Study Session 8
Crime, Security and Peace-Building in Africa
8.1 Introduction
Peace is one of the basic necessities of life but in the developing world, it is the most expensive
aspect of life. Since the end of the Cold war, the issue of crime control and peace-building in
Africa has come to the centre stage of development discourse of the international community.
This is because in the last fifty years of independence, many African countries have been
entrapped in a vicious circle of conflicts. From the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo
to the recurrent religious violence in Nigeria, Africa has come under intense political conflicts
threatening the little progress made from the collapse of military rule and the return of
democracy to the continent in the late 1990s (Africa Development Bank, 2014; Boas, 2007;
Lyman & Morrison, 2004).
Although Africa was not immune from political conflicts before the Cold war, Boas (2007) notes
that, the end of the Cold War and the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center
in New York in the United States changed the security architectures of many African countries,
emboldened radical groups in the continent and shifted the struggles to individual African
nations. Several reasons have accounted for this change.
First, the end of the Cold war shifted global attention to peace in Africa. Due to the continent's
enormous resources and its benefits for the new world order, many world leaders now want to
courting African nations in order to have access to their resources.
Second, it was discovered in many African countries that democracy raised new questions about
good governance. Thus, groups that had been marginalised in the past are now using this
opportunity of the return of democracy to the continent to ventilate their grievances. In the
final analysis, the end of the Cold and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center created
enormous opportunities for the radical Islamist groups in the West, East and North-African
regions to key into the clash of civilisations between the West and the Arab World (Huntington,
1993).
By keying into the struggle, they believe that they can use it to activate their local grievances
and attract both illicit arms and military support needed at home to end their perceived corrupt
regimes. This is one of the factors that is responsible for the emergence of the radical Islamist
groups such as Al Qaedar in the Islamic Magreb, Al Ashabaab, Boko Haram, Ansur and now
Islamic State of West-African Province, who through their several attacks, have killed, maimed
and displaced thousands of people across the African continent.
This study session is designed to examine the impact of crime and security on peace-building in
Africa. In this study session, it is assumed that, peace-building is sine qua non to the realization
of sustainable economic and political development in Africa. You will learn that enduring peacebuilding is critical to the process of healing the wounds left by long years of military rule, civil
wars and political dictatorships in many African countries. You will appreciate that a sustainable
peace-process can help individual African government create the required enabling environment
for government to fight poverty, end hunger, create jobs, protect human rights and defend the
interests of the larger society.
8.1.1 Learning Outcomes
At the end of this study session, you should be able to:
i. define the concepts of crime, security and peace-building
ii. mention types of crime and nature of security challenges in the continent.
iii. develop the capacities to analyse the peace-building in the Africa and their implications for
the challenges of terrorism, war and violence in the continent.
iv. identify obstacles to the achievement and sustainability of peace-building in Africa.
v. develop the capacities to work with the governmentand other security agencies to achieve
enduring peace-building in Africa.
8.2 The Concepts of Crime, Conflict, Security and Peace-Building
The concepts of crime, security and peace-building are interrelated in development discourse.
They pertain to either the cause of social disorder or the process of making peace among the
ethnic or religious nationalities in a society. Although all the concepts relate to the problem of
social order in modern capitalist society, they do not literally mean the same thing.
1. Crime
Crime is any act that is committed by an individual or a group of individuals which violates the
criminal law of a sovereign state, attracts punishment such as fine or imprisonment, and is
more likely to bring discomfort to the society where the act was committed. In this definition,
three key issues have arisen:
The first is the act of violating a criminal law. Before an act is declared criminal, the person
involved must have wrongly acted in a way that violates the criminal law of his country or
another country.
The second issue is the criminalization of a social behaviour by the state through the enactment
of a law or criminal law. What this implies is that, once an act is declared criminal by law, it
becomes an offence in such a society (this is also called Mala Prohibita). Where the law does
not declare an act as criminal, such an act remains in the realm of deviant behaviour or social
vice.
The third component of the definition of crime that is presented here is the fact that a crime
must ''attract a punishment by the state''. What this implies is that a criminal act must be
sanctioned with payment of fines or sentenced to specified number of years in prisons. The
latter is the commonest way of rebuking a criminal in the developing world because punishment
of a crime has not really shifted towards the rehabilitation of criminals.
While crime covers a wide range of offences such as terrorism, armed conflict, and kidnapping
that endanger the peaceful coexistence of the citizens of a country, the concept of security is a
more restrictive concept.
2. Security
In development circle, the word security will be taken to mean the process of putting in place
strategies and socio-economic and political structures which are aimed at protecting lives and
property of the citizens, and at the same time creating an enabling environment for the
government to function effectively. In this case, one may be relating it to national security
because it entails the enactment of laws that provide government with the powers to establish
security agencies, equip such agencies with modern technologies needed to protect both the
state and the citizens from internal and external aggression (Shinoda, 2004).
In most security literature, the concept of security is often used interchangeably with human
security. While security connotes human security, the concept of security can be extended to
the establishment of all possible legal, institutional, environmental, technological, national and
international strategies that helpgovernment safeguard lives and property, and at the same
create an enabling environment for the economy to grow (Shonida, 2004). In his analysis of
Sadako Ogata and Amartya Sen's Commission on Human Security, Shonida (2004) states that:
''Human security means protecting fundamental freedoms-freedoms that are the essence of life.
It means protection from critical (severe) and pervasive (widespread) threats and situations. It
means using processes that build on people's strengths and aspirations. It means creating
political, social, environmental, economic, military and cultural systems that give people the
building blocks of survival, livelihood and dignity'' (see Shonida, 2004; 14).
3. Conflict
Conflict is a situation whereby two parties disagree over an issue, which results in the use of
physical force to express the disagreement or expression of a disagreement through non-violent
means. Conflict, like crime can come in different forms. It can either be material conflict or
ideological conflict.
Material conflict is the type of conflict that usually ensues because of an individual or a group’s
lack of access to material necessities of life such as food, shelter, jobs, qualitative health care
services, education etc. Because material conflict bothers on the conditions of the individual in
society, improved welfare can help reduce this type of conflict than any other type of social
conflict. This debate has since been settled by the radical political economist, Karl Marx in his
theory of wage labour.
Unlike material conflict, ideological conflict is usually rooted in the cultures, religions,
civilizations and belief systems of a people. For most people, it is about life and death because
it touches their existence as a people in terms of their religious affiliation and adherence to its
ideology (Huntington, 1993). Ideological conflict poses more danger to society than material
conflict because once it degenerates, it is not easy to end. Terrorism is an example of
ideological conflict that the world is currently battling with. Terrorism is not only rooted in the
problem of civilizations and religions, it is a challenge that is being promoted by different
ideological leanings of our world leaders.
4. Peace-Building
The idea of peace-building was first suggested by a former UN Secretary-General, Boutros
Boutros-Ghali in his 1992 address to the United Nations ''Agenda for Peace''. To him, peacebuilding is the process of putting in place machineries for ending hostilities, warfare, conflicts,
animosity and violence in a particular country at a particular time. It means the deployment of
legal, social, political, economic and welfare services to communities, states, countries or
nations that are ravaged by violence with a view of building enduring peace and mutual
understanding among the warring parties in these societies (Dedgrig, 2004; Shinoda, 2004).
Dedgrig (2004) holds that peace-building also entails the deployment of humanitarian aids to
countries that are confronted by wars or conflicts, and making comprehensive arrangements for
the rehabilitation of individuals that are traumatised by the conflicts. Peace-building, though, is
aimed at achieving one cardinal objective, which to end hostility among worrying parties, it has
different phases that peace-builders must follow in an attempt to institutionalise enduring peace
in a community.
These phases include peace-making, peace-keeping operations, humanitarian aids and peacebuilding. For instance, when a conflict erupts in a community, government's first step in
quashing the conflict is to deploy peace-makers to the conflict rattled community with a view to
bringing the two aggrieved parties to a roundtable for possible resolution of the problem. This
approach to conflict resolution may work for micro-conflicts but for major conflicts, peacemaking may not ultimately help government end the conflict.
8.2.1 In-Text Questions (ITQs)
1. What is peace-building?
2. How does crime differ from deviant behaviour?
3. Is conflict the same thing as crime?
8.2.2 In-Text Activities (ITAs)
1. Do a critical review of any peace-building undertaken by the Federal Republic of Nigeria to
deescalate violence in the Niger Delta.
2. Identify a media advert purposefully designed by the Federal Government of Nigeria to
reduce the incidence of hate speech.
8.3 Crime and Security Problems in Africa
Crime and security problems remain critical issues that many African countries are confronted
with. In this section, a critical review of the major crimes in Africa are undertaken.
8.3.1 Organised Crimes in Africa
Organised crime is what security experts will simply refer to as ''sophisticated crime''. It exists
all over the world but more proliferated in the developing societies where the state has almost
lost control of crime. Organised crime is called sophisticated crime because it is different from
other forms of crimes both in terms of planning and execution. This is why Friedrichs defines it
as any crime which involves two or more persons and is carried out with the intent to defraud
or use fraudulent means to acquire the property of others or gain unlawful access to the money
of other people for the purpose of converting the proceeds of such crime to personal use
(Friedrichs, 2007). Unlike minor offences, organised crimes are usually planned by professional
criminals and sometimes aided by agents of the state (Friedrichs, 2007).
Organised crimes thrive not only because they are always well-planned but because they enjoy
the support of the elites in society who use their powers to influence the criminal justice system
that is supposed to arrest or prosecute these offenders of the law. In weak democracies and
weak states, the police usually find it difficult to combat organised crimes because the
perpetrators understand how the system works, are tightly connected to the criminal justice
system, share intelligence with the police and have illicit access to arms supplied to them
sometimes by agents of the state (Mazzitelli, 2007).
Unlike the developed world where government has intelligence to stifle the activities of
organised criminal networks, in most developing societies including Africa, organised criminal
groups have the capacity to infiltrate the ranks and files of the criminal justice system, evade
arrest and prosecution by state officials. In contemporary Africa, organised criminals sometimes
organise themselves into syndicates with the capacity to engage in multiple crimes such as illicit
arms trade, armed conflict, embezzlement, advanced fee fraud, cybercrime, cyber terrorism,
prostitution, illicit sale of natural resources, political and bureaucratic corruption, kidnapping,
abduction, suicide bombing, terrorism (Mazzitelli, 2007; Schroeder & Lamb, 2006).
The harrowing effect of organised crimes in Africa is that they promote conflict and help state
and non-state actors destabilise society (Mazzitelli, 2007). Boko Haram is one of such organised
crimes that has dealt heavy blow on contemporary African society by claiming over 20, 000
people in the West-African region (see International Crisis Group, 2016; Onuoha & Oyewole,
2018).
8.3.2 Corporate Crimes in Africa
Corporate crimes are crimes of the elites which Edwin Sutherland called ''White Collar Crime''.
By white collar crime, he meant the crimes of the elites and the privileged people in the society.
Corporate crimes exist all over the world, like other types of crimes. They grow and multiply as
the complex organisations in a society becomes modernised (Friedrichs, 2007). Clinard and
Quinney (1973) define corporate crime as ''offenses committed by corporate officials for their
corporation and the offenses of the corporation itself''(p.188).
With the rise of globalisation and increasing complexity in the delivery of public services,
corporate crimes have emerged as a major challenge to development in Africa. In Africa,
corporate crime exists in the delivery of public services such as the collection of taxes, delivery
of social services to the poor, treatment of patients in public hospitals, award and execution of
governmental contracts, foreign exchange dealings, arrest of criminals, and involvement in
international trade. Because the public service is usually the most conspicuous bureaucracy to
the citizens in most developing countries, most citizens rarely come across corporate crimes in
the private sector (World Bank, 2011).
Whereas the public service is constantly contacted for social services, private individuals and
governmental agencies are usually the ones who come in contact with the corruption in the
private sector.
Adisa (2013) & Mbaku (2003) identify some of the corporate crimes that constitute a major
challenge to development in postcolonial Africa. These include tax reduction, tax fraud, political
and bureaucratic and political corruption, currency racketeering, admission racketeering, rentseeking, contract inflation, embezzlement, money laundering, political opportunism, identity
fraud, ATM fraud, cybercrime and money laundering.
In a recent time assessment of corruption in Africa, the World Bank (2011) observes that one of
the major forms of organised and corporate crimes that has undermined development in the
continent is the challenge of cartels in the running of government. Cartels now help government
officials and politicians secure governmental contracts, and at the same time, ensure that the
incumbents stifle opposition with the proceeds of corruption.
8.3.3 International Crimes in Africa
International crimes, otherwise known as 'transnational organised crimes'' remain one of the
greatest sources of political and economic instability in Africa. These crimes are not only
obstacles to development, they prevent nations in creating safe investment climate for foreign
investment that should have helped developed the continent's human and material capital. No
wonder, the World Bank (2017) remarks that organised crime slows down economic growth and
makes it difficult for government to fight poverty and eradicate economic disparities among the
people in Africa.
Mazzitelli (2007) notes that international crimes are those crimes that are usually perpetrated
by international criminal actors which usually occur between the borders of two or more
countries, and are intended to breach the criminal codes of one of these countries or violate
international criminal law. Because the crimes usually involve international relations and
multiple international systems, a country is more likely to face multiple international criminal
actors in the course of getting international criminals arrested (Mazzitelli, 2007; United Nations
Office On Drug and Crime, 2005). When convicted, the beneficiary of this conviction must be
ready to comply with international codes before stolen asset is returned to the country of origin.
The case of money laundering is most critical among the international crimes.
Money laundering, which is the illegal transfer of stolen funds into foreign accounts, has
constituted a major challenge for most developing countries. It is a challenge because most of
these countries are usually faced with tough legal and administrative battles in recovering their
stolen assets. This is due to the spurious conditions that foreign governments often give to
some of these national governments particularly on how such repatriated funds should be spent
(World Bank, 2011). A good example of this is the tough battle that Nigeria has been facing
with the US government on repatriation of stolen assets until recently when Buhari government
is able to secure substantial part of the money.
Money launderingis, however, not the only international crime that Africa is currently confronted
with. A lot of African countries are still confronted with and overwhelmed by the problems of
illicit arms trade, illicit arms trafficking, human trafficking, trafficking in contraband goods in
countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Benin Republic etc. Rattled by the failed
state syndrome, many African countries have lost the capacity to effectively secure their
borders from transnational organised criminals, the result of which is the emergence of different
armed groups in the region.
Although West-Africa served as a hub of organised crimes in the 1970s and 1980s, the sudden
penetration of global technology into the continent, widespread inequalities among the citizens
and government's inability to provide meaningful jobs for the citizens have emboldened the
youths to engage in different forms of organised crimes such as cybercrime (Mazzitelli, 2004;
Onuoha&Oyewole, 2018). Cybercrime is now a means of livelihood for many these jobless
youths who are determined to meet up with the culture of crass for materialism, which is
prevalent among the political class in the region.
8.3.4 Street and City Crimes in Africa
Cities and streets are potential sources of conflicts and criminal behaviours. Street crimes are
those crimes that are usually committed in the city as a result of the rising influence of
urbanization and industrialisation.
Without urbanization and the concomitant changes in the structural conditions of a city, many
places on earth would have remained natural habitats of minor infraction of the law. With the
emergence of urbanization, many African cities have become urbanised leading to sharp
increase in the population size and density of the cities. Similarly, there have been changes in
the topography of the city coupled with massive industrialization and sudden convergence of
people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds in urban areas (Mabogunje, 1968). All of
these phenomena have implications for peace and social order in the continent.
Every society has the tendency of developing from simple-less industrialised society to complexindustrialised society. When this change occurs, individuals who have experienced massive
urbanization in their lives, are more likely to jettison the traditional lifestyles that dominate life
in the village for urban culture brought by modernization (Stark, 1992; Giddens, 2006).
Unlike the developed world where governments have very good urban policies to balance the
development between urban and rural areas, in Africa, and in most developing countries, lack
of coherence in urban development policies have resulted in poor governance of most urban
areas leading to large population size, high population density and high cost of living among
urban dwellers. Burdened by these multitude of problems, people resort to urban or city crimes
for survival (World Bank, 2017).
This is why Africa is the home to different forms of city crimes such as armed robbery, political
violence, terrorism, homicide, insurgency, armed conflicts, kidnapping, abduction, street
violence among others. In Nigeria, the menace of street cultism is not unconnected with lack of
synergy between government development plans, arms control and youth unemployment that
has been neglected for decades by successive governments (Punch Newspaper, 2017).
8.3.5 In-Text Questions (ITQs)
1. What do you understand by transnational organised crime?
2. Why is it difficult for African countries to repatriate stolen funds from foreign countries?
3. What danger does corruption pose to the Nigerian society?
8.3.6 In-Text Activities (ITAs)
1. Identify two agencies that are saddled with the task of fighting money laundering in Nigeria,
and discuss two cases being pursued by any of these agencies.
2. Discuss the practical steps of repatriating a stolen asset
8.4 Security Challenges in Africa
8.4.1 Armed Conflicts
Armed conflict is one of the greatest security challenges in contemporary Africa. It is a security
challenge because it has continued to endanger the peace, unity and progress of the African
continent. Armed conflict is any conflict that is provoked by or involved the use of weapons or
ammunitions by different armed groups in a country which has collateral damage on the
society. Whether in Africa or Europe, armed conflict has led to the death of millions of people,
destabilised nations, causing the death and displaced millions of people from their ancestral
homes (Adeniyi, 2017).
Despite the concerted efforts made by world leaders to end the rising incidence of conflicts
around the world, the persistence of illicit arms trade and unfettered access to small arms and
light weapons in Africa continue to embolden the armed groups and terrorist organisations in
the region (Garrison, 2009; Kuperwasser, 2009). The scenario is almost in most developing
societies where arms produced illegally found their ways into these countries and used in
destablising society. For instance, since 2011 Syria has gone into civil war.
The conflict which initially started as a protest against Asad regime plummeted into full scale
civil war and destroyed millions of people and property because arms groups in the country
enjoyed considerable arms supply from foreign nations such as US, Russia, Iran and Saudi
Arabia. One of the consequences of the war on the world is the emergence of Islamic State,
Islamic State Levant and Iraq.
Although the problem of armed conflicts in Africa is not new, in contemporary Africa, the
proliferation of the conflicts and its connection to nationality stability call for concern. How then
did the problem start? In Africa, the history armed conflicts date back to the colonial era but
has been traced more to events accompanying the political independence of many African
countries in the 1960s & 1970s. At independence, many Africans believed that the attainment
of political independence would provide them with the much-needed opportunity to unite the
diverse ethnic nationalities in their societies.
In many African countries, the elites promised their followers that political independence would
give them the opportunity to rebuild, reconstruct and reposition the post-colonial African
society in a manner that it would be acceptable to the people. They also promised that the new
state would be capable of harnessing the human and material resources of the country in order
to fight poverty and material deprivation that over 100 years of colonialism had caused the
continent (Adisa, 2013; Mbaku, 2003).
Few years later, it became clear that the elites were no longer interested in the development of
the African state (Ake, 1996; Meredith, 2015). Instead, they were interested in capturing the
state and using its powers to amass wealth for the benefit of themselves and their cronies.
Dissatisfied by the performance of their elites, many Africans became polarised along ethnic and
religious lines. Some invited the military to seize power from the corrupt and capricious political
elites. Eventually, the state in post-colonial Africa became preoccupied with conflicts. Arms flew
in from different parts of the world to support the corrupt and autocratic regimes. The regimes
too used the opportunity to oppress their people and convert the state to private property. This
development later culminated into the emergence of armed groups and armed conflicts at
different levels of political structures of post-colonial African societies leading to civil war in
Nigeria in 1967. Between 1960 and the end of 1980s, virtually all African countries had tasted
the bitter pill of civil wars and civil conflicts. Liberia, Sudan, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Democratic
Republic of Congo all went into protracted civil wars which culminated into loss of lives of
millions of people (Meredith, 2005).
By the end of the 20th century, more than 40 African countries had been dragged into
protracted conflicts that did not threaten their political unity, it exposed them to global conflicts
aided by unfettered access to small arms.
8.4.2 Insurgency
Insurgency is another form of armed conflict. It is, however, different from terrorism in many
ways. Insurgency is the use of arms by armed groups in a country against civilian populations
or opposition groups either to canvass or activate local issues relating to the distribution of
economic resources and power in a state.
While insurgents are usually driven by long-drawn structural inequalities, terrorists usually have
wider ambitions that go beyond the non-satisfaction of economic and political demands. In the
course of engaging in warfare with the state, an insurgent group may transform into a terrorist
group. Such transformation may be provoked by the religious content of the conflicts in which
the insurgents are trying to activate in the context of national conflict (Underwood, 2009). Such
is the case of Boko Haram in Nigeria which started as a radical Islamist group and later matured
into full-fledged terrorist organisation by 2009.
In Africa, the Niger Delta militant groups present the best picture of insurgents. They are
insurgents because they emerge to challenge the right of the Nigerian state to the control of oil
wealth in the Niger Delta. Since 1958, the Nigerian state has been involved in the exploration of
oil in the Niger Delta but most of the states and communities where Nigeria is exploiting its oil
wallow in poverty and are economically backward.
Burdened by this paradox, a group of Niger Delta elites in the 1990s led by the late Ken SaroWiwa wrote a Bill of Rights of the Ogoni People detailing the rights of an average Ogoni
man/woman. The decision did not go down well with the Federal Military Government. In the
ensuing crisis, some Ogoni elders were killed. In order to find the culprits, the Federal Military
Government accused Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni elders of killing their fellow men. After a
hurriedly heard prosecution, Saro-Wiwa was sentenced to death by the government of General
Sanni Abacha.
Though the global community called for amnesty for Ken SaroWiwa and the Ogoni 9, the
military junta of the late Sanni Abacha executed these people against the wish of the majority.
The decision taken by the military did not go down well with majority of the citizens of the
Niger Delta at the time. Dissatisfied and disillusioned by the actions of the Nigerian state, the
Niger Delta people decided to form different militant groups in the 1990s and 2000s. One of
these movements was MOSOP-Movement for the Emancipation of the People of the Niger Delta
(Smock, 2009). Unlike the dreaded Boko Haram insurgency, which is driven by religious
ideology, the Niger Delta crisis was and is still purely a socio-economic and political conflict.
Boko Haram is an Islamist sect in the north-eastern Nigeria. It started initially as a radical
Islamist sect but later transformed itself into a global terrorist organisation by engaging the
Nigerian state in large scale warfare, killing over 20, 000 people (Onuoha & Oyewole, 2018),
and displacing more than 1.6 million people from their ancestral homes. Boko Haram's violent
campaign in Nigeria started in 2009 but its history dates back to the early 21st century when a
group of young Muslims secluded themselves from the rest of the Muslims in Borno State, in the
capital of Maiduguri. The sect was initially led by one Mallam Yusuf who wanted to establish an
Islamic State from the Nigerian state. Yusuf thought that the Nigerian state has been corrupted
by infidels and self-centered elites who were not interested in the plights of the poor. With this,
Yusuf vigorously embarked on campaigns against the Nigerian state and the need for the
purification of Islam.
Boko Haram is an armed group that is driven by a mixture of economic, political and religious
discontent. The sect, apart from being disillusioned by the high level of corruption in the
country, wants to the introduction of Sharia Law in the northeast and eventually the
establishment of an Islamic State in the northeast. Boko Haram has a long-term mission that
goes beyond those of the Niger Delta militants. Apart from requesting for the establishment of
an Islamic State within the Nigerian State, it wants a total overhaul of the socio-political system
that produced the current corrupt political elites (Onuoha & Oyewole, 2018).
8.4.3 Terrorism
Terrorism is another form of armed conflict in contemporary Africa. It is the deadliest armed
conflict in modern history after civil war, which has the capacity to eliminate thousands of
people in a day. Terrorism is deadly, not only because it causes the death of thousands of
people around the world, its act of violence, whether in the developed or developing world, is
more lethal, dangerous and destructive to society (Adisa, 2017; Boas, 2007; Lyman & Morrison,
2004).
Terrorism is a large-scale violence unlike other forms of political violence. According to Boas
(2007), it is the use of force, intimidation and violence by sub-national group or groups against
a civilian population with the purpose of threatening the government of the state or
destabilising the state for the purpose of achieving political and religious objectives. It involves
the use of conventional war strategies to intimidate a government, impose fear in the civilian
population in the country and compel the government to take decisions it would not have taken
when there was no terror attacks (Boas, 2007; Lyman & Morrisson, 2004; Pantucci & Jesperson,
2015 ; Thomson, 2012).
Since the September 11, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, in New York, Africa has
witnessed an upsurge in terror attacks. For instance, on September 21, 2013, the Somali-based
terrorist organisation, Al Shabaab threw Kenya into mourning when it attacked the West gate
Mall in Kenya killing 67 people and injuring others. As if that was not enough, the terror group
stepped up its attacks in Somalia in 2014 and 2015 further destabilising a state that was
already a fragile state. Trained by Al Qaedar in the Islamic Magreb, Al Shabaab's presence in
East-Africa has continued to pose threats to regional security in the region (International Crisis
Group, 2018).
In the West-African sub-region, Boko Haram continues to carry out its deadly attacks in Nigeria,
though its offensives in Cameroon, Chad and Niger have reduced maximally since 2015 when
combined military operations from Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad were intensified
following the election of President Muhammadu Buhari. Notwithstanding, the sect's recent
attacks on the military in Nigeria indicate that Boko Haram's threat is not likely to disappear
soon from the radar unless drastic steps are taken to deescalate the violence by the Nigerian
government and the international community. Across the African continent, terrorism remains a
significant threat to the security of lives and property as well as the stability of democracy
(Lyman &Morrison, 2004) This is because the more the Western powers fight the crime at the
global level, the more they find safe haven in weak and fragile societies.
In order to buttress the above point, the 2018 Global Terrorism Indexes of 20 top countries in
the world in the world are presented below:
Table 1.0:
Rank
2018 Global Terrorism Index (World)
Country
Score
1
Iraq
9.746
2
Afghanistan
9.391
3
Nigeria
8.660
4
Syria
8.315
5
Pakistan
8.181
6
Somalia
8.020
7
India
7.566
8
Yemen
7.345
9
Eqypt
7.345
10
Philippines
7.181
11
Democ. Republic of Congo
7.036
12
Turkey
7.036
13
Libya
6.987
14
South Sudan
6.756
15
Central African Republic
6.719
16
Cameroon
6.615
17
Thailand
6.252
18
Sudan
6.178
19
Kenya
6.114
20
USA
6.048
Source; Selected from the 2018 Global Terrorism Index
The above table shows that terrorism is a severe security problem in Africa. This is evident in
the number of African countries that made the first 20 most terrorist ravaged nations in the
world. As displayed in the table, Nigeria and Somalia are the worst hit terrorist nations in Africa
followed by Egypt and Democratic Republic of Congo. Nigeria and Somalia's positions are
understandable considering the increasing lethal attacks of Boko Haram and Al Shabaab in the
last decade.
8.4.4 Arms Proliferation
Armed conflicts would not have occurred in many parts of the world if armed groups were not
given access to arms that are used in fighting their enemies or confronting the state, are not
available. Arms are not usually readily available in some countries, they are either bought
through black market or stolen from the armouries of soldiers in their countries. The illicit arms
trade business in Africa is one of the significant sources of armed conflicts in the continent
(Schroeder & Lamb, 2006).
Arms as used here are those ammunitions and weapons used by warlords, armed leaders,
insurgents, criminals and terrorists to kill, destabilise, and cause collateral damage to their
countries or people outside their jurisdictions. Because there are usually varieties of arms in
different parts of the world, access to arms by warlords and terrorists is a matter of the policy
of arms control adopted by the government. Where a government is unable to control arms
supply to his security agencies and the country at large, armed groups and merchants of death
may seize the opportunity to establish ''illicit arms markets” across the country. This is the case
of most African countries since the 1990s.
Since the last three decades, illicit arms trade has become a major problem of many African
countries following the proliferation of armed conflicts, prolonged military rule and increasing
poor governance of many of these postcolonial African societies. Confronted with the problem
of porous borders, many African countries have concentrated much of their energy on internal
control of arms while militia men and terrorists, who are in need of these arms to confront the
state and its political elites use such porous borders to sell and exchange arms with the
''merchants of death''. Except for a few African countries, arms move freely from one armed
group to the other and can be used to kill even senior security officers within a state security
apparatus (United Nations, 2005; Schroeder & Lamb, 2006).
Apart from the fact that armed groups in the continent have been having free access to small
arms and light weapons, the recent emergence of the global terrorist organisation, the Islamic
State in the wake of the war in Syria and the collapse of Mamma Gaddafi's regime in Libya have
further emboldened the armed groups in the continent. All of these issues are not unconnected
with the rise and the persistence of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria and the West-African
region.
8.4.5 Terrorist Financing
Terrorist financing is the covert or illicit sponsor of terrorist organisations by individuals, states
or organisations for the purpose of threatening a nation, region or endangering global peace.
Without money, terrorist groups will not be able to carry out their nefarious attacks on innocent
people around the world. Money, therefore, plays a key role both in the planning and
actualization of a terrorist operation (Financial Action Task Force, 2016).
Since terrorism is a criminal act, in most parts of the world, the sponsorship of terrorist
operations is not always overt. People hardly know those who are behind the deadly terrorist
organisations in their societies. Except covert security intelligence is carried out, terrorists too
do not always like to reveal the identity of their sponsors. This is why it has been difficult for
the international community to effectively combat terrorist financing in the West-African region
where the financial system is highly vulnerable to political manipulation (FATF, 2016).
The complexity of the terrorist financing problem is reflected in the difficulty of understanding
the true sources of SALWs to violent groups in West-Africa. For instance, the InterGovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (2013) made this remark
about sources of arms to the Islamist sect in Nigeria, Boko Haram. According to GIABA (2013):
Boko Haram acquires its arms from Niger, Chad and Cameroon-countries that
share borders with Nigeria at the northern part of the country. Nigeria's
extensive borders with Cameroon, notorious as smuggling routes for illicit
SALWs, perfectly serves the purpose of the Boko Haram, especially with the
northeast being its primary operational base. With most of its original members
hailing from the northeast, the group easily facilitates the flow of illicit SALWs
from Chad into Nigeria. Indeed, the use of AK-47 rifles to carry out attacks is
an indication that most of the arms used by the group were smuggled into the
country. For instance, during the April, 2011 elections, the police and other
security agencies recovered 3 AK-47 rifles and other arms from Boko Haram in
a raid on Maiduguri (p.34).
8.4.6 Herdsmen-Farmers' Conflict
Conflicts between herders and farmers has joined the list of armed conflicts in contemporary
Africa despite the fact that the continent is already overwhelmed by many security challenges.
The conflict, whichis common in the East and West-African regions, has led to loss of lives and
property worth millions of dollars, in the affected countries. (International Crisis Group, 2018).
For centuries, farmers and herders had lived together in peace, with each community engaging
in its agricultural activity without engaging in fierce battles over land rights that usually
characterise contemporary conflicts between them. The emergence of democracy, the politics of
power sharing and harsh conditions thrown up by climate change have altered the old pattern
of relationship among the pastoralists and farmers, and replaced it with violence.
Although the struggle over lands rights predate today's herdsmen-farmers' conflict, it is
important to note that the bifurcation of the state by the colonial masters and the subsequent
struggles for political domination among the Fulani-pastoralists and the farmers caused the first
set of communal and violent conflicts in East-African countries such as Kenya, Uganda etc.
Unlike Nigeria where herdsmen-farmers' conflict is new, Kenya has been faced with this type of
armed conflict for decades (International Crisis Group, 2018).
The current crisis between the pastoralists-the Fulanis and the farmers in states such as Benue,
Jos, Kogi and parts of the South-Western and South-Eastern Nigeria, has been traced to two
major factors; politics and climate change. For the later, the increasing desertification and
changes in climatic conditions in the North have necessitated the movement of the pastoralists
to the South for water and food for their cattle. This movement, though good for the
pastoralists, has turned to pains for some farmers whose crops are often damaged by the
cattle.
Unable to find permanent solution to the problem, some elites have politicised the issue thereby
escalating violence in areas that were already rattled by ethnic and religious violence for
decades (International Crisis Group, 2018). The International Crisis Group reported that in the
first half of 2018, more than 1, 300 Nigerians died in violence involving herders and farmers
(International Crisis Group, 2018).
8.4.7 Civil War
Africa's commonest conflict since independence is civil war. From Nigeria's 30 months civil war,
which began in 1967 and ended in 1970 to the civil war in Somalia that has lasted for over
decades, Africa has spent the larger part of its independence in civil war than any other
engagement. Civil war is the type of armed conflict that usually involves two or more ethnic or
religious groups from the same country. Unlike terrorism, civil war is a large-scale armed
violence involving members of the two groups with the determination to secede from the
present political arrangement.
Civil war can occur in both developed and developing worlds but its primary drivers around the
world are unresolved boundary issues, wealth redistribution, power sharing, domination and
ethnic and religious differences. In addition to these, is weak governance system, which should
have helped to cushion the effects of ethnic and religious disharmonies that are present in
those countries. Considering the nature and character of postcolonial Africa state, which is
capricious and exploitative, civil war is definitely inevitable in the process of transiting from oneparty regimes to modern democracies.
At independence, Africans inherited a state that was polarised along ethnic and religious lines.
In several African countries such as Niger, Nigeria and Sudan, religion has been a critical
determinant of civil war, most especially in countries where there is perception that a section of
the society has been in control of national resources and the political power of the state. The
Muslim-Christian dichotomy in Sudan and Nigeria has played a major factor in who controls
political power at the centre. It has also determined both the recruitment and the control of
national forces-the police, the army and other armed forces. In Somalia, age-long ethnic and
religious disharmonies are indeed responsible for the civil war in the country that has almost
turned the state into a failed state
In spite of the return of democracy to the continent, the phenomenon of civil war has not
ceased from the political scene. In the Central Africa, there is an ongoing war and violence in
Democratic Republic of Congo (Bjarnadóttir, 2017). The South-Sudan war, which has claimed
several lives, has seriously destabilised the region and caused the international community
millions of dollars through UN peacekeeping operations
8.4.8 Ethnic and Religious Conflicts
Ethnic and religious conflicts portend great danger to nationality just like terrorism. It is also
one of the commonest forms of conflicts in Africa. Although there are many nations around the
world where people of different ethnic and religions still tolerate one another, in Africa, ethnic
and religious differences have remained the basis for political contestation among the elites and
their followers.
The 1994 Rwanda genocide has remained a typical example of ethnic cleansing in Africa's
postcolonial history. This is because since then, there has never been any country on the
continent where people from one ethnic group systematically exterminated people from another
ethnic group as a result of ethnic animosity. In his work ''When Victims Become Killers;
Colonialism, Nativism and the Genocide in Rwanda'', Mamdani (2007) remarkson the horrific
incidence in human history, thus:
No one can say with certainty how many Tutsi were killed between March and July,
1994 in Rwanda. In the fateful one hundred days that followed the downing
of the presidential plane-and the coup d'etat thereafter-a section of the army
and civilian leadership organised the Hutu majority to kill all Tutsi, even
babies. In the process, they also killed not only Hutu political opposition, but
so many non-political Hutu who showed reluctance to perform what was
touted as a ''national'' duty. The estimates of those killed vary; between ten
and fifty thousand Hutu, and between 500, 000 and a million Tutsi. Whereas
the Hutu were killed as individuals, the Tutsi were killed as a group, recalling
German designs to extinguish the country's Jewish population. This explicit
goal is why the killings of Tutsi between March and July, 1994 must be termed
'genocide'. This single fact underlines a crucial similarity between the
Rwandan genocide and the Nazi Holocaust (p. 5).
8.4.9 In-Text Questions (ITQs)
1. What do you understand by illicit arms trade?
2. How does armed conflict contribute to the problem of instability in Africa?
3. What role does terrorist financing play in the promotion of terrorism around the world?
8.4.10 In-text Answers (ITAs)
1. Take a particular armed conflict in Nigeria in the last 5 years and describe the nature and
consequence of the armed conflict on national unity.
2. Identify two routes used by armed groups to smuggle their arms into Nigeria.
3. Identify one terrorist organisation in Nigeria, and describe how it carries out its attacks.
8.5 Causes of Insecurity in Africa
Conflicts do not just occur in a society. They are usually caused or driven by several factors
within and outside our society. In Africa, security experts have identified some of the major
causes of conflicts and the problem of insecurity in the continent. These include the problems of
colonial legacy, poor leadership, poverty, ethnic politics, illicit arms trade and arms proliferation,
economic crisis and climate change. This section is designed to examine some of these factors:
1. Colonial Legacy, Bifurcated Post-Colonial State and the problem of Armed
Conflicts in Africa
There is no way a robust analysis of the causes of armed conflicts in Africa can be done without
a recourse to colonialism. Colonialism, came into many African countries in the nineteenth
century as a foreign policy of the Europeans to take over the vast territories of Africa and bring
them under colonial rule (Ekeh, 1975; Mbaku, 2003). Through the use of brutal force, many
African societies succumbed to the whims and caprices of the colonialists.
Hurriedly, the Europeans created many African states, without recourse to the social, cultural,
linguistic, and ethnic differences among the members of these new nations they created.
Although the colonialists tried to make constitution-making to be inclusive by selecting and
including some educated Africans, such decisions were in most cases arbitrary, capricious and
selective. The colonial state, in large measure ruled the natives with maximum brutal force in
some societies while in others it used their leaders to get compliance to colonial rule. Mbaku
(2010) notes that this attitude to governance sowed the first seeds of discord between those
favored by the colonialists, and those marginalised by colonial administration.
South-Africa is a typical example where White supremacy and the Apartheid policy of the
colonial government sowed the seeds of conflicts between the Whites and the blacks. Until
1994, South-Africa was under Apartheid that gave the White people in the country superior
hands over the Blacks. The policywhich started in 1948 subjected the black South-Africans to
discrimination in terms of access to Western education, jobs and economic opportunities
(Mbaku, 2010; Mamdani, 2004).
In fact, South-Africa is not the only African country where colonialism laid a legacy of armed
conflicts. In Nigeria, the colonialists ruled the North through indirect rule policy while it ruled
the South through direct policy, though, officially it proclaimed that it used direct policy across
the country. Meredith (2005) notes that it is this North-South dichotomy in colonial policies
coupled with elites attitudes to the building of a formidable post-colonial society that is
responsible for the majority of the problems of armed conflicts in Nigeria.
The case of Sudan also exemplifies the deleterious effects of colonial legacy and the bifurcation
of the state on the problem of armed conflicts in Africa (Meredith, 2005). Northern part of
Sudan was occupied majorly by Muslims who have had firm grip of political power since
independence. Unable to effectively tame the North, agitation for equitable sharing of power
and national resources resulted in violent confrontations against the people of the North by the
South. Because this country could not sustain this armed struggle, South-Sudan had to be
created out of Sudan in 2011.
2. Poor Leadership, Corrupt Political Class and Poor Governance Systems
One of the legacies of African countries is the persistence of corrupt and capricious political
class. At independence, many Africans thought that African leaders who wrestled powers from
the colonialists would be desirous of building an acceptable postcolonial society that would be
capable of uniting the different ethnic nationalities in the country.
As it turned out after more than fifty years of independence, most African countries are ruled by
elites who are not interested in the development of their country but in the primitive
accumulation of capital. This is why they can do and undo to capture power and maintain
regime security. In 1996, the late African political economist, Claude Ake gave a vivid picture of
the development crisis in Africa, a description that has not changed significant in today's Africa.
According to Ake (1996); ''It is easy to seethat the political environment at independence was
profoundly hostile to development. The struggle for power was so absorbing that everything
else, including development was marginalised. Those who were out of power constantly worried
about their exposure to every kind of assault by a state that was hardly subject to any
constitutional or institutional restraints. Since what mattered in this type of politics was the
calculus of force, the out-of power elites strove constantly to put together credible force to
challenge those who are in power, or, at any rate, to limit their own vulnerability to harassment
and abuse'' (Ake, 1996; 7). Has the condition of politics and power struggle among the elites
changed in contemporary Africa? Let us reflect on this in view of the current conflicts in the
continent.
3. Ethnic Politics and Armed Conflicts
Ethnic politics is a significant cause of the problem of armed conflicts and insecurity in Africa.
Polarised and fractionalised by ethnic differences, power, nation-building and wealth
redistribution in Africa are now determined by the ethnic group that people belong to and not
by the skills they belong to. Interestingly, the public sector that should have helped to reduce
the influence of parochial factors also thrives on ethnic configuration (Egwaikhide,
Isumonah&Ayodele, 2009; Nnoli, 1978).
In countries where ethnic animosity is high, ethnic politics has resulted in ethnic and religious
crises, and poses a great danger to the stability of democracy in Africa. In Nigeria, the
persistent call for restructuring and agitation for resource control are not unconnected with the
challenge of ethnic politics in postcolonial Nigeria.
4.Poverty, Economic Crisis and High Level of Hunger in the Land
Poverty and bad economic policies also fuel crisis and cause the problem of insecurity. The
2017 Human Development Report 2017 showed that only a few African countries have made
considerable gains in fighting the problem of poverty and unemployment. Increasingly, the
persistence of lack of jobs and high cost of living have continued to create conditions of poverty
that are conducive for armed conflicts. This is one of the reasons why Boko Haram used money
to entice its members in the north-eastern Nigeria (Pantussi & Jesperson, 2015).
5. Illicit Arms Trade and Trafficking
Illicit arms supplied to armed groups, terrorists and criminals are critical agents of violent
conflicts in Africa. While the illicit arms trade is a global security problem, the inability of African
countries to secure their borders contribute tremendously to their inability to terrorism in the
continent (GIABA, 2013).
8.5.1 In-Text Questions (ITQs)
1. What is the role of colonial legacy in the problem of armed conflicts in Nigeria?
2. How has the problem of economic crisis in Africa emboldened armed criminals in the
continent?
3. How has the problem of arms proliferation aided the challenge of Boko Haram insurgency in
Nigeria?
8.5.2 In-Text Activities (ITAs)
1. Take the September 2013 Westgate Kenya Mall Attack, and describe the strategies used by
the terrorists to carry out their operations
2. Identify and describe two killing tactics of armed terrorists in Nigeria
3. Account for three tactics used by Cameroon to dislodge sect Boko Haram in the country.
8.6 Consequences of Insecurity on the State, Society and Citizens in Africa
No matter how small a conflict is, human beings and the society where the conflict takes place
are more likely to pay dearly for the conflict. The negative impact of conflict on society and the
victims is what is regarded as consequence of insecurity. In Africa, conflict has had several
consequences on the African society, too numerous to be discussed even in a volume of book.
It is however important to highlight some of its impact on the state, society and the citizens in
this section:
1. Political Instability and the Problem of Failed State
The problem of political instability is one of the greatest consequences of armed conflict in
Africa since independence. Since the 1960s, armed conflicts including the protracted civil wars
witnessed in the continent in the 1990s have helped polarised many African societies along
ethnic and religious lines. Because the state is politically weak, it has lost its autonomy on the
centrifugal forces in the society to the corrupt and politically rich elites who use state power to
amass wealth, and disintegrate the society further. Politics, which should have helped to
strengthen individuals' access to the state has remained a tool in the hands of few criminally
minded people who used it to oppress those who are outside their camps. The consequence of
this, is that, the state has lost its firm grip of society and become vulnerable to all sorts of
assaults.
2. Deaths, Loss of Property and Refugee Problems
Death is one of the immediate consequences of armed conflict in Africa. Depending on the
nature of the armed conflict, the death of citizens from armed conflicts can leave devastating
impact on a nation. It will not only reduce the nation's manpower, it can cause sectional crises
that will make peace-building in a society difficult.
Writing about the human costs of in Africa, Adeniyi (2017) reports that an estimated 4.3m- 8.4
m people have lost their lives from armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan
and Rwanda between 1983-2005. In 2018, Onuoha & Oyewole state that the Nigerian-based
terrorist organisation, Boko Haram is believed to have killed more than 100, 000 people and
displaced over 2.6 million from their ancestral homes. These are in addition to schools,
mosques, churches and government's property that have destroyed by the deadly sect.
3. Armed Conflicts Create Fear in the Minds of the Citizens
The fear of death is the beginning of wisdom for citizens who witnessed an armed conflict but
were not consumed by the conflict. Aside from death that people in developed and developed
societies often suffer, the fear of crime is often heightened by lethality of armed conflicts.
Where the tactics used by an armed group, is so lethal and new to many citizens, the fear of
crime in such a society may be heightened by the criminal incidence. In the developing world,
the fear armed conflict has led to the emergence of new armed groups who partake in violence
in order to demonstrate that no group has the monopoly of violence in the country. In Nigeria,
the failure of the state and the fear of being crushed by an armed group, are at the heart of the
problem of armed groups and cultism in the country.
8.6.1 In-Text Questions (ITQs)
1. What do you understand by consequence of insecurity?
2. List and explain two consequences of insecurity in Africa
3. How does the fear of crime or armed conflict aggravate violence in the larger society?
8.6.2 In-Text Activities (ITAs)
1. Take a Boko Haram incidence in year 2018, and discuss the consequences that such an
incident had on the Nigerian society.
2. Identify and discuss two psychological problems that refugees often face in their camps.
3. Discuss the 2018 ambush on Nigerian soldiers, and how this changed government's attitude
towards the war against terrorism in Nigeria.
8.7 Peace-Building in Conflict Ridden Societies in Africa
Peace-building is the process of building an enduring legacy of peace in a country that is
ravaged by armed conflicts or prone to violent conflicts. The idea, which was first used by a
former UN Secretary General in 1992 Boutros Boutros-Ghali in his address to the UN General
Assembly states that ''An Agenda for Peace'' has become a global strategy for helping nations
overcome the challenge of armed conflicts. On the meaning of the concept, Ghali defines peace
building as any ''action taken to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen
and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse to conflict''.
About 15 years later in 2007, the United Nations Secretary-General Policy Committee expanded
the meaning of peace-building to mean; ''A range of measures to reduce the risk of lapsing or
relapsing into conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management,
and to lay the foundation for sustainable peace and development. Peace-building strategies
must be coherent and tailored to the specific needs of the country concerned, based on national
ownership and should comprise a carefully prioritised sequenced, and relatively narrow set of
activities aimed at achieving the above objectives'' (United Nations Peace-building Fund, 2018;
1).
Notwithstanding the divergence of opinions that may befall the definitions of the concept, the
UNDPF (2018) opined that peace-building is generally designed to achieve the following goals;
1. Establish the Drivers of & Causes of Armed Conflicts in a Country
2. Build capacities in national government and its institutions in a way that government is
capable of fighting violent conflict and restoring peace in its country.
3. Establish systems of social cohesion in the society that can that help to build peace
4. Connect the citizens to the state by strengthening state/civil society relations and building
public trust and political legitimacy.
If these are the major objectives of peace-building in the developed and developing worlds,
why is it difficult to achieve relative peace in conflict-ridden societies? Peace-building in conflictridden societies is one of the most difficult tasks for most countries of the world particularly in
the developing world where government either lacks funds to address the conflicts or does not
have the manpower to face its armed groups. Because conflict-ridden societies are usually
fragile societies in terms of their vulnerability to violent conflict, peace-building is not only
cumbersome to address, it is tasking for many national governments, the United Nations,
regional governments and foreign allies.
A number of issues often determine whether peace-building will be successful in conflict-ridden
societies; (1.) Attitude of the state to the Peace-process (2) Attitude of the
Stakeholders/Warring Parties to the Peace-process (3) Ability to Determine and Understand the
Magnitude of the Problem at Home (4) Ability to Understand the Root Causes of the Conflicts
(5) Ability to Utilise the Available Human and Material Capital for the Management of the
Conflict (6) Ability to Monitor Dissenting Voices in the Peace-process (7) Ability to Prevent a
Relapse to Violent Conflict (8) Effective Management of information that will aid in the
formidable of contending issues among the feuding parties.
Considering the level of development of most developing nations, peace building is always a
huge challenge to government and the international community. Even in situations where
national government has the required resources to address a violent conflict, the politics of
resource control also serves as a setback to the peace process.
8.7.1 In-Text Questions (ITQs)
1. What do you understand by peace building?
2. Why is it necessary for the peace makers to understand the magnitude of the problem in a
conflict-ridden society?
3. Who do we refer to as peace makers?
8.7.2 In-Text Activities (ITAs)
1. Identify two peace-building strategies used by the Federal Government of Nigeria to
deescalate violence in the Niger Delta?
2. Which peace makers featured prominently in the Federal Government peace-building in the
Niger Delta in 2015?
3. Identify two conflict-ridden societies in Africa and explain the reasons why they qualify to be
grouped into this category.
8.8 Processes of Peace-Building in Conflict Ridden Societies
There are different stages in building peace in a society. Based on global best practices, the
processes of peace-building may be classified into the following; (1) Preventive Diplomacy (2)
Peace Making (3) Peace Keeping (4) Peace Enforcement (5) Peacebuilding or Stabilization
phase.
Since every conflict, will always have a beginning, a middle and an end, peace building
processes can be further divided into three; (1) Onset Phase (2) Transitional Phase (3)
Stabilisation Phase. Let us now look at the various stages in peace building:
(1) Onset Phase/Conflict Phase
1. Preventive Diplomacy
This is the stage at which national government and other peace makers in a society work hard
to prevent disputes from arising or prevent existing disputes from escalating into conflict. In
preventive diplomacy, the peace makers are expected to explore all avenues of diplomacy with
the aggrieved parties in a dispute with the hope of preventing a conflict from occurring
(Uesugki, 2004).
1. Peace Making
This is the process of bringing the hostile parties to an agreement. It is the process of finding
the meeting points in the issues tabled before a peace committee. In a society where the peace
mediators are very good and the parties are desirous of resolving their disputes, conflict may
not even arise in the first instance. Preventive diplomacy entails tracing the roots and drivers of
a disputes and finding ways to prevent such forces from escalating conflict in the society
(Uesugki, 2004).
3. Mid-Conflict Phase
1. Peace-Keeping
Peace Keeping is the presence of peace keepers in a country to help deescalate conflicts,
monitor the implementation of arrangements relating to the control of the conflict (such as
cease-fire) and work hard towards the resolution of the conflict by encouraging parties to sign
peace pact (Uesugki, 2004).
4. Humanitarian Aids
As conflict is ongoing in a country, UN peacemakers and other members of the international
community who are desirous of giving aids to the victims of armed conflicts are expected to
identify individuals affected by the conflicts and create refugee camps where various types of
humanitarian aids are given to them. Usually, the UN missions come with food, clothes and
medical aids to support the victims of such conflict particularly children, women and the aged
(Shonode, 2004; Uesugki, 2004). For instance, UN Peacekeeping missions are in the Democratic
Republic of Congo and Somalia to restore sanity to these countries.
(5) Stabilisation Phase
(1) Peace-building
The stabilisation phase is the phase at which the peacebuilders help government monitor the
peace process, prevent escalation of violent conflicts and help build confidence in the state. This
phase is very important to the entire peace process because it is the stage at which government
can authoritatively say that it has restored peace to the society. In Nigeria, the stabilisation
phase can be likened to the periods when the Nigerian governments rebuilt schools allegedly
destroyed by Boko Haram sect in the north-eastern part of the country.
8.8.1 In-Text Questions (ITQs)
1. What is peace-building?
2. How does peace-making differ from peace keeping?
3. Who are the possible peace builders in a developing society?
8.8.2 In-Text Activities (ITAs)
1. Discuss the Federal Government of Nigeria's Amnesty Programme in the Niger Delta under
former President Umar Musa Yaardua, and explain how it has contributed to peace building in
the Niger Delta.
2. Identify a programme undertaken by the Federal Government of Nigeria to address the
herdsmen-farmers conflict in the middle belt.
3. Describe how cease-fire worked in Congo to end its 1998-2003 war.
8.9 Agencies involved in Peace-Building in Africa
Peace is always very costly to buy, once a society loses it. The task of returning peace to a
society that has been sacked by war or ravaged by conflict is always a major problem to many
people around the world. Whether in the developed world or developing capitalist societies, it is
better to avoid conflict than to allow peace evade a society.
Agencies of peace are the agencies of government, institutions of the global community and the
people that help transmit messages of hope and messages of peace to the citizens in war-torn
or conflict-ridden societies. These institutions will be discussed in this section:
1. National Government and Peace-Building in Africa
The first agency of peace in any society that is confronted by conflict is the national
government. By constitutional provisions, national governments are usually empowered to
protect their citizens from both internal and external aggressions. In discharging these
responsibilities, every national governmentestablishes the police, the army and internal security
intelligence agencies.
Besides these, they are expected to establish humanitarian agencies that help government
deliver humanitarian aids to those affected by conflicts and monitor human rights abuse in
refugee camps. In advanced democracies, human rights group are allowed to serve as peace
brokers and help government deepens the peace process. The reverse is ,however, the case in
most developing countries.
For instance, in many African countries, one of the first steps that most African leaders often
take is to use police force to dowse tension in conflict ravaged societies. Has this approach
worked? Of course, it has not worked in many countries in the last five decades of the
continent's transition to postcolonial era.
i. The Police
The police is the first agent of peace building in many African societies but its activities have
come with sharp criticisms. The Human Rights Watch (2010) and Amnesty International (2018)
note that the attitudes of the police in conflict-ridden societies are far below international
standards. From extra-judicial killings to torture, the police in Africa have been accused of
violating the human rights of the people affected by wars or conflicts.
2. The Army & Other Armed Forces and Peace-building in Africa
The army, the air-force, the navy and other security agencies have also been involved in peace
keeping operations across the African continent. Like the police, the army's involvement in
peace-keeping operations in many African countries have also come with criticisms. For
instance, Amnesty International (2018) reports that human rights abuse by the military is a
regular occurrence in many developing countries. The agency cites the examples of Burkina
Faso, Mauritania, Eritrea, Cameroon, Nigeria where suspects accused the military of torturing
them.
2. Sub-Regional Agencies -Economic Community of West African States and Peace
Building in Africa
Sub-regional agencies like Economic Community of West-African States also play active role in
peace-building in Africa. Established to fight for the economic and political interests of countries
in the West-African sub-region, ECOWAS MONITORING GROUP (ECOMOG) contributed
significantly to the successful restoration of peace to Liberia) and Sierra Leone when the
countries were devastated by wars in the 1990s.
3. Regional Agencies-the African Union and Peace Building in Africa
The African Union is the organisation of 55 African countries. It is saddled with the protection of
the social, political and economic interests of Africans around the world. Since its emergence in
2002 as a replacement of the Organisation of Africa Unity, the AU has played active roles in
peace-building in continent. It has, through its peacekeeping operations, assisted in peace
process and taken part in post-conflict reconstruction and development in countries such as
Sudan, South-Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria (African
Union, 2018).
4. The United Nations Security Council and Peace Building
The UN Security Council is one of the six principal agents of the United Nations created in 1946
after the Second World War to help maintain global peace and security. In 2005, the UN
strengthened the capacity of the Security Council by establishing the UN Peace Building Fund
following a paradigm shift on peace building and security around the world.
Although the UN Security Council has been criticizedfor being dominated by the Western
countries, its peace missions in war-torn African countries such as the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Somalia and South-Sudan cannot be underestimated (Dedring, 2004; Uesugki, 2004).
Just recently, the Nigeria's deadly terrorist organisation, Boko Haram is reported to have
executed one of the peace brokers of the UN working in the north-eastern part of the country.
This is one of the several prices the UN and other peace brokers pay across the African
continent.
5. Foreign Allies, Citizens, Joint-Military Operations and Peace-building in Africa
Because government and the international community cannot do it along, the task of peace
building in developed and developing worlds has now been taken as a joint enterprise. Apart
from the foreign countries like the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada and
Russia that have been playing prominent role in peace building around the world, increasingly,
private individuals and non-governmental organisations are becoming more visible in the peace
enterprise than in the 1990s.
8.9.1 In-Text Questions (ITQs)
1. What is the role of national government in peace-building in Africa?
2. How does ECOWAS contribute to peace-building in Africa?
3. Discuss the critical role of the UN Security Council in global peace.
In-Text Answers (ITAs)
8.9.2 In-text Activities (ITAs)
1. Select and discuss two African countries where UN Peace Building is currently engaged in
peace-building
2. Compare UN operations in South-Sudan with those in the Democratic Republic of Congo
3. Using Liberia as a case study, discuss five specific peace operations undertaken by ECOWAS
in this country during the country's war.
8.10 The Challenges and Prospects of Peace-Building in Africa
With the increasing proliferation of weapon of mass destruction and the rising influence of
globalisation on world civilisations, the world is more likely to witness more conflicts in the next
five decades unless urgent actions are taken by the international community. Just as the
conflicts are proliferating so also the challenges facing governments in combating terrorism and
ending conflicts in their countries.
Several challenges currently face African governments. These include (i) Addressing the root
causes of conflicts (ii) Building a virile and democratic state can urgently address the problem of
inequality that is fuelling the crisis (iii) Building the economy and repositioning to address
poverty and material deprivation (iv) Addressing age-long injustice through legal and
constitutional review and reconstruction, and (vi) Developing virile institutions that can
effectively help to build peace in these countries.
The prospect for peace in Africa is high because African leaders are increasingly coming to the
realisation that one-party regime and statist approach to the management of the economy can
no longer guarantee peace (Mbaku, 2015). The interest in institutional reforms and state
reconstruction is increasingly high in many African countries. As the political economies of these
countries improve, conflicts arising from economic deprivation are likely to wane while political
reforms are expected to deepen inclusive institutions in African countries.
8.10.1 In-text Questions (ITQs)
1. What do you understand by inclusive institutions?
2. How can inclusive institutions help deepen peace in Africa?
3. What is the role of the state in peacebuilding?
8.10.2 In-Test Activities (ITAs)
1. Examine five roles of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) an agent of peace
building in Nigeria.
2. Cite two cases where police intervention in a conflict situation led to the resolution of a
conflict in Nigeria
3. Cite two cases where the intervention of the Nigerian military has helped to protect innocent
people in the northeast.
8.11 Summary of Study Session 8
In this study session, you have learnt the role of crime and security in peace building in Africa.
You have been taught that peace is a basic necessity of life because it creates a conducive
atmosphere for every citizen to exercise his/her freedoms. Because of the nature of African
societies, peace has however become a major problem in postcolonial era. This study session
has highlighted several factors such as colonial legacy, poor governance system, corruption,
ineptitude of African leaders, arms proliferation etc. The study session, however,concluded that
the hope for peace in the 21st century Africa is high following the return of democracy to the
continent.
8.11.1Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs)
1. What is crime?
Crime is any action that violates the criminal law of any country which is punishable by the
government of such country where the law is violated.
2. What is security?
Security is a broad concept that is often to describe all activities that pertain to the protection of
lives and property of the citizens either by their national government or the international
community.
3. What is peace building?
Peace building is a broad concept that is used to describe all activities designed to bring peace
back to a society that is ravaged by conflict or to prevent conflict from occurring in the first
instance.
4. What is the impact of armed conflicts on peace and security in Africa?
Armed conflicts, whether civil war or terrorism, are deleterious to the peace and security in
Africa. They have caused the death of millions of people in in Nigeria, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali,
Somalia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya etc.
5. What is the prospect for peace in Africa?
The prospect for peace in Africa is high following the return of democracy and the sudden shift
of the attention of the global community to peace in Africa. With legal, economic and political
reforms, it is expected that Africa will overcome the challenges of armed conflicts in the
continent.
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