Africa’s Date With The Mobile Enemy
Where is the solution coming from?
By Collins Atta Clancy Opoku
Africa is on a warpath with insurgents who are destabilising governments and causing excruciating pain to civilians. As we speak an innocent life in the dangerous area of Chibok in Nigeria or Kivu in Democratic Republic of Congo is unsafe, as Boko Haram or FDLR closes in on their next targets.
The abduction of girls in Chibok by Nigerian militant group Boko Haram in April has drawn massive international attention and response, culminating in the formation of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign. The scale of atrocities committed by the militant group and the media frenzy surrounding the abduction of these Chibok girls seems to have papered the cracks that exist on the African continent. Security on borders are mainly porous and ineffective in many an African country. Reports from Nigeria have pointed to the fact that Boko Haram has been elusive to Nigerian security forces not because of incompetence alone but also due to the fact that the militant group freely maneuvers their way around Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad because of porous borders.
Africa as a continent has been saddled over decades with different kinds of insurgencies. One of modes of these insurgencies is cross-border terrorism or insurgencies. In the south of Africa, the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) has fought a low-level insurgency for 38 years against the government of Angola. The group is based in Cabinda, a province that stretches from communities along the border with Congo. In the East, Somali-based Islamist group Al Shabab have also been wrecking havoc on civilians in Kenya in a similar way. The assaults on targeted spots are predominantly developed elsewhere and orchestrated in another place. Concerns have therefore been raised as a result of such atrocities as to whether enough is being done by African countries to protect and secure their borders.
Dr. Chukwu Eze is with the West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP) and he believes incompetent security personnel and ineffective border patrols are to blame for this menace. “Security expertise on the continent is below par. Enough investment is not being made to protect borders and as such it is providing an unhealthy platform for such groups to operate. Governments are not committing enough resources to upgrade security operations and as such security forces are not well equipped to combat such militant insurgents. What is happening in Nigeria is not new to the continent as there are documented cases of cross border insurgency scattered all over the continent. Governments ought to equip security forces to enable them to effectively patrol their borders and combat insurgents. The UN mission in DRC was able to defeat the military threat of the M23 Rebels because they had the capacity to use air strikes on their targets making their work a bit easier compared to when they used ground offensives.”
A detailed look at two cases of cross-border insurgency on the continent provides an explanation on how this menace is growing and gaining roots among militant groups on the continent.
In Uganda, Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) existed and operated between 1987 and 2006, spreading terror through the country’s northern-most region. Joseph Kony, who led the guerrilla group in northern Uganda, pursued his vision of a new state based on his interpretation of the Ten Commandments combined with local Acholi traditions. Amnesty International reported that without child abductions, the LRA would have few combatants. The report mentions that at least twenty thousand children were abducted and more than 1,9 million people were forced to leave their homes.
The group is now believed to operate in the border region of Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR), where it could rebuild in the political chaos sweeping through the countries. The group, which is divided into small groups, moves on foot across the Uélés districts of northeastern Congo, the east of the Central African Republic (CAR) and parts of Southern Sudan. Between December 2007 and April 2010, the group is believed to have killed 1.796 civilians and abducted 2.377 in Congo. It is particularly notorious for forced recruitment of child soldiers, turning boys into killers and girls into porters or sex slaves. It also mutilates lips and ears to terrorize the population. Although its numbers are estimated at fewer than 250 combatants, the LRA remains a serious concern for populations as it operates across remote regions that lack a significant presence of security personnel. The lack of early warning capabilities undermines attempts to protect civilians in such a vast region since the LRA can attack and flee before local authorities respond.
Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo are burdened by other internal conflicts and protecting civilians from the LRA is often a low priority. The recent coup and civil unrest in Central African Republic resulted in several actors, including the United States, Uganda and the African Union (AU), suspending their anti-LRA activities in that country. This leaves populations in Central African Republic at elevated risk of attack by the LRA and may allow the group to widen its operations. The cross-border movement of the LRA has hampered attempts to halt its activity. The governments of Uganda and the DRC have failed to form agreements for the movement of troops across borders in pursuit of the LRA, allowing combatants to maintain safe havens within the DRC. The ineffective and inadequate patrolling and securing of borders within these regions has ended up playing handsomely into the hands of these insurgents who are terrorizing residents in these countries.
The situation is no different in Kivu, the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo province where porous and ineffective border patrol, control and security have given internal and external rebel groups fertile ground to perpetuate insurgent attacks on civilians. The Congo-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) was formed by Rwandan Hutus linked to the 1994 genocide and includes former members of President Juvénal Habyarimana’s army and Interahamwe militia. After they were routed by President Paul Kagame’s troops following the genocide, they regrouped in DRC to plot a return to power in Kigali, forming an armed group that eventually became the FDLR. The group is led by Major General Sylvestre Mudacumura. He was the former deputy commander of the FAR Presidential Guard in Rwanda in 1994. UN security sources estimates the number of FDLR at 3.000, down from 6.000 in 2009. According to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, the FDLR is believed to be responsible for about a dozen terrorist attacks committed in 2009. The obvious lack of effective security patrol of the DR Congo and Rwanda border enabled the group to commit atrocities in the border towns of Pepa, Moba, Pweto in North Kivu and Kamina in Katanga in 2009. On the other hand is the M23 rebels; the group is made up of fighters who deserted from the Congolese army in April 2012 following a mutiny. They are mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group, a minority in eastern DR Congo but with ties to Rwanda's leaders. They were led by several top-ranking officers who were members of a former militia called the CNDP including Colonel Sultani Makenga and General Bosco Ntanganda, who faces war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court. Their movement is called M23 in reference to a 23rd March 2009 peace deal, which the CNDP signed with the Congolese government. Even in the face of a United Nation’s Mission in the DRC these two groups have exploited the volatile security situation in the country and the accompanying poor border patrols to wreck havoc on Congolese and Rwandan civilians in the Great Lake region. The operations of these two main rebel groups in the region have drawn huge international criticism and attention culminating in the setting up of a special United Nations Security Council Special Committee on the DRC, but with an area the size of Western Europe and porous borders, the UN has had difficulty ensuring adequate security and implementing an arms embargo it placed on the entire country.
In March 2005, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland stated that Eastern Congo was the scene of the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today, with a death toll outstripping that of Sudan's Darfur region. MONUC has faced harsh criticism about its effectiveness and sustainability. Kofi Annan has repeatedly appealed for more funding and international interest in the Congo and has asked the Security Council numerous times for a substantial increase in peacekeepers to address the threats posed by foreign presence. However the United States has opposed any more peacekeepers, claiming the US $1 billion mission is already too expensive. DRC's rich natural resources, including timber, diamonds, copper, cobalt, gold, uranium and coltan clearly fuel the conflict. Local militias, backed by Uganda, Rwanda and mining multinationals, get supplies of food, money, and military hardware in exchange for smuggled resource riches. In October 2003, a UN panel of experts released a report accusing Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe of systematically exploiting Congolese resources and recommended the Security Council impose sanctions. Doubtless due to powerful political and economic interests, the UN never followed up on the report's recommendations.
Eric Kambale, a trainee priest at a parish in Luofu, a small community on the Congo and Rwanda border, said on the BBC Focus on Africa programme on December 4th 2013, that; at one point, “they [FDLR] came to burn the villages more than 200 houses. People burned inside, can you imagine? It terrified people. The Congolese army was one hundred kilometres away when that happened. They quickly run back into the bush in the Virunga National Park across the border after the massacre. Security on this border is a problem and the people here live in perpetual fear making life difficult for us. A noticeable military presence will go a long way to ensure security and stability to the people here."
Just when it was thought the M23 had been defeated it is believed that they are regrouping and the countries within the Great Lakes region have been advised to cooperate to help curtail their efforts. Martin Kobler a top UN official in the DRC told the U.N. Security Council there were "credible reports of emerging M23 activities in Ituri in northeastern Congo” and called on the Congolese government to speed up the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-M23 fighters, who ended their 20-month revolt in November. "At the same time, I call upon the governments of Uganda and Rwanda to do everything possible to prevent M23 elements from sheltering or training troops on their territory.
The nature of security on African borders and its porous nature have given room to the insurgency and have also allowed rebels to maneuver easily within territories in more than one African country. These borders themselves present a challenge as it is believed that many of these borders were created by colonialist governments who had their trade interests at heart and not the interest of the then-African. There are cases of single families separated by a common border in some African countries. The Abubakari Musah family is an example of such families divided by a common border. In the town of Gwollu in the Upper West Region of Ghana, the family of twenty-five has other inhabitants just across the border in the town of Leo in Burkina Faso. He explains that “these borders have created artificial identities for them as part of the family sees themselves as Burkinabe whilst the other see themselves as Ghanaians.” Amazingly Musah tells me he has voted twice in Burkina Faso elections even though he holds a Ghanaian voter identity card. This ‘dual nationality’ is a common trait across the West African sub-region, which has led to identity crisis and civil unrest, taking cues from the Allasane Ouattar example where it was widely believed and speculated that he was Burkinabe and had parents from Burkina Faso.
Dr. Kwesi Anning is a security expert with the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre in Accra and Ghana and he asserts that the artificial nature of African borders plays a major role in the ease with which insurgents maneuver and operate within the continent. He says; “African borders are artificial and were created by colonialists who had insufficient information on the population dynamics of the people and how they lived, hence families and communities are separated by borders they have no idea about. The result is that insurgents find it easy locating a safe haven in many countries to plan and orchestrate havocs on governments in other countries without much difficulty.” He cited the report of the United Nations Mission in La Cote D’Ivoire, which in 2012 which revealed that insurgents were arming themselves in the Ghanaian border town of Elubo as an example of how artificial borders have increasingly facilitated the work of these insurgents. “Those Ivorians mentioned belong to the minority Akans who have relatives just across the border in Ghanaian villages and found those communities as a hiding place safe enough to arm themselves and launch offensive on the then unstable Ivorian government.”
The time has come for Africa to invest in her security, cooperate with neighbouring countries or call for international support to help combat this wave of insurgency. The earlier decisive action is taken, the better it will be for the peace and stability of the continent as these ruthless militants are leaving no stone unturned in their quest to destabilise governments and strike terror and fear in the ordinary civilian on the street of that African city.
Photo by Andy Wheatley/UK Department for International Development, via Wiki Commons.
