Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni again appealed for setting up a force of the African Union (AU) recently to curb or restrain regional conflicts and create a stable environment for economic growth for African nations. Meanwhile, President Lauvong Gbagbo of Cote d'lvoire also called for a military cooperation agreement to be inked among African nations in a bid to seek the continent's collective security.
This indicates that leaders of some African nations have worked hard to explore ways for enhancing the collective security of Africa in the face of a complex, volatile global environment.
It has become a consensus of African leaders that security is closely related to development. The African continent has reported relatively more clashes and crises due to problems left over from the colonial age. Relevant statistics show that Africa had been ravaged by more than 30 wars, clashes and riots in the 90s of the last century alone. So, an idea to set up a joint force for protecting Africa's security, be it a task force or a High Command, emerges among leaders of African nations.
Wars and conflicts, or clashes, have been reduced drastically on the continent since the entry of the 21 century and the situation with economic growth has been good on the whole, but partial security problem is still troubling quite a number of African nations and directly menacing the regional economic development. A case in point is the occurrence of recent riots in Kenya set off during its general election, which has produced a direct negative impact on economic growth in east Africa.
Moreover, a few Western nations attempt to step up their military presence in Africa because of its unique strategic position, and this phenomena has complicated its security issue and prompts AU to propose establishing a peacekeeping force made up of military personnel of Africa nations and encourage sub-regions to draft a sound plan or strategy for the settlement of related issues.
The African nations should be said to have made unremitting efforts to beef up the collective unity of the continent for years. The African Union (AU) and its predecessor -- the Organization of African Unity (OAU), have played a vital role in this regard. OAU proposed setting up a peacekeeping force composed of armed personnel of African nations back in the early 1990s, and encouraged its sub-regional organizations to carry out peacekeeping activities. In 2002, AU officially listed the formation of a joint African defense policy as one of its goals after its replacement of OAU.
As for concrete moves, the establishment of a reserve force for the whole of Africa has been an objective sought after by African countries for a dozen years. OAU first discussed the formation of a quick-response task force to cope with crises in Africa in 1996. Afterwards, leaders of African nations proposed establishing an AU reserve force for performing such tasks as the peacekeeping and humanitarian rescue efforts in the times of needs. To date, the establishment of such a reserve force has been translated into reality gradually. AU has so far urged five sub-African regions to organize their respective reserve forces, each supported by a training wing comprising four 750-member units and a 120-member military observation team.
Meanwhile, a reserve force of the Commonwealth, Southern African Development Community (SADC) was founded in August 2007 with its membership to eventually reach 3,000 to 5,000, and an independent East African brigade with a membership of some 6,000 is expected to be in place next year.
Of course, there is still a long, long way to go before the complete settlement of Africa's collective security issue. Although there have been less traditional security issues lying before African nations, their non-conventional security problems, however, have been on constant rise. And the role of quick response forces has been hindered owing to their inadequate funding and outdated military equipment and other related factors.
With a marked progress in the integration process of the African continent, a collective security setup with unique characteristics of the Africa to keep pace with its development is sure to keep improving steadily. Hence, the security for the entire continent will truly be at the helm of Africans themselves.
By People's Daily Online and its author is Pei Guangjiang
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