SAO TOME & PRINCIPE: A New Challenge for Africa

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Anthony Stoppard

JOHANNESBURG, Jul 21 2003 (IPS) - African leaders are becoming more and more frustrated with coup plotters, rebel groups and errant governments whose relentless fighting is hampering the development of the continent.

Some of them are increasingly looking to military solutions for Africa’s conflicts.

Even before some of the heads of state who had been attending the African Union (AU) summit in Maputo, Mozambique, made it home, the elected government of Sao Tome and Principe was toppled in a military coup last week.

"Coming so soon after the assembly of the AU, the overthrow of the government of Sao Tome, underlines the challenge the continent continues to face with regard to the critical matter of the defence and entrenchment of democracy," said former chair of the AU and President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, in his weekly newsletter.

Besides the coup in Sao Tome and Principe, there has been a renewed assault by anti-government rebels, including the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), on Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. About 170 people, including child soldiers were killed during the attack. The assaults have placed a peace process, designed to end the country’s 10-year civil war, at risk.

In Liberia, rebel movements continue to make threatening attacks on the capital Monrovia, even though international negotiations are underway to secure the departure of President Charles Taylor, who the rebels want out of office, from the country. These are just some of the eleven conflicts which the African leaders discussed at the AU summit.

While the surge in the conflicts on the continent may be an embarrassment to the African Union, it has also hardened their resolve to act against errant governments, rebel movements and coup plotters.

For now, African leaders’ rhetoric seems to be calling for the backing of diplomatic efforts with military force and many are committing troops to peace-making and peace-keeping initiatives.

Even before the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) could send mediators to Sao Tome and Principe, the new AU chair, the President of Mozambique, Joachim Chissano, was headed to Nigeria to discuss the possibility of a military intervention to end the coup.

Nigeria is the regional power and has close economic ties with Sao Tome and Principe.

Obviously nervous about the persistent reports about possible military intervention, the coup leaders, who have an army estimated to be less than 200, have been insisting the African Union stay out of the matter.

Mbeki dismissed a call by the coup leaders for the African Union not to intervene to restore democracy. "The reality is that they have shown the greatest disrespect for the decisions and policies of the Union. Given the decisions we have taken with regard to African integration and unity, as reflected by the AU and its social and economic development programme, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, we cannot accept that the events in Sao Tome and Principe constitute ‘a family affair’, that Africa must only condemn and otherwise learn to live with. Democracy in Sao Tome must be restored as a matter of urgency," says Mbeki.

International mediators are expected in Sao Tome to begin talks to find a way out of the crises, within days.

Meanwhile, the coup leaders have released senior Sao Tome and Principe government ministers and officials, reportedly as a sign of their willingness to negotiate an end to the crises.

African leaders are also considering deploying a regional force to try and stop fighting in and around the capital Bujumbura, and shore up Burundi’s peace process.

The idea of strengthening the presence of African peace-keepers and expanding their mandate to protect the Burundi peace process from the attacks by the rebels was first raised by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Museveni and Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa discussed the idea at a regional summit in Tanzania on Jul. 20.

South African deputy president, Jacob Zuma, who is mediating in Burundi, said in a statement after the meeting that a full regional summit will be convened within three weeks to finalise all outstanding matters, including the issue of extending the mandate of the African peacekeeping force.

Efforts to put African peacekeepers in Burundi, where a tenuous ceasefire between the government and rebel groups is tethering, have faltered. Ethiopia and Mozambique – who are contributing troops to the force – do not have the ability to get their peacekeepers to the war-ravaged country.

The United States and Britain, who were supposed to assist the African peacekeepers to get into Burundi, have not yet provided the necessary support. As a result, a small South African military contingent of about 900 soldiers is the only one that has been deployed in Burundi.

The South African only have a mandate to protect those Burundi politicians who are involved in the peace process and cannot intervene in the fighting between the government and the rebels.

In Liberia, the Economic Community of West African States is getting ready to deploy an expected force of 5,000 soldiers on peace-keeping duties between the teetering government of President Taylor and the main rebel movement, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).

The ECOWAS troops were expected to arrive in Liberia Jul. 20, but their deployment has apparently been held up by logistical and financial concerns.

West African leaders have been putting pressure on the United States to provide troops and logistical support for the operation, but have insisted they will take the lead in trying to end the conflict in Liberia. This is a significant departure from past practice, when the former colonial powers were expected to intervene to establish order on their own.

The AU summit asked heads of state to fast-track the ratification of the Peace and Security Protocol of the organisaton, which will improve its ability to undertake peacekeeping operations.

The protocol will clear the way for the creation of an African Standby Force (ASF) which should be able to carry out peace-keeping missions. Only about 14 countries have ratified the Peace and Security Protocol. At least 27 countries – out of 53 AU members – must commit to the protocol before it can come into effect.

African diplomats say the ratification process has been slow, not because of political objections to the protocol, but because countries are working through the process of seeing how it will impact on their sovereignty and national laws.