Abstract

Africa is on the radar screen of global public opinion in an exceptional way. The end of the cold war did marshal in an era of anticipation and encouragement in Africa, a continent that had been adversely affected by slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism and cold war politics. But it appears the challenges have continued with new ones emerging. The making of the African Unionis reminiscent of the challenges and the need to redefine Africa in the framework of global environment that is primarily directed towards achievement of security of not only member states and the continent at large but also at individual level. Arising from modern understanding of security the African continent is embroiled in peace and security challenges that the newly transformed African multilateral institution and other international actors have to address. This paper examines the challenges and prospects of peace and security. It analyses the drivers of insecurity that seem to have emerged from auspicious combination of factors that cut across all spheres of human interaction, i.e. personal, institutional, lack of unity of purpose, conflict of interest, lack of standards of measurement, lack of technology, lack of resources and external manipulation and exploitation. The paper will further expose the weaknesses characterizing states in Africa and suggesting ways of dealing with insecurity situation. The role that China can play in enhancing peace and security in Africa will also be explored.

Historical Background to the Peace and Security in Africa

The African insecurity situation is treated as if its roots lay no more than a few years in the past rather than decades or centuries. Lessons learnt from history of Africa presence images founded on slavery, colonialism, and racism. Recent look on Africa reveals that end of colonialism and systems of oppression like apartheid have not ended. In fact they have surfaced in changed form assuming the same role of facilitating exploitation and oppression of Africa.

Post-colonial Africa has been ravaged by insecurity situation ranging from war to poverty. War in ernest has retarded socio-economic development and spawned 13 million displaced people and 5 million refugees.(African Union, 2004).The causes and consequences of these wars in Africa are multifaceted. Often historical, structural, and ecological factors have shaped the socio-political environments in which conflict occurs. External and internal actors and processes have also interacted in influencing the dynamics of local conflict, be it conflict over the demarcation of borders, ethnic and religious-rivalries, feuds over increasingly scarce resources or political opposition. There appears to be an overall failure to dealing with issues of war whilst others have come and gone (Sierra Leone, Liberia, DRC) some have continued and new ones emerging ( Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and recently in Lybia).

Some of the insecurity concerns can be traced back to the colonial era, when ethnic, cultural and social differences, as well as economic viability, were not considered in the cartographic exercise of colonial powers. Colonial powers constructed economies skewed towards the extraction and exportation of raw materials, often producing small enclaves of development. In the post-colonial era, control over these sites of extraction created and fuelled conflicts. Patronage, nepotism, favouritism, and tokenism in appointments to military, political and bureaucratic positions exacerbated ethno-regional conflict and continues to shape political consideration in the present day Africa.

During the Cold War, Africa became a battleground for East-West conflict, and the continent was flooded with arms. The end of the Cold War in the late 1980s paved the way for political change in Africa. Not only did the continent lose its strategic value to the West, as evidenced by unwillingness by some Western governments to continue supporting autocrats for ideological reasons, but also the post-Cold War “Washington consensus” made democracy, good governance and economic structural adjustment measures pre-conditions for aid. Which in a large way, have contributed to the implementation of development programmes which do not prioritise the needs of the general populace but dictates of the western donors. These developments, along with increasing calls for democratization by civil society groups, led to the “third wave” of democratization, and to new holistic conceptions of conflict resolution and peace building in Africa. The new thinking instead of bringing stability as envisaged it has led to exploitation and bifurcation of society, thus creating an atmosphere of insecurity which affects Africa today.

Contending Contemporary Issues of Peace and security

The problem of Africa features the complex internal security environment characterised by security challenges ranging from terrorism, cross border security threats, failed states and internal conflict,self-interest- states have their own heads, armies and flags, leadership failure, one party state, personal rule, emergence of coups and counter coups, drought, corruption, mismanagement, ill-conceived policies, skills shortages, political risks, stringent regulations and bureaucratic obstacles.Externally, the key challenges are related to the consequences of global inequalities, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, emergence of new interventionist policy doctrines, dependency relationship, and external subjugation.

It has emerged that since 1963 achieving continental security has remained illusory, African continent has continued featuring chaos, coups, conflicts-intra and interstate, economic decline, political turmoil, cultural and social decadence. The status of the continent has continued featuring a “Mixture of manmade disasters, from unscrupulous rulers to international economic policies, including American and European barriers, and unrelenting cycle of conflict”. (SominiSengupta, Begggar 2004: 2) The case of both natural and man made

“…include historical legacies of slave trade and colonialism and the nature of post-independent African state and the nature of political contest therein or lack of such context, external intervention in the internal affairs of African countries by political powers of various denominations and vintages, external interventions driven by brute economic motives and internal destabilisation driven by motive of capturing the state and its coffers”( Ali Abdel Gadir Ali, 2000:235).

Economically, security has been viewed as freedom from want, Africa’s traditional importance as a new supplier of raw materials has not brought any meaningful benefits to the people of Africa. This has to do with who controls the global resources and who determine their distribution and prizing. The need etend the benefit to the general populace has been meant with severe limitation leading to borrowing. Thus, the resultant government indebtness and lack of economic growth.As Asante puts it, despite efforts to stimulate growth, supported by massive aid and technical assistance by both bilateral and multilateral agencies, to foster agricultural production and to initiate other developmental programmes to bring about more fundamental changes in the economic structure inherited at independence the continent remains the most economically, socially and culturally deprived of all the regions the world. (1987:131). Most governments in Africa now relies more on donor funds even in their national budgets. One sad reality is that the donations do not come free of charge as states are expected to behave in particular manner if they are to access funds for the future.

It appears Africa in terms of division of labour remains at the lower strata as compared with the rest of the world. In the stratum Africans are merely producers and exporters of raw materials. Whether extraction of these raw materials is in the hands of the Africans or African governments is a question to ponder. However, what is clear is that western interlopers have been the major beneficiaries. According to DaniNabudere ‘ the African peoples can be said to be the authors of African independence for this was struggled by them, yet African nationalist ideology and the African post-colonial nation states were creations of the European global imperialist project’. (DaniNabudere 2000:11), In essence an African today/leader of today is a breed of general masses whose grievances were combined by the ‘new African political elite which had emerged within the cultural, social and economic frame work of the colonial political economy’, they grew with the colonial system of education or having been educated and trained in the west where, ‘the objective of access to education…was to enable the African individual to move to the level of ‘modern industrial high culture’ from the old ‘low culture’ of the village’.(DaniNabudere 2000:12),

Politically, lack of a sustainable democratic tradition and interference from international actors with hidden interest in African countries has hindered security. National leaders have consistently strove to protect their interest by maintaining their stay in power. This guarantees their continued access to the scarce resources. It also explains why they cannot challenge global hegemony by global powers because they need the resources to keep themselves in power and ensure their survival politically at the expense the general populace which are poor and less powerful. The western powers have realized this dilemma and are capitalizing on the situation to continually access the resources. Seeds of division have continued for African countries to unite.The west’s relationship with Africa has to a larger extent been that of a horse and its rider. There has been a tendency by the west to treat their former African colonies as appendages of their own states. This has led to the asphyxiation of self-determination and independence of individual countries. In the end the decisions and policies that are made in African states, are exclusively in tandem with the interests of the capitalist centre.

Socially, in Africa levels of poverty, endemic diseases and unemployment are continuing and rapidly worsening. African community at least for the majority situation has never improved.The availability and quality of social services have been greatly reduced. Cycles of non-improvement of one’s situation have been the order of the day for the majority.With relentless continuation of social troubles communities have experienced Social squabbles often leading to ethnic, religious, regional and national hostilities. Being poverty-stricken places a nation and people on dependent relationship with the developed world. Culturally, as international NGOs parade themselves in communities with aid from the donors, names of their countries will be presented as if they are the havens for their survival. Thus, culturally adopting the influences of those that strive to aid them in all spheres of influence.It becomes apparent that projects that are meant to transform the communities have been left out of the equation and the talk about sustainable development a mere joke as these NGOs have devised ways of ensuring their sustainability not sustainability of the people.

 External manipulation and interference is at its highest level in Africa. Changing global regimes characterised by periods of the eras of slave trade, imperialism, world war, decolonization, bipolarity, global interdependence never presented Africa with any benefits rather it enabled creation and reinforcement of institutions for the continued exploitation of the continent and its people. Internationally, the consequences of global inequalities, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and emergence of new interventionist policy doctrines have negatively affected the African continent. Current global trends in development reveal that insecurity concerns are prevalent in Africa more than any other continent. External subjugation of African states is continuing by other powerful states in the third world itself and the west and other newly emerging economies and institutions. The questions that needs to be raised is “who owns global finance?” “Who conducts the global economic policy?” The reality is that Africa has been the victim of western interests which have continued to dominate the world to this day.

Efforts have been made nationally and globally to address peace and security issues in Africa but issues of insecurity have remained. Nkrumahhad tried to answer these questions before well back in 1963 but it appears the practicability of his suggestions is far divorced from the realities on the ground today. Firstly, was to have an overall economic planning on continental basis.(Nkrumah 1963:218)  It has not been possible, economic policies have been more influenced by an assortment of ideologies and they do not originate in Africa, not originating from sovereign African states but from the outside world and beyond the control of African governments, International Financial Institutions, developed countries, G8 and World Trade Organisation. Various states and institutions, which suffer from financial constraints, have been manipulated or commanded. In essence as BaffourAnkomah(2000:13) puts it ‘ the idea of always looking to foreign partners to bail out an organisation supposed to fight for African independence is one of the contradictions that will stay with the African Union for a long time’. And it appears China has stepped in in strengthening the AU as institutions and at most give AU some leverage when it comes to negotiating with the West.

Secondly, ‘establishment of a unified military and defence strategy’ is one of the daunting works to be set in motion. The major impediment for this strategy can best be explained as lack of resources. First, individual African nations and the continent as a whole lack financial resource to embark on such a grand programme. Considering that individual countries are grappling with issues of poverty eradication, it is also very difficult to imagine how such a project can be started let alone fulfilled. Second, generally, African countries lack technological resources to fulfill the ambitious programme of a cohesive military and defence strategy. Furthermore, to an outsized extent, the military hardware, technology, information strategies originate and are controlled from the north. Therefore, such a strategy only plays into the hands of big capital and thus risks being remote controlled from the imperialist north.

‘A unified foreign policy and diplomacy’ is pragmatically utopian as there are many hindrances to such an arrangement than there are prospects. Precepts and conditionalities imposed at independence or simply the invisible rules and regulations that are governing the periphery and the metro pole naturally stall prospects of unified foreign policy and diplomacy. At most it has been bilateral rather than multilateral. Multilateralism is inhibited by failed consensus as states purely calculate their national interest according to how they would benefit themselves. States would participate and cooperate in only those aspects they view as beneficial to them. This has been the major challenge and the western countries have taken advantage of it.

What policies are emerging? It remains that, ‘all the evidence, both past and present, surely points in the other direction that the design is to maintain the historical relations of industrialized countries and Africa being the supplier of primary products’. (Nkurumah, 1963,160). In today’s world its no longer Europe alone, the spectrum of exploiter has enlarged- USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and newly emerging power houses of the East. This is done within the armpits of the much western cherished globalization. According to DaniNabudere (2000:4), ‘economic globalization that is currently being pressed into countries under the guise of adjustment and stabilization programmes has been part and parcel of a western cultural project whose roots are to be found in the attempt to universalize the Christian religion against Islam, African Religion and Asian belief systems’.

Addressing contemporary issues and the place of China

China’s inter­est in Africa is not new. In the 1960s and 1970s, Beijing’s interest centered on building ideological sol­idarity with other underdeveloped nations to advance Chinese-style communism and on repelling Western “imperialism.”(Peter Brookes and JiHye Shin, www.heritage.com). China first became involved in Africa during the cold war, when it made friends and did business in parts of the world overlooked by the West and the Soviet Union. She made her first successful breakthrough in East Africa with generous aid for the construction of the Tanzanian railway line between the newly independent states of Tanzania and Zambia. The railway line was her “Trojan Horse”, securing for her, a firm foothold in that part of the continent. (Cas De Villiers, 1976:28-29). By the early 1970s, the position of the West and Russia in Africa had suffered drastically as a result of the Red China’s onslaught. (Ibid:28). According to Princeton Layman (2005), China has had a long involvement with Africa, going back to the early days of independence movements in the 1960s and before.  Brookes and Shin (2006) argue that, though Beijing’s interest in the 1960s and 1970s centered on building ideological solidarity with other underdeveloped nations to advance Chinese style communism and on repelling western imperialism, in recent years her interests have evolved into more pragmatic pursuits such as, trade, investment and energy.

In early days China’s presence was noted by infrastructural projects. According to Layman, along the coastal countries of West Africa, one found the huge, Olympic-style stadiums that were the hallmark of Chinese donations.  In Eastern Africa, the competition was keener, with China financing and building the railroad in Tanzania, as the West built the nearly parallel road system. China provided technical expertise, doctors, scholarships, and various forms of aid. (Opicit) After her admission to the United Nations in 1971, China intensified her African onslaught considerably by undertaking several aid programmes. Her investment is paying off now in oil and raw materials imports and markets for manufactured goods.( Servant, Jean-Christophe 2005).

Until the mid-1970s cooperation meant building solidarity between two continents that belonged to the same under-developed world. Chinese presence in Africa was typified by technicians sent to boost nations newly liberated from colonial tutelage; some 15,000 doctors and more than 10,000 agricultural engineers went to areas of the Third World that had become arenas for the Cold War.(Ibid).

In its role as an anti-imperialist counterweight to the West, China infiltrated parts of the world overlooked by the United States and the Soviet Union. It took on ambitious projects, such as the construction of the Tanzam railway between Tanzania and Zambia, and concluded agreements for military cooperation, concentrating on ideological friends in east Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia) and major non-aligned countries such as Egypt. Between 1955 and 1977 China sold $142m of military equipment to Africa. It also threw open the doors of its universities: 15,000 African students have studied in China since their countries became independent.(Ibid).

 Throughout the 1980s, when the big Cold War powers were pulling out of Africa and western development aid halved, China kept up its contacts. But it had packed away its revolution to concentrate on fostering external trade and foreign investment. By the time that post - Cold War geopolitics and developments in the Middle East had drawn the traditional players back into Africa, China had turned itself into the workshop of the world and had its eye on Africa’s raw materials. (Ibid).Chinese influence and involvement nevertheless waned in the 1980s as it was unable to compete with western aid programs. China has since risen to become the world’s second largest consumer of crude oil, bringing in more than 25% of its oil imports from the Gulf of Guinea and Sudan. (Ibid).

Though there has been increased interdependence of states in contemporary globalization era, China’s approach to Africa has changed dramatically since the end of the Cold War. The past two decades has seen an unprecedented involvement of China in African affairs. The relationship between China and African international actors has grown in importance. China’s involvement in Africa has increased in tremendous ways. This has been noticeable in almost all spheres of life i.e. political, economic, military and diplomatic. China’s interest in Africa is motivated by her vast economic needs and the desire to influence and off set rivalry from the West. For Africa, partnership with China has proved more desirable, providing a win-win situation for both sides. China’s involvement in Africa is not a new phenomenon as it spans from long back, principally through aiding liberation struggles and supporting governments with economic aid.

With regards to the rate at which Chinese influence is spreading in Africa, one question needs to be answered. It looks like China exploits her knowledge and understanding of third world countries politicians’ fears and concerns in global politics to advance her influence. The Chinese seem to understand that there is great anti-western feeling in most African countries and that there exists a leadership vacuum among them to lead a powerful crusade against the western influence. China, which by all standards is no longer an underdeveloped country deliberately, maintains the ‘third world’ tag, a tag that portrays her as leader of ‘downtrodden’ third countries. Her history as former colony of the European powers allows her to promote herself as sensitive to the dignity of Third world countries. (Drew Tompson, http://www.jamestown.org).and this has won her many friends in Africa, who feel that they share a common colonial past with her. She also was not involved in the colonisation of Africa in the 19^th century, so she is not tainted with the evils of colonialism.

China has moved into Africa vowing never to get mixed up in the internal politics of countries with which it deals. This will in a way affect its business as an international investor if it gets involved in notoriously corrupt countries. The overall effect would be slowed pace of dealings between China and Africa, though Wenping has argued, “common sense about human rights and sovereignty is only one of the common values shared by China and Africa,” adding that, “There is no doubt that China’s success in Africa has partly benefited from it, and those common values have laid solid foundations for further promoting bilateral relations in future.”( Servant, Jean-Christophe, Opicit). Even China’s deputy foreign minister, Zhou Wenzhong, has made it explicitly clear that “Business is business.  We try to separate politics from business…. You [the West] have tried to impose a market economy and multiparty democracy on these countries which are not ready for it.  We are also against embargoes, which you have tried to use against us.” ( www.cfr.org).

China offers African countries diplomatic support in multilateral institutions especially the UN, where she is a member of the Security Council. All African countries that have fallen out of favour with western powers seek protection from China for example Sudan and Zimbabwe. Furthermore, China’s professed respect of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs is appealing to many African leaders who view the West’s interference as tantamount to abrogation of weak nations’ internal affairs. China has earned significant political capital among African countries through aid and debt forgiveness. This makes her a God and saviour for the downtrodden.

 As China’s power and influence grows, Beijing is becoming more willing to challenge the United States, EU nations, and others in international are­nas to protect its interests in Africa. Over time, dif­ferences between China and democracies over human rights and basic political and civil rights will sharpen. For example, in September 2004, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1564, which condemned the mass killing of civilians in the Dar­fur region, but stopped short of imposing oil sanc­tions if Khartoum did not act to stop the killing. China abstained from the vote and threatened to veto any further move to impose sanctions. (ibid).

For Africa, China remains an attractive strategic partner by cultivating relating relations with African nations through providing aid and technical expertise.(Drew Tompson,http://www.jamestown.org). Most countries seem to find the Chinese economic development and reform model preferable to the free market and representative government policies promoted by the USA and European Union.( Brookes and Shin, Opicit). Thus, to most African countries whose human rights record are by western standards are very questionable find the Chinese development model and aid very attractive since it comes with ‘no’ strings attatched and with no scrutiny of their domestic policies.

China’s principal interest in the continent is access to natural resources.  But it is not its only interest.  China’s economic interests are wider.  China’s trade with Africa has risen sharply, from $10 billion in 2003 to $20 billion in 2004 and Chinese goods are flooding African markets. (Princeton Layman, Opicit). The primary focus is on textiles where the growth of Chinese exports constitutes a double whammy for Africa.  Exports of Chinese textiles to Africa are undermining local African industry while the growth of Chinese exports to the United States is shutting down the promising growth of African exports in this field. (Princeton Layman, Opicit).Southern Africa provides a good example of both effects.  Chinese exports of textiles to South Africa grew from 40 percent of clothing imports to 80 per cent by the end of 2004.  Out of 100 T-shirts imported into South Africa, 80 are from China. (Princeton Layman, Opicit).

Despite criticism that China is exploiting the African countries for their resources, African countries support China’s activities in Africa. South Africa has defended the Chinese juggernaut in Africa, saying Beijing was opening markets and helping the world’s poorest continent reap the benefits of its vast mineral and oil riches.

The Chinese have undertaken an absolute commitment that as they expand their relations into Africa they will do everything possible to ensure that it does not reintroduce old colonial type of relation… Beijing would not just be taking raw materials from Africa without partnering with us and opening up markets for exports from Africa. If handled properly, and if we are able to keep the Chinese to the commitment that relations with us must not be one of the old colonial type, I believe this forum will open up many possibilities for South-South co-operation. (The Herald Reporter, The Herald, November 25, 2006.

China and African countries have resolved to bolster joint energy and resources exploration and exploitation under the principle of reciprocity and common development, says the action plan. China will work to help African countries turn “their advantages in energy and resources into development strengths” while giving high priority to environmental protection and sustainable development on the continent. (Joseph Ngwawi, The Chronicle, 25 November 2006). In a move aimed at bolstering Sino-African political ties, the Chinese are have helped with infrastructural development of the African Union.

What should be done?

Unity of African countries is of particular importance. By strengthening the African Union China is creating the stepping stone an a strong well organized and strengthened voice for action. At most, the African Union and regional groups/organisations should provide the first platform in the movement towards a United States of Africa, which requires time to be consolidated, or the idea to be meaningfully supported by African leaders and peoples. As outlined in the constitutive act’s objective (b) there is need to coordinate the promotion and defense of African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples - since such commonality of values and interest leaders and African peoples will remain divided as ever. And (i) ‘coordinate and harmonise policies between the existing and future regional economic policies’’ as such the regional blocs become the building blocs for future full integration of the vast continent of Africa. As yet, the process of forming the Union government has been top-down and not iterative. The proposals have not been debated at regional level which levels should build consensus for a bigger and united Africa. The regional leaders are the ones that should be mandated by their own people for a united Africa.

The role of the African Union should not be advocating human rights, rule of law, democracy within Africa alone but the voice must be echoed globally, be heard in multilateral institutions and should fight to transform theory into practice. The African Union should not simply duplicate long-existing institutions but must begin to interrogate and question some of the wrong images portrayed about Africa. African Union should advocate and ensure that calls for human rights, democracy, and rule of law should be grounded in the fundamentals of fairness and justice. It is from that stand point that African interest will be drawn and pave way for a union government. China can help Africa through taking the African voice particularly when it comes to the powerful organ the United Nations Security Council.

Civil society must rise to defend African values rather than leaving the task to the government. Genuine funders ought to be sought and move away from the proverbial stance ‘were the piper calls the tune’. Lessons ought to be learnt that Pan Africanism was/has to be rooted in civil society and popular movement and that ‘any strategy for Africa’s renewal needs to be grounded not in the elites but in ordinary citizens, based on basic human needs’.(Taylor 2003:19). The civil society has largely been dependent on funding from the Western countries and the agenda which they peddle in Africa was aimed at achievement of western interests. If China could come in and assist in strengthening the civil society with genuine interest in pursuing peace and security agenda for Africa it will go a long way in the positive direction. By involving themselves with the community, in research and developmental projects new gray areas will be dealt with.

Conclusion

Achieving peace and security in Africa has remained illusory as ever. While efforts are made to ensure the achievement peace and security Africa it appears that the efforts are hampered by the emergence of new security dilemmas or renewal of the once existing challenges. The solutions call for the need to generate knowledge on the nature of the African societies themselves. Thus this challenges researchers to go deeper into understanding the African society at all levels of analysis, i.e. individual, household, community, national, regional, continental and global level. For China therefore, at higher level, there is need to strengthen the African voice and capacity in order for African countries to handle external threats and manipulation. At the lower level efforts should be directed strengthening the state’s capacity to exploit and utilize its resources to facilitate individual, households and community development. At most cooperation between China and Africa must be based on comprehensive research and cooperation with the outside world should be based on priorities set on the full understanding of the problem. Thus in order fast track issues of achieving peace and security in Africa, China has a bigger role to play in supporting efforts that strengthen whole social system that involve elimination of oppression, introduction of equitable sharing of resources, and non-violent conflict resolution.

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[1] Paper presented at a workshop held at Shanghai Institute for international Studies, China 

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