African Peace Militaries: War, Peace and Democratic Governance

203 Pages·2017·4.101 MB·English

by  David J Francis

African Peace Militaries
This book provides a critical understanding of the emerging role of African mili-
taries in peacetime democratic Africa.
This book departs from the dominant perspective which simply presents the
military as an ‘enemy’ of democracy because of the history and legacy of unend-
ing military coups d’état and interventions in civilian politics. In the context of
Africa, the military has been blamed or largely held responsible for instigating
wars, armed conflicts, political violence, poverty and underdevelopment due to
bad governance and mismanagement of the state. Drawing from diverse case
studies across Africa, including Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and Egypt,
this volume presents the argument that though the military has played a negative,
and sometimes, destructive role in undermining constitutional rule and the over-
throw of democratic civilian governments, the same military, now operating in a
changed global environment, is making effort to support the development of
democracy and democratic consolidation as well as remain subjected to civilian
democratic oversight and control. Notwithstanding, the real challenge for this
emerging trend of African peace militaries is the extent to which they are able to
fulfil, on a predictable and consistent basis, their constitutional mandate to
defend the people against ‘elected autocrats’ in Africa who try to use the military
to perpetuate themselves in power.
This work fills a critical gap in the literature and will be of much interest to
students of African security and politics, peace and conflict studies, security
studies and IR in general.
David J. Francis is the most recent Head of Department of Peace Studies and is
currently Director of the John and Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies
(JEFCAS) at the University of Bradford, UK. He is author/editor of eight books,
including US Strategy in Africa (ed. Routledge, 2010).
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African Peace Militaries
War, Peace and Democratic Governance
Edited by David J. Francis
First published 2018
by Routledge
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© 2018 selection and editorial matter, David J. Francis; individual
chapters, the contributors
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ISBN: 978-1-138-68229-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-54523-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
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Contents
List of illustrations vii
Notes on contributors viii
List of abbreviations xi
Map of Africa xv
1 African militaries in war, peace and support for democratic
development 1
DAvID J. FRANCIS
2 The military in Nigeria: war, peace and support for
democratic development 25
OSHITA OSHITA
3 The Rwanda Defence Force: from genocide to peace and
democratic consolidation 40
MARCO JOWELL
4 The military in Uganda: war, peace and support for
democratic consolidation 54
ERIC AWICH OCHEN
5 Military response to Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria:
implications for peace, security and democracy in the
Lake Chad Basin 79
KENNETH C. OMEJE
6 African solutions to Western problems: Western- sponsored
training programmes for African militaries – impact on
peace and democratic consolidation 103
DAvID CHUTER
vi Contents
7 African standby force: challenges and opportunities for
support of democracy in Africa 121
KASAIJA PHILLIP APUULI
8 African militaries, security sector reform and peace
dividends: a case study of Ethiopia’s post- 1998 defence
reform experience and impact on democratic development 139
ANN M. FITz- GERALD, PAULA MACPHEE AND
IAN WESTERMAN
9 Egypt: the military in war, peace and democratic
development 158
JOSEPH LANSANA KORMOH
Index 178
Illustrations
Figure
1 Map of Africa xv
Tables
1.1 Military and non-m ilitary rule in Africa 2
1.2 The military and phenomenon of ‘elected autocrats’ in Africa 8
1.3 Support for democracy? Military handover of power to civilian
governments in Africa 10
1.4 Top 10 largest economies and top 10 largest militaries/armed
forces in Africa 12
8.1 Accountable, suitable, sustainable 144
9.1 GFP power index rating of 0.3056 (0.0000 being perfect)/
Egypt ranked 12 of 126 161
Contributors
David J. Francis holds a Research Professorial Chair in African Peace and Con-
flict Studies at the University of Bradford. Professor Francis is the most
recent Head of the Department of Peace Studies and currently serves as Dir-
ector of the John and Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies (JEFCAS)
and Commissioner for the UK Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.
Oshita Oshita is the Director-G eneral of the Institute for Peace and Conflict
Resolution (IPCR), Abuja, Nigeria. He belongs to many professional associ-
ations, including the British International Studies Association (BISA), the
Network for African Peace-b uilders, Nigerian Philosophical Association, and
he is 2nd vice- President of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP),
Nigeria. Professor Oshita has lectured in various universities in Nigeria and
overseas. He served the Federal House of Representatives of Nigeria from
1992 to 1993.
Marco Jowell is Director of the Africa Research Group, a research and consul-
tancy organisation focussing on policy advice and analysis. He is also stra-
tegic adviser at the Rwanda Peace Academy, a regional Peace Support
Operations (PSO) training centre in Rwanda. Marco specialises in the pol-
itics, political economy and security dynamics of East and Central Africa
with a broad background in policy advice with governments, international
organisations (including a range of UN agencies), international and local
NGOs, and the private sector. Marco has held positions with the United
Nations Group of Experts for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was
Senior Research Analyst at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(FCO), was head of applied research at the International Peace Support Train-
ing Centre (IPSTC) in Kenya and was Director of Research for the Great
Lakes Centre for Strategic Studies (GLCSS), Rwanda. Marco has a PhD in
Politics and International Studies from the School of Oriental and African
Studies (SOAS), University of London examining African Defence Forces
and PSO training in Africa.
Eric Awich Ochen is Commonwealth visiting Fellow at the Division of Peace
and International Development at the University of Bradford, Eric Awich
Ochen completed his doctoral studies at the Centre for Applied Childhood
Contributors ix
Studies in the School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Hudders-
field in January 2012. Eric currently works as a Senior Lecturer in the Depart-
ment of Social Work and Social Administration, within the College of
Humanities and Social Sciences of Makerere University. He is the author of
several articles on children and young people in conflict situations, spanning
publications in journals such as Child Abuse and Neglect, British Journal of
Social Work, Journal of Community Practice, Anthropology Southern Africa,
Infant Mental Health Journal and several high quality book chapter contribu-
tions. Dr Ochen is currently working on a post- doctoral project on how young
people participate in post-c onflict peacebuilding in northern Uganda, and an
assessment of how youth subcultures influence young people’s behaviour in
former conflict-a ffected areas.
Kenneth C. Omeje is Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director, John and
Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies, University of Bradford, UK;
Research Fellow, Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State,
Bloemfontein, South Africa; and visiting Professorial Fellow, Department of
Political Science and Defence Studies, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna,
Nigeria. He holds a PhD degree in Peace Studies from the University of Brad-
ford. His most recent books include Conflict and Peacebuilding in the African 
Great Lakes Region (co-e dited, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2013), and
The Crises of Postcoloniality in Africa (edited, Dakar: CODESRIA Books,
2015). He has more than 80 publications, including books, book chapters,
contributions to international encyclopedias and articles in well-r egarded
journals. Kenneth has held visiting research fellowships at many international
centres of academic excellence, including the Georg Eckert Institute (GEI),
Braunschweig, Germany where he was a Georg Arnold visiting Research
Professor in Education for Sustainable Peace during the Autumn of 2014. He
is a Fellow of the West Africa Institute (WAI), Praia, Cape verde.
David Chuter worked for more than 30 years for the British government, and in
international organisations and think tanks. He took early retirement at the
end of 2008, and is now an independent lecturer, consultant, author and trans-
lator based in Paris. His last job was as Special Adviser to the Policy Director
of the French Defence Ministry. During 1993 he became involved on a per-
sonal basis in the defence and security transition in South Africa, and subse-
quently helped train a new generation of security sector personnel, in South
Africa and the SADC region. He has taught in Europe, America, Africa and
the Middle East. Dr Chuter is Senior Research Fellow at the University of
Cranfield, and a lecturer at Sciences Po, Paris. He is the author of four books,
and numerous articles in English and French on security-r elated subjects.
Kasaija Phillip Apuuli is Associate Professor of Political Science at Makerere
University, Kampala, Uganda. He obtained his doctorate degree in inter-
national law at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. His research concen-
trates on the issue of peace and security in Africa.