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Africa Renewal (United Nations)

Africa: Reforming Security Forces

Ernest Harsch

29 April 2009

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analysis

In Africa's new democracies, reformers are seeking to create armies that protect civilians and uphold human rights.

"Liberia is building a new army and we are very strict regarding its standards," says Lieutenant Eric Dennis, who teaches international humanitarian law to recruits. In a country where previous armies - government and rebel alike - committed widespread atrocities, he hopes to help build a new institution that "will never tarnish the image of our army and our country. We want an army of professional soldiers."

Recruitment for the new army began only in 2006, and its 2,000 troops - some 100 of whom are women - are still being trained. Liberians are cautiously optimistic. A February 2008 opinion survey found that 55 per cent of Liberians polled expressed confidence in the army. That was less than the level of confidence in the national government and election system, but more than for the country's banks or courts.

A few thousand kilometres away, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), creating a new military is proving to be a more troubled process. Although UN peacekeepers and European advisers have sought to professionalize the force, there still have been incidents, especially in the troubled eastern provinces, of looting, rape and other abuses by troops.

"We soldiers are a reflection of the people, and therefore we must conduct ourselves so that the people see themselves in their army," Lieutenant Colonel Georges Mukole told a group of Congolese officers. But that image, he admitted, is still "being fashioned."

From South Africa to Burundi and Côte d'Ivoire, a number of other countries in Africa are also seeking to restructure and professionalize their armies, police and intelligence services. The process is fraught with difficulties, but is increasingly seen as vital for the continent's long-term peace and stability.

The momentum for such reform is growing as more countries seek to consolidate democracies or rebuild after debilitating wars, notes Major General Carl Coleman, a former commandant in Ghana's armed forces. Previously, political elites used their armies and police primarily to maintain power, "without any regard for the people that they governed," he told Africa Renewal in an interview at the Accra, Ghana, offices of the African Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR), a pan-African non-governmental think tank, where he is now a senior analyst. But in Africa's new democracies, "security" is now being redefined to place "people at the centre."

From problem to solution

For too long, General Coleman and others have pointed out, Africa's militaries, police and intelligence agencies were a major source of conflict and insecurity for ordinary Africans. Sometimes poorly paid, their ranks robbed and extorted civilians simply to get by. Presidents and other politicians used their armies to put down popular protests or eliminate rivals. And frequently, military commanders staged coups to take the reins of power themselves.

In a January 2009 ceremony, more than 100 new female police officers take their oaths in Liberia.

In Africa, as elsewhere, says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, "Security forces that are untrained, ill equipped, mismanaged and irregularly paid are often part of the problem, and perpetrate serious violations of human rights."

With little civilian oversight or public accountability, soldiers and police routinely were able to get away with the worst abuses. In some countries, notes retired Major General Ishola Williams, secretary-general of the Nigerian chapter of the anti-corruption advocacy group Transparency International, security institutions became part of a "culture of impunity and violence."

In a number of countries that have emerged from civil wars or long periods of dictatorship, reformers are seeking to break with the past. Usually as part of broader moves to democratize political systems, they have taken steps to restructure their security forces and subject them to the control of elected civilian governments.

"Security sector reform" (SSR) is the term most commonly used to describe such initiatives, although there are others. Whatever the variant, the concept of "security" extends beyond just "hard-core" institutions, such as the army and police, explains General Coleman. Preferably, the courts, prison systems and civilian oversight bodies, such as government ministries and parliament, should also be part of the reform process. "All of it is intertwined. You can't do one to the neglect of the other." The ultimate aim, he says, is to ensure the creation of security forces that guarantee "the protection of the ordinary person."

Emerging from war

Most African countries could use some degree of security reform, argues Kwesi Aning, head of the conflict prevention department of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, which instructs military and police personnel from across the continent. Even in Ghana, he told Africa Renewal during an interview at his KAIPTC offices, the army and police do not coordinate very well in handling local disputes, as in Ghana's strife-ridden Bawku region in the north. "Even in non-conflict societies, there is a need for much more effective oversight of security institutions, and for coordinating and consultative mechanisms."

However, the impetus for fundamental reform has usually been greatest in countries just coming out of war. In Sierra Leone, efforts to restructure the national army began in 2000, even before that country's decade-long civil war came to an end the following year. With significant funding from the UK and under the command of British officers and technical experts, the programme sought to restructure the armed forces from top to bottom.

The military was especially weak at the command level, with many of the most professional officers either dead or in exile, "so we had to grow this almost from scratch," Major General Jonathon Riley, the UK commander, later recalled. Meanwhile, the UN's peacekeeping mission helped to train the police.

The situation in Sierra Leone has remained relatively calm since then, including during the sharply contested election of September 2007. Not only did the security forces not interfere on behalf of the ruling party, as had happened frequently during the period from the 1960s through the 1980s, but they supported a smooth transition in power after the opposition won. Currently, the authorities are planning to reduce the army's size from 10,000 to 8,500.

In Angola, after nearly a quarter-century of civil war, peace was finally established in 2002. Tens of thousands of fighters from both sides of the conflict were disarmed and demobilized. Significant forces from the former rebel group were incorporated into the national army, and one national police force was created.

Burundi's national army and police were restructured in stages, after opposing armed factions in that country's civil war signed an initial peace agreement in 2003. Numerous government and insurgent combatants were demobilized, but many former rebels were also incorporated into the regular security forces. Plans to reduce the combined strength of the army and police from 25,000 to 15,000 have stalled since April 2008, however, as another rebel faction awaits incorporation.

In Côte d'Ivoire, a peace agreement in 2007 established a new coalition government and outlined plans for reintegrating the country, creating a unified army and holding national elections. But the disarmament and demobilization of combatants has proceeded slowly, and differences have arisen over how to forge a unified national army and police force.

Plans for security reform have also been discussed in a number of other countries, including the Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau. But continuing political instability, reflected most dramatically by the killings of Guinea-Bissau's president and army commander in early March, has forestalled serious restructuring.

And in countries where some security reform measures have been initiated, they usually have not been well coordinated with other post-conflict steps, such as disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes for ex-combatants seeking to return to civilian life (see Africa Renewal, October 2005 and October 2007). At a June 2007 international conference on DDR organized by the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, an entire session was devoted to promoting better coordination between DDR and SSR operations.

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