Impact of COVID-19 on Multilateral Cooperation and Implications for Peace and Security in Africa
Amani Africa
18 | June, 2020
On 27 May, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) held a session on the impact of the novel coronavirus COVID19 on Living Together in Peace. The theme of the session offered useful lens for discussing the impact of COVID19 on multilateral cooperation and its implications for peace and security in Africa. In this special research report, we present an analysis of the impact of COVID19 on multilateralism and its implications for Africa based on the presentation that Amani Africa delivered to the PSC during its 928th session on 27 May.
Commemoration of the African Border Day within the framework of the AU Master Roadmap on Silencing the Guns in Africa
Amani Africa
Date | 11 June, 2020
Tomorrow (11 June) the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) is scheduled to have its 930th session on ‘Commemoration of the African Border Day within the framework of the AU Master Roadmap on Silencing the Guns in Africa’.
The briefing on the agenda of the session prepared by the Department of Peace and Security is circulated to all PSC members via email. The Chairperson of the PSC for June has also circulated the concept note for the session. It is expected that PSC member states will conduct the session remotely via email exchanges. Following receipt of their input via email, the PSC Secretariat together with the Chairperson are expected to draft communiqué and circulate for its adoption through silence procedure.
The African Border Day is commemorated annually in line with the decision of the 17th Ordinary session of the Executive Council. As in the past, this year’s commemoration is linked with the annual theme of the year. As highlighted in the concept note, the AU Master Roadmap on Silencing the Guns identifies non-completion of border delimitation and demarcation processes, porous borders and the lack of borders control and security systems as posing challenge to peace and security in Africa.
This session is accordingly expected to provide updates to PSC member states on the progress made and challenges faced in implementing the practical steps set out in the AU Master Roadmap for overcoming the peace and security challenges arising from the conditions of the borders of African states. As various developments during the course of the past year, including the upsurge in violence in the Sahel – on account of both terrorist attacks and inter-communal fighting which have become more fatal due to easy access to and circulation of weapons – and the destruction that terrorist networks caused in Mozambique, have shown, porousness of African borders and the lack of effective control of borders continues to create the context for insecurity and violence.
On the occasion of the celebration of the Africa Border Day on 7 June, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui underlined borderland’s vulnerability to insecurity and socio-economic challenges and the importance of securing the stability of borderlands for the realization of the goals of Silencing the Guns initiative. Indeed, major consequences of weak system of governance of borderlands include the flow of illegal weapons and small arms, the movement of international organized crimes and terrorist groups as well human trafficking and irregular migration fueling violence and exacerbating insecurity.
Various factors including the presence of mineral and hydrocarbon resources, the rising demand for land and other resources due to population increase and climate change, the increasing need to secure borders from terrorist and criminal networks as well as the increasing interest for harnessing of maritime resources for development purposes have heightened the need for addressing existing problems in the governance of borders of member states in Africa.
Apart from land borders, maritime boundary dispute, often triggered by competing claims over natural resources, has also become a concerning area. Additionally, as the experiences in the Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Guinea have revealed, maritime domain have been highly volatile and exposed to piracy, organized crime and utilized for human and drug trafficking as well as illegal fishing and damping of waste by operations from developed countries. Towards protecting this particular area, the African Charter on Maritime Security and Safety and Development in Africa (Lome Charter) adopted in 2016 to prevent and control the wide range of transnational crime at sea and to ensure member states benefit from maritime resources. However, the charter is currently ratified only by one country.
The AU Border Program (AUBP) progress report is expected to highlight developments relating to policies, processes and initiatives relating to borders and to the implementation of the Program. The update presented in the report is organized and will be presented around the five areas of work of the AU Borders Programme– a) development of national border policies and strategies, b) delimitation and demarcation of borders, c) cross border cooperation, d) capacity building, and e) Implementation of AUBP at the regional level.
In terms of delimitation and demarcation, the AUBP has thus far contributed to the delimitation of more than 5000 km border in 25 countries. However, available data shows that only about 35% of the continent’s terrestrial international boundaries have been demarcated. As noted in the concept note for tomorrow’s session and highlighted in the AU Master Roadmap on Silencing the Guns as one of the practical steps, it is envisaged that the delimitation and demarcation of AU Member States borders have to be completed by 2022. Despite the amount of work done thus far and currently under way, there is concern that the new timeline of having African boundaries fully delimited and demarcated by 2022 would again be missed, as the progress report noted. In this respect, major issues that require attention in tomorrow’s session include the identification of the various factors that impeded delimitation and demarcation of borders making it impossible to meet the 2022 deadline and the development of a realistic plan to address them.
Other areas of work with respect of which the report highlights progress since the last report are capacity building, national and regional border policies and strategies, coordination within the AU and with RECs. The work done in these areas also show that the AUBP is serving as instrument for strengthening of the capacities of personnel in charge of border issues and in contributing towards the development of national and regional border policies and strategies. However, the progress report highlights a concern about the fate of the program under the new structure of the AU Commission, expected to come into effect in 2021.
Another item of particular importance covered in the AUBP progress report is cross border cooperation. This has been one of the issues that has been put under strain as member states of the AU out of an abundance of caution initiate closure of borders as part of the effort to contain the virus. In the context of the AU theme of 2020, the issue of cross border cooperation is key, as noted in the AU Master Roadmap, in terms of conflict prevention and controlling terrorism, other cross-border crimes and piracy, among others.
One of the most important legal and policy instruments of the AU for advancing cross border cooperation is the Niamey Convention on Cross Border Cooperation. While this Convention was adopted in June 2014, thus far 17 AU Member States have signed it and only five (Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, and Senegal) have ratified it. The ratification of ten (10) more countries is required to bring the Convention into effect. The ratification and implementation of this Convention is critical not only for enhancing legitimate system of border governance and cooperation but also to support the implementation of some of AU’s instruments for regional integration notably the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) and the Protocol to the Abuja Treaty on Free Movement of Persons, Rights of Residence and Establishment. In terms of normative developments, an important development is the AU Strategy for Better Integrated Border Governance adopted during the 33rd AU Summit in February 2020. The Assembly recommended that the implementation of the strategy should be undertaken in accordance with Article 4(b) of the AU ‘respect of borders existing on achievement of independence’ which is also echoed in the PSC protocol. The strategy covers a wide array of matters and it’s premised on five core pillars: development of capabilities for border governance, conflict prevention and resolution, mobility, migration and trade facilitation, cooperative border management and borderland development and community engagement.
Also of note, during tomorrow’s session is the relationship between public health and effective and legitimate border governance in Africa in the context of the novel coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic. As AU Commissioner for Peace and Security noted in his statement ‘the impact of COVID19 places the issue of governance of African borders at the heart of the response to the pandemic’. Within the current pandemic, border management and governance are particularly critical to monitor, detect and prevent the spread of the virus across and in between countries. While member states have adopted closure of borders as one of the measures for containing the spread of the virus, Chergui also pointed out in his statement the efforts undertaken so far through AUBP towards limiting the spread of virus through cross border cooperation and stabilization of border areas. He also underscored the need for strong cross border cooperation for cross border management of public health in Africa.
The expected outcome is a communiqué. The PSC may welcome and call on member states to implement the AU Strategy for Better Integrated Border Governance. It may urge governments to scale up their efforts in strengthening border governance to prevent conflicts, enhance cross-border cooperation and to better harmonize efforts in responding collectively for mutual interest. Particularly in light of the current challenges in relation COVID19 it may underline the importance of coordination and cooperation among member states on border management. It may further call on member states to ratify all the relevant frameworks including the Niamey Convention and the Lome Maritime Charter to ensure the security of borderlands as well as maritime boundaries. The PSC may underscore the important role of the AUBP in advancing the various goals of the AU including peace and security and regional integration through supporting peaceful settlement of border disputes, capacity building support for enhancing border governance and in advocating for speeding up the ratification and implementation of the various instruments. In terms of conflict prevention, it may underscore the need to monitor and identify major risks of border conflicts for timely deployment of preventive measures. With respect to the 2022 deadline for the completion of the delimitation and demarcation of African borders, the PSC could task the AUBP to submit a report with analysis of the issues impeding delimitation and demarcation and proposal on how these can be addressed and on the additional time required for completing this project.
VTC session on Cessation of hostilities and humanitarian truce in Africa
Amani Africa
Date | 02 June, 2020
Tomorrow (2 June) the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) is expected to hold its 929th session through video teleconference. The session focuses on cessation of hostilities and humanitarian truce in Africa within the framework of COVID19 and Silencing the Guns. It is expected that AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui and the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs Cessouma Minata Semate will deliver briefings to the Council. Additionally, representatives of the Africa Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are scheduled to make presentations.
The Chairperson of the Commission, Moussa Faki Mahammat and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have called for cessation of hostilities and urged belligerents to comply with the call including by avoiding fighting in areas where internally displaced person (IDPs), refugees, asylum seekers and migrants reside and refraining from attacking humanitarian actors and health facilities.
Apart from the AU Commission Chairperson, the AU Chairperson South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and some 17 member states have endorsed the appeal for humanitarian ceasefire during the pandemic. Similarly, the PSC in its communique of its 918th session reiterated the call ‘for all belligerents to fully embrace and uphold the Global Ceasefire in order to facilitate efforts being deployed against the COVID-19 pandemic.’ UN Secretary-General Guterres reported that in Cameroon, South Sudan and Sudan, armed groups announced temporary unilateral ceasefires.
While the advent of COVID19 disrupts the AU’s 2020 thematic focus on silencing the guns, this call for global ceasefire can serve as an avenue for pursuing the agenda of Silencing the Guns and limiting the impact of COVID19 in derailing this agenda. Tomorrow’s session presents an opportunity for considering how best this agenda of cessation of hostilities and humanitarian truce can be pursued. This helps not only in mobilizing enhanced efforts in dealing with the pandemic but also in becoming a vehicle for pursuing the AU’s theme of the year on Silencing the Guns.
The focus on cession of hostilities and humanitarian truce is particularly important in the African context on account also of the emergence of troubling trends during the pandemic. At this particular point as the cases of COVID19 are increasing at an alarming pace on the continent, the need to end wars and to focus on fighting the pandemic has become an existential task for the AU, its member states, partners and the global community at large.
Another concerning trend involves the escalation of violence observed in some conflict settings. This has particularly been the case in the conflict situations in Libya and the increase in incidents of fighting in Eastern DRC. In Central African Republic, incidents of fighting have also been reported including by one of the armed groups, Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R), that reportedly released a statement in April calling for a ceasefire. The situation in Libya has become particularly worrisome. Expressing regret at how some of these deteriorating conflicts undermine AU’s quest for Silencing the Guns, AU Commission Chairperson during his Africa Day message observed that ‘[t]he tragedy being played out in (Libya) is of profound concern to us all. No-one is blameless in the failure, neither is any segment of the international community, which has a great responsibility in the persistence or even escalation of the conflict.’ What makes the situation in Libya troublesome with respect to the AU agenda for Silencing the Guns is also its very dire impact on and linkages with the security situation in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions.
Non-state actors are also capitalizing on this particular situation to make military advances. Examples in this respect include the spike in terrorist attacks observed in the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin region and in Mozambique. Similarly, Al Shabaab has intensified its daily attacks in Somalia, hampering humanitarian efforts to fight the spread of the virus. With respect to the situation in the Sahel, the PSC in its communique of its 920th session, indicated that it ‘looks forward to receiving a comprehensive briefing on the security situation in the Sahel and to consider the revised Draft Strategic Concept note on Planning Guidance for the deployment of 3000 troops, not later than 15 June 2020’. Tomorrow’s session may serve as an opportunity for providing update to the PSC on the same.
The deliberate targeting of health workers and health facilities has been another key feature in many conflict settings. These attacks further expose people to greater health and safety hazards and exacerbate the spread of the disease among already vulnerable communities. This has particularly been notable in the conflict in Libya.
In terms of the AU theme for 2020 on silencing the guns, Chergui observed that the threat posed by COVID-19 has considerably slowed the momentum of the “Silencing the Guns” agenda. In May an extra-ordinary summit dedicated to Silencing the Guns was scheduled to take place under South Africa’s leadership to build the momentum around the annual theme and to strengthen commitment at the highest level. In this respect an issue of particular interest to members of the PSC is how to regain enhanced focus in pursuing the agenda of Silencing the Guns, including through a virtual summit of the AU dedicated to the theme of the year with specific targets.
Cessation of hostilities is particularly indispensable for humanitarian work, an issue that both Semate and UNHCR are expected to address. The continent hosts about 17 million IDPs and about 7 million refugees and asylum seekers. These groups are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic due to their living condition and existing marginalization. The continuation of conflicts during the COVID19 pandemic has increased the vulnerability and suffering of this category of people. According to AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui, ‘[t]his has severely affected humanitarian access to conflict areas and limited the reach of support and relief efforts, exacerbating the dual impact of the conflict and the damage caused by the global pandemic on the most vulnerable.’
The Bureau of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government has called for the opening of humanitarian corridors to allow assistance in the context of fighting COVID-19. Similarly, during its 921st session the PSC demanded all belligerents in Africa to ‘immediately and unconditionally cease all hostilities’. It further appealed to member states to open up airspaces for humanitarian action and to provide protection for healthcare workers and humanitarian actors. In this respect, a welcome development that the AU registered is the deployment of medical staff through the African Standby Force’s (ASF) African Strategic Lift Capability to respond to COVID19 in parts of central and western Africa. The close collaboration of the AU Peace and Security Department and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has resulted in the deployment of 28 frontline responders to Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali and Niger from DRC.
A UNSC resolution supporting the global call on cessation of hostilities during COVID19 has not yet materialized. The absence of a global level leadership and consensus among the big powers has curtailed political impetus to build momentum around the global call. A resolution from the UNSC would have brought an immense political weight in the ceasefire efforts. However, the adverse effects of such vacuum in leadership and political consensus has manifested in the intensification of violence in countries such as Libya. The gaps have also complicated global efforts in fighting the pandemic.
The expected outcome is a communiqué.
The PSC may further reiterate its previous calls for cessation of hostilities and it may urge belligerents to cease all violence in order to protect people from the scourge of COVID19. The PSC may call on the AU Commission and Regional Economic Communities working alongside the UN to support efforts for cessation of all hostilities by conflict parties. It may in particular request the AU working with RECs and the UN to increase efforts at achieving cessation of hostilities leveraging on announcements that armed groups made particularly in Cameroon, CAR, South Sudan and Sudan.
With respect to the AU’s theme of the year on Silencing the Guns, the PSC could call on the AU to mobilize enhanced attention in pursuing the theme of the year. It could, in this regard, request the AUC to discuss with the AU Chairperson on options for convening a virtual summit in pursuit of the AU’s theme of the year on Silencing the Guns.
The PSC may express concern over intensification of violence and attacks observed in some conflict settings and condemn the targeting of health facilities, despite the call for a humanitarian truce during the pandemic. The PSC could lend its support to the initiative of SADC with respect to Mozambique and urge the need for early collective action to avoid the risk of entrenchment of terrorist networks in Mozambique with all its consequences both to the country and the region. In respect to Libya, the PSC could request the AU Commission to report on the escalating fighting in the country with proposals on how to limit the impact of the conflict on the region, on how to contain the foreign meddling exacerbating the situation and on how the AU can support the effective enforcement of the arms embargo.
The PSC could underscore the necessity of international support for the global call and urge the UNSC to exercise leadership in discharging its mandate in the maintenance of international peace and security. The PSC may also express concern over the deepening polarization threatening collective multilateral action for the common problems of the world and may call on the international community to find common grounds to solidify global solidarity in mobilizing towards the fight against the pandemic, including through supporting the call for global ceasefire.