Prevention of Conflicts in Africa
Expected Council Action
In April, the Council is expected to receive a briefing on “Prevention of Conflicts in Africa: Addressing the Root Causes” from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and possibly the Chairperson of the AU, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia.
The briefing will be held at the ministerial level, with Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo presiding. The chairs of African subregional organisations will also likely attend. A presidential statement is the anticipated outcome.
Key Recent Developments
The Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa continues to meet a few times a year and reports to the Council annually, most recently on 31 December 2012 (S/2012/965). Meanwhile, annual consultations between Council members and the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) are perhaps the most prominent step toward developing an effective partnership between the UN and the AU (S/2012/444). (For more information on UN-AU relations in this context, see SCR’s Special Research Report of 10 May 2011, Working Together for Peace and Security in Africa.)
In 2012, 61.2 percent of the country or region-specific meetings held by the Council concerned Africa. A similar trend seems to have prevailed thus far during 2013, with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Somalia and Sudan/South Sudan as prominent examples of conflicts requiring the sustained attention of the Council. Recent developments in the Central African Republic, where events on the ground appear to have outpaced international responses, further illustrate the practical difficulties of conflict prevention. Fortunately, one country that some observers thought might be another case of failed conflict prevention efforts—Kenya—remains stable thus far after the 4 March general elections.
The Council has held a number of meetings regarding conflict prevention in recent years mostly spearheaded by elected members during their monthly presidency of the Council. Brazil scheduled an open debate on 11 February 2011 on the interdependence between conflict and development, which has significant implications for structural prevention. Previously, Nigeria organised an open debate on 16 July 2010 on preventive diplomacy in Africa. Lebanon scheduled a briefing on 22 September 2011 regarding the Secretary-General’s report on the use of preventive diplomacy (S/2011/552).
Rwanda, as Council president for April, would like the emphasis to be on structural prevention addressing the underlying political, social and economic causes of conflict. This entails focusing on the intersection between development and security. Preventive diplomacy, the subject of a PSC open session on 22 March, may also come up. The briefing will apparently discuss partnerships among the UN, AU and subregional organisations. AU initiatives and institutions such as the PSC, Continental Early Warning System, the African Peer Review Mechanism and the Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development Policy, may also be covered.
Key Issues
In practical terms, a central concern of the briefing will be how to improve existing mechanisms for conflict prevention partnerships between the UN and the AU and African subregional organisations.
There are also two other fundamental issues:
- whether structural prevention, which is ultimately about the development of nation states, goes beyond the mandate of the Security Council; and
- how to overcome concerns that preventive diplomacy, which requires Council engagement with states that are not yet in armed conflict, infringes state sovereignty.
Options
One option would be to resolve to change the practice of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa. The Working Group could meet on a more regular basis and provide a venue for Council members to discuss emerging and current conflict situations and how the Council might respond as well as receive informal briefings from the Secretariat on issues of concern in Africa.
Another option would be for the Council to deepen its substantive engagement with the AU and subregional organisations. Annual meetings of Council members and the PSC (which alternate between New York and Addis Ababa) and the meeting between Council members and the Economic Community of West African States in Côte d’Ivoire on 21 May 2012 have established a precedent that could be built upon.
A final option, which Rwanda unsuccessfully floated for the April programme of work, would be to resurrect and perfect the “horizon scanning” briefings by the Department of Political Affairs, which at times in the past called the attention of the Council to situations of concern.
Council and Wider Dynamics
Past Council meetings on conflict prevention, whether a briefing or an open debate, have rarely translated into policymaking innovation by the Council or improved implementation in the field. Agreeing on an outcome that pushes the boundaries of existing debate and goes beyond reiterating previous content has so far proven to be a recurring challenge.
With respect to preventive diplomacy, translating support for the concept in the abstract among Council members into timely action in practice remains a challenge. Countries that are not yet in a situation of armed conflict, but may be at risk, commonly assert state sovereignty, which reinforces caution in how the Council sets its agenda.
In terms of structural prevention, some members consider this to be outside the mandate of the Council. However, the World Bank has become increasingly active in this area, suggesting that rigid institutional boundaries between “security” and “development” may be shifting elsewhere.
One potential obstacle to an improved conflict-prevention partnership between the Council and the PSC is that the former carefully protects its status as the principal actor mandated to maintain international peace and security. This can have the unintended consequence of framing Council interaction with their regional counterparts in a way that is not conducive to more effective collaboration.
| Security Council Resolution | |
| 12 January 2012 S/RES/2033 | This resolution was on UN-AU partnership in peace and security.. |
| Security Council Presidential Statements | |
| 11 February 2011 S/PRST/2011/4 | This presidential statement was on the interdependence between security and development. |
| 22 October 2010 S/PRST/2010/21 | This presidential statement concerned UN-AU collaboration in the maintenance of peace and security. |
| 16 July 2010 S/PRST/2010/14 | This was a presidential statement on preventive diplomacy in Africa. |
| Secretary-General’s Reports | |
| 29 December 2011 S/2011/805 | This report of the Secretary-General concerned UN-AU cooperation in peace and security. |
| 26 August 2011 S/2011/552 | This was the first-ever report on the use of preventive diplomacy. |
| 13 April 1998 S/1998/318 | This report was on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa. |
| Security Council Letters | |
| 31 December 2012 S/2012/965 | This letter transmitted a report on the activities of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Africa from January to December 2012. |
| 13 June 2012 S/2012/444 | This letter enclosed the joint communiqué from the most recent consultations with the PSC. |
| 9 January 2012 S/2012/20 | This letter from the Permanent Representative of South Africa containing the AU Chairperson’s report on the partnership between the AU and the UN on peace and security. |
| 2 February 2011 S/2011/50 | This was a concept note from Brazil to prepare for the open debate on the subject of “Maintenance of international peace and security: the interdependence between security and development”. |
| Security Council Meeting Records | |
| 22 September 2011 S/PV.6621 | This was a high-level meeting on preventive diplomacy. |
| 11 February 2011 S/PV.6479 | At the initiative of Brazil, the Council held an open debate on the interdependence between security and development. |
| 11 February 2011 S/PV.6479 (Resumption 1) | This was the resumption of an open debate on the interdependence between security and development. |
| 16 July 2010 S/PV.6360 | This was the open debate on preventive diplomacy in Africa. |
| 16 July 2010 S/PV.6360 (Resumption 1) | This was the resumption of the open debate on preventive diplomacy in Africa. |
Useful Additional Resources
Preventing Conflicts in Africa: Early Warning and Response, International Peace Institute, August 2012.
The World Bank, World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security, and Development (Washington DC: The World Bank, 2011).
