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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
SOUTH AFRICA: Decision-making over peace missions criticised
JOHANNESBURG, 16 May 2003 (IRIN) - As South Africa prepares to commit three battalions of peacekeeping troops to Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a new report has called for greater transparency in the decision-making process guiding deployment.
Written by two senior analysts at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS), the report observed: "Success in peacekeeping does not just happen through the mere act of volunteering contributions; it comes from carefully selecting which missions best reflect South Africa's national interests, and which missions it can make a qualitative contribution to. Therefore, the decision to determine which mission to support requires consultation, coordination and cooperation."
Two years of deliberations had led to the adoption by parliament in 1999 of the White Paper on South African Participation in Peace Missions. These guidelines recognised a "multi-disciplinary" approach was needed in conflict resolution, and clearly stated that any decision to participate in a peace mission is a "shared responsibility and should only be taken after extensive interdepartmental consultation", led by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
"To date, however, decisions continue to be taken at the level of the presidency, with little or no prior consultation or input from other levels of government, state departments, civil society or parliament. This has led to inter-departmental confusion, poor deployment planning and preparation, media criticism, and a general lack of public enthusiasm for South African participation in peace missions," the ISS report said.
"The National Office for the Coordination of Peace Missions should be the focal point, but decision-making is still happening from the top down. They are political decisions, but they also need to be joint decisions, and that's not happening," co-author of the paper, Vanessa Kent, told IRIN.
South Africa already has 700 troops in Burundi to provide protection for political leaders under the country's ceasefire agreement. It has committed another peacekeeping battalion as part of an African Union (AU)-mandated African Mission in Burundi (AMIB), which should also include troops from Ethiopia and Mozambique.
However, the ISS report stated, the AU's Central Organ of the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution does not have the institutional capacity to organise, run or finance the AMIB deployment. Financing, logistical support and sustaining the mission is, therefore, to be left to the lead nation - South Africa.
The success or failure of the mission will be on South Africa's shoulders. But not only is there an absence of full consensus from all the conflict parties in Burundi to the peace agreement, "it appears that civil servants, military planners and representatives of parliament [in South Africa] were excluded from the decision to participate in the Burundi mission, and reportedly only learnt about it 'on television'," the analysts commented.
"Admittedly, the political stakes and strategic interests invested in certain missions are, in and of themselves, a raison d'être to circumvent any coordinating process," they acknowledged. "Strong political concerns, however, should not allow one department or office to make a final decision prior to a full transparent debate."
The report, entitled "Decisions, Decisions, South Africa's Foray into Regional Peace Operations", stressed that by contrast, South Africa's first deployment of 150 technical personnel to the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) in 2001 was a "model to be imitated, in terms of process and coordination". Earlier this year, Pretoria agreed to send a reinforced battalion to Kindu, in eastern DRC, to spearhead MONUC's demobilisation, disarmament, repatriation, reintegration or resettlement process of "non-state armed elements".
With three battalions due in the field, multiplied by the additional troops committed to pre-deployment training and those in reserve, South Africa is confronted by the real danger of the "over-extension of its forces", Kent said.
The original White Paper on peace missions is being revised to take account of the establishment of the AU, and South Africa's expanded role in peacekeeping.
"There is a great need to avoid entrenching the current un-coordinated and ad-hoc approach to peace mission deployments, which, ultimately, is not sustainable," the report said. "What is now urgently needed to convert policy guidelines into action is 'buy in', and a sense of ownership of the (revised) White Paper by the relevant parliamentary committees, ministers and directors general."
To access the full report visit: www.iss.co.za
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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