This monograph has been commissioned by the Training for Peace in Southern Africa project. The project was established through an agreement reached at the end of 1995 between the three participatory organisations, namely IDP, NUPI (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs) and ACCORD (African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes), and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is funding the project. The purpose of the project is to contribute to the establishment of a viable regional capacity for conducting peace operations in Southern Africa. The project`s immediate objective is to equip participants from the departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs in as many SADC countries as possible, plus NGOs involved in peacekeeping operations, with the necessary knowlege and skills for engaging in their complementary and mission-specific roles within the broad ambit of peacekeeping operations.

The monograph consists of six articles on topics which range from general impressions of the regional security scenario to the specifics of disarmament and the role of civilians in peacekeeping operations. The encouragement of local scholarship and debate on peacekeeping is an integral part of capacity-building. Four of the contributions are from Southern Africans. The first contribution, by Kgomotso Monnakgotla, expresses the concern of a young South African about the ambivalence of the international community in the face of prospects for continued regional instability, and sees the solution in closer regional security co-operation among SADC countries, including the creation of a subregional peacekeeping capacity.

Brigadier Stanford Khumalo of Zimbabwe reiterates Monnakgotla`s concern for the future, and advances some more concrete proposals for a collaborative effort to deal with conflict in the region. His article is complemented by Malan`s arguments in favour of adressing basic issues of military professionalism, in order to create a firm and common point of departure for the effort to muster a viable regional peackeeping force.

Willem Steenkamp`s ideas on the utilisation by South Africa of its Part-time Force capacity as a means of meeting the country`s commitment to participate in future peace support operations are even more specific than those advanced by the other contributors. He addresses the fundamental problem of the availability of affordable, quality military manpower in the most powerful country in Southern Africa, but a country which is so engrossed with the post-conflict transition of its standing army that the future role of the Part-time Forces, upon which South Africa`s conventional military might has traditionally relied, has largely been ignored.

The penultimate contribution is by Virginia Gamba, who was, until recently, the director of the Disarmament and Conflict Resolution project at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva. Ms Gamba is presently directing the Towards Collaborative Peace project at IDP which aims at combatting the effects of the proliferation of small arms in Southern Africa. She points to the fundamental issue of effective disarmament as an essential and integral part of any futher regional peacekeeping efforts, emphasising lessons which must be well-learned by the new partners in peace.

The final contribution is by Eric Berman, special assistant to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva. Although not specifically directed at Southern Africa, Berman provides a UN perspective on the future of civilian peacekeeping training, an essential issue in contemporary peace support operations, which will have to be addressed in the region, perhaps by projects such as Training for Peace in Southern Africa.

It is hoped that these insights will collectively serve to stimulate further debate, conceptual development and, finally, concerted action aimed at forging an effective Southern African peacekeeping partnership among the member states of SADC.