Peacekeeping in Africa: Politics, Security and the Failure of Foreign Military Assistance

by Marco Jowell

Overview

In recent decades, African states have developed an impressive infrastructure for training their peacekeepers. In addition, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and associated areas of conflict resolution have become significant areas of employment. Marco Jowell has spent a decade working in peacekeeping training in East Africa - initially as one of the foreign 'Technical Advisers' at the Peace Support Operations (PSO) training centre in Kenya, the International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC) and subsequently as a strategic adviser to the Rwanda Peace Academy.
Using first-hand experience, he considers how military forces from a variety of African states - with great differences in history, language and political systems and with militaries with different cultures and capabilities - can conduct complicated multinational peacekeeping operations. He shows how regional peacekeeping training centres provide an environment for African elites, predominately military, to interact with each other through shared training and experiences. This process of interaction, or socialisation, improves skills but also encourages cohesion so that future African-led missions will be managed by well-trained officers who are comfortable and willing to work within a regional or Pan-African framework. Jowell shows that part of the aim of peacekeeping training centres is to foster a Pan-African 'outward' looking ideology or disposition as well as improving technical ability. This book will be essential reading for all involved with African military and security studies and analysts of peacekeeping training and operations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781838601539
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/22/2019
Series:	International Library of African Studies
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Marco Jowell is Director of the Africa Research Group. He is a leading expert in the politics, political economy and security dynamics of East and Central Africa and holds a PhD in Politics & International Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Table of Contents

List of Figures viii

Acknowledgements ix

List of Abbreviations xi

Introduction 1

Training African Peacekeepers: A Continuation of Foreign Military Assistance 4

Hypotheses, Research Questions and Assumptions 8

Structure of the Book 11

1 Conceptualising Peacekeeping Training: Functional Integration, Pan-Africanism and the Development of the Military in Africa 14

Introduction 14

Research Methods 15

Regional Integtation and Africa 18

The Development of Regional Peacekeeping Training Centres in Support of APSA 22

Military Officers in African Politics 24

Conclusion 37

2 Peacekeeping in Africa: Tasks and Activities from UN and AU Peace Support Operations 39

Introduction 39

Peacekeeping in Africa 40

i Monuc/Monusco: The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Congo 41

ii Unamid: The United Nations and African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur 52

iii Amisom: The African Union Mission in Somalia 61

iv The African Standby Force (ASF) 68

Conclusion 74

3 The International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC): How it Works 77

Introduction 77

Developing IPSTC 78

Objectives, Organisation and Structure 82

Donor Support 87

Course Content and Delivery 89

Conclusion 101

4 Deconstructing the International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC) 102

Introduction 102

Institutionalising Informality: Departments, Staff and Structures 103

Student/Participant Selection and Incentives 109

Donor Approach 110

Training Delivery 114

Training Aids: Africa is a Country 118

Courses and Content: Quality vs. Quantity 123

Exploring Training Delivery 129

Conclusion 144

5 Other African Peace Support Operation (PSO) Training Centres 147

Introduction 147

Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) 149

Rwanda Peace Academy (RPA) 166

Ethiopian International Peacekeeping Training Centre (EIPKTC) 174

Conclusion 179

6 The Unintended Consequences of Foreign Military Assistance to Africa: A Satisficing Model 182

Introducrion 182

Comparing PSO Training Centres: Trends and Commonalities 183

The Unintended Consequences of PSO Training 192

A Satisficing Model 198

Improving PSO Training 208

Conclusion 212

Conclusion: The PSO/SSR Conundrum 214

Situating PSO Training Centres 214

African Armed Forces: A New Framework for Analysis 215

The Military and Peacekeeping Training in Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda and Ethiopia 218

The PSO/SSR Conundrum: Implications of the Findings 220

Appendix: Course Participants 222

Notes 226

Bibliography 250

Index 263