African Unification Front
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AUF POLICY ON MILITARY FUNCTIONS IN AFRICA
MILITARY CONDUCT IN INTER-AFRICAN COMMUNITY CONFLICT
Conflict between African communities is extremely complicated. Military intervention can only be considered as an absolutely last resort. Other avenues must be explored, such as extensive and intensive diplomatic operations before deciding on enforcement.
Inter-African community conflict requires for its resolution, the fostering of a culture of unity and peaceful dispute resolution at the grassroots level. Civic education programmes must be directed towards communities at various stages of the socialisation process, i.e. from the elementary school level through to adult education.
The proliferation of small arms, such as AK 47 and G3 rifles in the many parts of Africa excerbates conflict. Combat during armed rebellions, insurgence, and dissent absorbs an increasing amount of African resources, and detracts from the potential pool of human resources for future peace building in Africa.
AUF GUIDELINES FOR MILITARY INTERPOSITION IN THE AFRICAN UNION
[1] The military should only be deployed in peace operations where they have a clear comparative advantage over civilian agencies.
[2] Before deployment the mission must be clearly-defined, its objectives derived from political policy, the rules of engagement finalised, have a reasonable time-frame, as well as a mechanism for the extraction of forces.
[3] The interposition must be an all-African effort under the African Union Commission, the Pan African Parliament, the Conflict Resolution Mechanism and the Political Committee of the African Union. The army must have the ability to maintain impartiality in all intra-African conflicts. The army must always be peacekeepers and must never present as the enemy of the community.
[4] Military intervention must result in a reduction in the loss of life, not an increase.
[5] The military must be able to make a fundamental difference to the outcome of the situation.
[6] Military forces should be inserted at the earliest possible stage of the emergency, but only after all non-military means of resolving the conflict have been exhausted.
[7] When there is clearly a lack of political support and willingness to accept the sacrifices involved, the army must not be deployed.
[8] The AUF requires military seminars where African officers with peace-keeping experience will exchange information, for dissemination across the inexperienced ranks.
At present relevant experiences and lessons learned from previous and ongoing military missions in Africa are not being shared to enable African officers to remain abreast of the latest thinking and developments in Africans conflict and in international peace operations realm. The African Union must investigate and improve current practices in this regard.
Moving from peace-keeping to peace-enforcement is an inappropriate response to conflict in Africa, especially if the basic cause of the conflict is bad governance. Where a peace enforcement operation is transformed into a peacekeeping operation, there must always be a parallel phase, consisting of a political rather than a military process, before, during and after the military operations. Peace in a region requires a continuous and persistent effort in order to take hold.
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