November 4, 2010
South African Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
For the past 60 years, the United Nations has been keeping foes apart in strife-torn parts
of the world, and rebuilding countries and communities afterwards. In the UN’s peace
operations in Africa, India has been an active partner since its peacekeeping mission in the
Congo in 1960. In this paper, all references to ‘the Congo’ denote the Democratic Republic
of Congo (formerly Zaire), and not the Republic of Congo (or Congo–Brazzaville).
This paper explores India’s peacekeeping efforts in Africa over the last five decades.
It analyses the reasons for India’s engagement in African peace missions, and finds that
different motives and incentives appear to be driving India’s peacekeeping. Some of these
can be explained along Cold War fault lines.
A chronological account of India’s peacekeeping actions in Africa illustrates that country’s
commitment to securing peace, the depth of involvement, the fatalities bravely borne and
the hardships endured. Even more important, the record shows that India continues to use
the experience that has been gained to refine its approach to peacekeeping.
In conclusion, the paper offers a forecast of what form India’s commitments to Africa’s
peacekeeping requirements are likely to take in the future. India may well develop criteria
that require a greater return on investment than has been the case over the last halfcentury.
A more tempered approach — particularly in view of India’s global aspirations
— seems likely....
March 12, 2010
International Development Research Centre // Wits University Press
Abstract:
Southern Africa has embarked on one of the world’s most ambitious security co-operation initiatives, seeking to roll out the principles of the United Nations at regional levels. This book examines the triangular relationship between democratisation, the character of democracy and its deficits, and national security practices and perceptions of eleven southern African states. It explores what impact these processes and practices have had on the collaborative security project in the region. Based on national studies conducted by African academics and security practitioners over three years, it includes an examination of the way security is conceived and managed, as well as a comparative analysis of regional security co-operation in the developing world. This book includes: Chapter 1: Democratic Governance and Security: A Conceptual Exploration, by Andre du Pisani; Chapter 2: Comparative Perspectives on Regional Security Co-operation among Developing Countries, by Gavin Cawthra; Chapter 3: Southern African Security in Historical Perspective, by Abillah H. Omari and Paulino Macaringue; Chapter 4: Botswana, by Mpho G. Molomo, Zibani Maundeni, Bertha Osei-Hwedie, Ian Taylor, and Shelly Whitman; Chapter 5: Lesotho, by Khabele Matlosa; Chapter 6: Mauritius, by Gavin Cawthra; Chapter 7: Mozambique, by Anicia Lalá; Chapter 8: Namibia, by Bill Lindeke, Phanuel Kaapama, and Leslie Blaauw; Chapter 9: Seychelles, by Anthoni van Nieuwkerk and William M. Bell; Chapter 10: South Africa, by Maxi Schoeman; Chapter 11: Swaziland, by Joseph Bheki Mzizi; Chapter 12: Tanzania Mohammed, by Omar Maundi; Chapter 13: Zambia, by Bizeck Jube Phiri; Chapter 14: Zimbabwe, by Ken D. Manungo; and Chapter 15: Conclusions, by Gavin Cawthra, Khabele Matlosa, and Anthoni van Nieuwkerk....
December 4, 2008
Humanitarian Accountability Partnership
Abstract:
It has been more than four years since discoveries of pervasive misconduct and the subsequent
release of the UN Secretary-General’s Bulletin catalysed humanitarian organisations to reevaluate
their capacities for preventing and responding to sexual exploitation and abuse. In
order to envision global prevention and response strategies, there was a close examination of
current practices which exposed weak or nonexistent codes of conduct, poor awareness of
rights and duties, nonexistent or confusing complaints mechanisms and few (if any) on-staff
investigators. Now, the consultations that are the subject of this report underscore that our
global expectations of how long meaningful change would take, how much it would cost
and what would be involved were unrealistic.
Many similar patterns were clear in all three countries despite the diversity of cultures and
circumstances. These patterns help illuminate widespread challenges and perhaps solutions.
Between August and November in 2007, 295 humanitarian aid beneficiaries in Kenya,
Namibia and Thailand participated in consultations about their perceptions of prevention
and response to sexual exploitation and abuse. Although beneficiaries know sexual abuse
and exploitation is going on around them and perceive the risks, the vast majority of the
295 beneficiaries consulted said they would not complain about misconduct. Consequently,
complaints are rare and investigations even rarer.
“To complain or not to complain” is still a conundrum for most of the beneficiaries with
whom we spoke. Beneficiaries felt they had few channels through which to complain.
Options of complaints mechanisms are limited to dropping a note in a complaints box or
reporting to an individual or chain of people, each of whom will have to choose to take the
complaint seriously and pass it “up” for action. Beneficiaries worry particularly about the
lack both of confidentiality and of security assurances should they complain. Many do not
want to make problems for fellow refugees and actually see the complainant as the troublemaker
who risks creating conflict within their community by complaining. Others stated
they feared losing aid if they complained about humanitarian agencies’ actions. Humanitarian
staff (volunteer, incentive and salaried) expressed reluctance to report on fellow aid workers.
Fear of retaliation is pervasive and prohibits most would-be complainants. Some, although
very few, participants were willing and ready to report alleged sexual exploitation and abuse
related misconduct by humanitarian workers (local, national or international)....
November 14, 2008
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
IPI is pleased to introduce a new series of working papers on regional capacities to respond to security
challenges in Africa. The broad range of United Nations, African Union, and subregional peacekeeping,
peacemaking, and peacebuilding initiatives in Africa underscore a new sense of multilayered partnership in the
search for the peaceful resolution of conflicts in Africa. As the total number of conflicts on the continent has
been significantly reduced in the past decade, there is widespread recognition of the opportunities for a more
stable and peaceful future for Africa. But there is also a profound awareness of the fragility of recent peace
agreements, whether in Kenya, Liberia, or Côte d’Ivoire. Furthermore, continued violence in the Sudan, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe; the long absence of a viable central government in Somalia;
and continued tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea—to name only a few cases—reflect the legacy of
unresolved historic disputes and ongoing power struggles...The southern African region is now
generally defined in political terms as
those countries that are members of the
Southern African Development
Community (SADC) (the geographic
definition is usually somewhat more
limited). Currently there are fifteen
member states of the SADC: Angola,
Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar,
Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique,
Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe.
These countries are disparate in many
ways: they vary greatly in size, population,
and levels of economic growth, and
include some of the poorest countries in
the world, but also some of the richest in
Africa. Six of them are landlocked; two of
them are Indian Ocean islands. They
share a common history of colonization—variously
involving French, British, Belgian, and German
imperial powers—and this continues to impact
significantly on the nature of governance and
politics in the region. Many, but not all, of the
countries of the region experienced periods of
European settler colonialism, resulting in armed
liberation struggles for independence. Several of
them also endured apartheid or various forms of
racial segregation and oppression as a result of that
history of settler colonialism.
Conflict and war has marked the region considerably,
particularly conflicts over apartheid and
colonialism, which engulfed most of southern
Africa and led to millions of deaths. Angola and
Mozambique suffered further from post-independence
civil wars, fueled in part by South Africa and
Rhodesia. After a bloody civil war following the
collapse of Mobutu Sese-Seko’s authoritarian
regime in the DRC in the second half of the 1990s,
however, the region is, for the first time in forty
years, almost completely at peace, except for
residual conflicts in the east of the DRC.
Nevertheless, there remain profound threats to
human and state security, many of them fueled by
poverty, marginalization, and the weakness of
states....
October 1, 2008
L’Observatoire des Situations de Déplacement Interne // L’Initiative Internationale en faveur des Droits des Réfugiés
Abstract:
La région des Grands Lacs en Afrique centrale et orientale
a été ravagée par des confl its pendant plus de dix
ans. Les guerres dans la région ont conduit à des mouvements
massifs de population, qui ont eux-mêmes
constitué un motif supplémentaire de confl it. Par exemple,
l’un des fl ux de population les plus importants
et les plus rapides de l’histoire récente a fait suite au
génocide de 1994 au Rwanda qui a causé la mort de
près d’un million de personnes. Des acteurs armés et
des auteurs de violations graves des droits de l’homme
étaient mêlés à une foule de réfugiés authentiques
dans ce fl ux sans précédent. L’incapacité de gérer cette
situation complexe a contribué au déclenchement et
à la poursuite du confl it en République Démocratique
du Congo (RDC).
Aujourd’hui, la région s’efforce de revenir sur la voie
de la paix et du développement. Des accords de paix
ont été signés au Burundi, au Sud Soudan et en RDC.
Des négociations sont en cours pour mettre un terme
à la guerre dans le nord de l’Ouganda avec le soutien
de plusieurs Etats africains. Grâce à ces évolutions, un
grand nombre de réfugiés et de personnes déplacées à
l’intérieur de leur propre pays («personnes déplacées»)
ont été en mesure de rentrer chez eux dans l’ensemble
de la région, que ce soit en Angola, au Burundi, au
Sud Soudan et, dans une certaine mesure, dans le
nord de l’Ouganda. Ce guide a été conçu pour aider les lecteurs à comprendre
le cadre politique, juridique et institutionnel de la
CIRGL. Il se concentre sur les trois protocoles du pilier
social et humanitaire de la Conférence internationale
sur la région des Grands Lacs les plus pertinents pour
la protection des droits des personnes déplacées.3 Nous
espérons que ce guide aidera les défenseurs des droits
des personnes déplacées dans la région à utiliser le Pacte
sur les Grands Lacs pour élaborer des politiques et des
décisions au bénéfi ce des personnes déplacées....
Namibia 
