitude helped shift Ethiopia’s economy from being wholly reliant on the export of agricultural commodities to, for example, utilising abundant labour and cheap power to begin developing a manufacturing industry.
“Without Meles, Ethiopia will struggle to control unrest (ethnic/religious) that could easily spill across regional borders,” a recent International Crisis Group report said.
Photo: A. Davey/Flickr
Tunisia woman accused of indecency after alleged rape by police | LA Times
By Emily Alpert
Hundreds of protesters thronged to a Tunis courtroom Tuesday as a woman and her fiance who accused police officers of rape and extortion defended themselves against allegations of indecency.
The case has outraged Tunisian feminists and human rights groups, who said the charges are an attempt to humiliate and frighten the couple, discouraging others from reporting police abuse. It has focused new attention on police impunity and the rights of women in the North African country, the birthplace of the “Arab Spring” uprisings, as it tries to set its path after the ouster of autocratic President Zine el Abidine ben Ali.
Photo: Amine Ghrabi/Flickr
Zimbabwe’s constitution process a battleground | Mail & Guardian
By Ray Ndlovu
The contest to control Zimbabwe’s drafting of a new constitution will heat up next week when the draft produced by the constitutional parliamentary committee (Copac) is taken to a second stakeholders conference.
The draft will be debated by more than 1000 delegates, including businesspeople and representatives from churches, non-governmental organisations and political parties in Harare from October 4 to 6.
FULL ARTICLE (Mail & Guardian)
Photo: IRIN Photos/Flickr
Mali: UN Takes Up Intervention Plan On Mali | allAfrica
By Carley L. Biron
Washington — The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday began to debate a plan to deploy West African peacekeeping troops to tackle the six-month Islamist insurgency in northern Mali.
At the Security Council, both the United States and France forcefully backed the call for greater international involvement, as did several African leaders. But while France, the former colonial power in Mali, has for months spearheaded the push for foreign military involvement, the United States has been reluctant to formally back such an operation.
Photo: Magharebia/Flickr
