PSC Interview: Lomé Declaration against coups d’état has outlived its usefulness
Practical and innovative strategies are needed to prevent and combat coups in Africa.
As the continent's zero-tolerance policy against unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs) flounders, PSC Report sought the views of Dr Admore Mupoki Kambudzi. He was the Secretary of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council from 2006 to 2016 and is also the immediate former AU Director of the Peace and Security Department
The rise in the number of coups clearly indicates that the continent's zero-tolerance policy has failed. How did we get to this?
In my view, the resurgence of UCGs in Africa is driven by three main factors. The first relates mainly to the failure of civilian authorities to provide essential public services such as schools, affordable healthcare, proper infrastructure, clean water, food security and job opportunities for millions of African youths.
Second is the consequent rise in despondency, which makes it easier for citizens to be susceptible to involvement in criminal activities, violence and other anti-social and anti-establishment behaviours. Amid such despair, the civilian front often fails to properly organise its strategy for peaceful change in leadership. It may even be more complicated in situations where there are weak mechanisms for ensuring periodic renewal of leadership, where new ideas and practices would help to propel socio-economic progress.
The emerging chaos ultimately provides the context for the equally disgruntled elements of the army to pitch themselves as serving the interests of the population. The resulting common ground for a conversation between the army and the population has always led to interferences in political leadership, with enormous implications for state stability.
Africa's situation is the result of disgruntled citizens needing economic and security changes
Third are the regional and continental gaps in mobilising member states to enact negotiated instruments, policies and frameworks. This is compounded by the failure of regional and continental mechanisms to enforce the implementation of agreed frameworks, which then have no effect on the trajectory of political interactions in member states.
Recent government failure to provide security or manage accelerating insecurity situations has been a major concern for citizens, particularly in the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin and parts of West and Central Africa. In Mali and Burkina Faso, for example, army interference was heavily influenced by government's lack of action in providing required support for military operations against expanding extremist activities.
The Lomé Declaration was one of the AU's most celebrated successes. When did the wheels come off?
Africa's current situation is the result, among other factors, of disgruntled citizens who need improvements to their economic and security circumstances. Indeed, the formulation and adoption of the Lomé Declaration during the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) period was influenced largely by the involvement of mercenaries and foreign powers in sponsoring coups on the continent once those governments would have been perceived as acting contrary to interests of foreign powers.
The Declaration has outlived its usefulness because very few of today's challenges resulting in non-democratic changes in government are linked to external powers and related sponsorship of coups. Although some may speculate that the recent coup in Gabon, particularly, may have been influenced by external actors, the role of a foreign power in that event appears baseless. The coup occurred because the political leadership of that country essentially failed to ensure that the extraction and benefits of natural resources such as oil, timber and manganese go to the majority of its people.
We need to fill gaps in the existing management and response infrastructure
At its third Retreat held in December 2009 in Ezulwini, Eswatini, the PSC acknowledged the inadequacy of the existing response framework against UCGs. It noted that the new trends and manifestations of UCGs in Africa made it imperative to introduce further practical strategies and measures to strengthen existing institutional arrangements for preventing and combating coups. This should be coupled with innovative arrangements for managing post-coup situations/transitions.
An effective successor to the Lomé Declaration, fine-tuned to the political landscape of Africa today should be considered. Therefore, the PSC could request the AU Commission to initiate studies and dialogues that would lead to the development of a successor doctrine and its consideration and adoption by competent AU Policy Organs. If the PSC continues to just suspend member states facing coups without revising old approaches vis-a-vis the realities of our time, it may face the risk of losing touch with the African people.
To what extent were recent coups popular?
People have excessive expectations of the AU. The reality is that the AU can do certain things, but not everything that people expect from it. The Constitutive Act is the AU's legal framework; however, it does not provide for the imposition of sanctions on a head of state or a government where upon, for example, principles of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance are violated.
This is one area where the AU differs significantly from organisations such as the European Union, which has a network of sanctions applicable to an offending member. The AU is rather a loose association of member states that came together from different political cultures (democratic, autocratic, geriatric, etc.). Each one is independent, shields its sovereignty and attempts to govern itself fully. States may renege on continental agreements they sign, but no one is obliged to follow them or hold them accountable.
People have very high expectations of the AU – it can do certain things, but not everything
Some time ago, the late Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi raised concerns about the Constitutive Act, arguing that the way it is framed does not allow the continent to deal with certain pressing problems. He seems to have been right, but to date, nothing has been done to address the grey areas in the Constitutive Act and other paramount instruments of the AU.
If the PSC has dropped the ball in managing threats, how can it regain charge of the response?
All the PSC can do currently is apply its Protocol and other instruments relevant to coups and other threats to peace and security. If it attempts to operate outside this framework, it might face the problem of losing trust of AU member states. Article 7 of the PSC Protocol expounds on this issue. Also, remember that Article 3(4) of the Protocol empowers the AU Assembly to periodically assess the PSC's performance in meeting the requirements of Article 5(2) and take appropriate action.
The PSC is, therefore, accountable to member states and has to explain the rationale of its decisions as pertaining to different situations. It cannot jump higher than the Assembly wants it to. The contrary would transform the PSC into obsoleteness. Thus, the PSC would follow the same course to death as its predecessor, the Central Organ of the OAU Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution.
Do you think the norms surrounding the management of UCGs should be reviewed? And how can the PSC go about it?
Yes, the continental norms governing our management of peace and security situations need to be reviewed. So much has changed in Africa, and more is expected to change. We need to fill gaps in the existing management and response institutional infrastructures. At the same time, we also need to bring innovations that suit the times, heeding advice and noting how the world is changing.
There are many issues on the table, so efforts must be made to enhance complementarity and comparative advantage among all regional, continental and global stakeholders. No single entity has all the answers.
On their part, and given the pressing need for a successor doctrine on unconstitutional changes of government, African think tanks may need to support the AU Commission with deeper reflections apt to contribute to durable solutions to peace and security challenges in Africa.
Image: © Adapted by Amelia Broodryk/ISS
