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African Civilian Police Capacity for International Peacekeeping Operations

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African Civilian Police Capacity for International Peacekeeping Operations AFRICAN CIVILIAN POLICE CAPACITY FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS DANIEL H. LEVINE FEBRUARY 2008 Copyright © 2008 The Henry L. Stimson Center 1111 19 th Street, NW 12 th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: 202-223-5956 Fax: 202-223-9604 www.stimson.org Email: [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................ viii 1. INTRODUCTION : WHY POLICE ? WHY AFRICAN POLICE .................................................1 The African Connection ....................................................................................................2 Structure of this Report .....................................................................................................3 2. MEETING THE NEED ............................................................................................................5 The Dynamics of African UNPOL Contributions .............................................................5 Meeting UNPOL Needs: Beyond the Numbers ...............................................................10 Pace of UNPOL Personnel Deployment .........................................................................11 3. AFRICAN REGIONAL INITIATIVES ....................................................................................17 The African Standby Force (ASF) ..................................................................................17 The African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) .................................................................26 4. POLICE TRAINING ..............................................................................................................29 UN Police Training .........................................................................................................30 Training for Peace (TfP) .................................................................................................30 Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI)/African Contingency Operations Training Assistance (ACOTA) ........................................................................................31 Renforcement des Capacités Africaines de Maintien de la Paix (RECAMP) .................32 Training Challenges .......................................................................................................33 5. TAKING STOCK OF AFRICA ’S PEACEKEEPING POLICE CAPACITY .............................. 35 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................37 ABOUT THE AUTHOR .............................................................................................................42 ABOUT THE FUTURE OF PEACE OPERATIONS PROGRAM .................................................. 42 ACRONYMS ACCORD African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes ACOTA African Contingency Operations Training Assistance ACRI African Crisis Response Initiative ACSRS African Centre for Strategic Research and Studies AMIS African Union Mission in Sudan ASF African Standby Force AU African Union CEMAC Communaute Economique et Monetaire de l’Afrique Centrale (Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa) CIVPOL Civilian Police (including UNPOL) CoESPU Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units DITF Darfur Integrated Task Force EACDS Eastern African Chiefs of Defence Staff EAPCCO Eastern African Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation EASBRIG Eastern African Standby Brigade ECCAS Economic Community of Central African States ECCASBRIG ECCAS Brigade (African Standby Force) ECOMOG ECOWAS Monitoring Group ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States EMP École de Maintien de la Paix ESF ECOWAS Standby Force FOMUC Force Multinationale en Centrafrique (Multinational Force in Central Africa; CEMAC) FPU Formed Police Unit; sometimes also known as carabinieri, gendarmes , stability police, or stability police units (SPU) GPOI Global Peace Operations Initiative IGAD Intergovernmental Authority on Development KAIPTC Kofi Annan International Peacekeeper Training Centre (Ghana) MB Main Brigade (ESF) MINUSTAH La Mission des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation en Haïti (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) MONUC Mission des Nations Unies en République Democratique de Congo (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) MOU Memorandum of Understanding MTF Mission Task Force (African Standby Force) NUPI Norwegian Institute for International Affairs ONUC Operation des Nations Unies au Congo (United Nations Operation in the Congo) PCC Police Contributing Country (UN) PLANELM Planning Element (African Standby Force) PKO Peacekeeping Operation PPC Pearson Peacekeeping Centre (Canada) PPO Principal Programme Officer PSC Peace and Security Commission (AU) PSOD Peace and Stability Operations Division (AU) RECAMP Renforcement des Capacités Africaines de Maintien de la Paix RPTC Regional Peacekeeper Training Centre SADC Southern African Development Community SADCBRIG SADC Brigade (African Standby Force) SARPCCO Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation SAT Standards Assessment Team (UN) SG Secretary-General (UN) SPAT Special Police Assistance Teams SRCC Special Representative of the Chairperson of the Commission (African Standby Force) TCC Troop Contributing Country TF Task Force (ESF) TfP Training for Peace TNA Training Needs Analysis UNAMA United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan UNAMID United Nations/African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur UNAMSIL United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone UNFICYP United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus UNMIBH United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina UNMIL United Nations Mission in Liberia UNMIK United Nations Mission in Kosovo UNMIT United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste UNOCI United Nations Mission in Côte d’Ivoire UNOMIG United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia UNPOL United Nations Civilian Police UNSAS United Nations Standby Arrangements System UNSC United Nations Security Council WAPP West Africa Police Project ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS he initial draft of this report was written while the author was an intern for the Future of Peace T Operations program at the Henry L. Stimson Center. Additional work on the report was supported by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland, under grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The report has benefited greatly from input and assistance from Katherine Andrews, Alix Boucher, Nancy Gallagher, Victoria Holt, Joshua Smith, Jason Terry, Michael Aguilar, and Jeffrey Bernstein. Finally, the author would like to thank the following individuals for providing him with interviews and information in support of this report: Festus Aboagye, Ron Bourne, Catherine Guicherd, Maurice Lengor, Mark Malan, Peter Miller, Isaac Muchendu, Stephen Nakama, Nina Serafino, Kevin Steeves, and Patricia Taft. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY n recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of African police deployed in I peacekeeping operations, as well as the number of peacekeeping police deployed in Africa. African nations have increased their contributions of police to international peacekeeping missions – both those led by the UN and the African Union – at a time when police contributions from Western nations have declined. This African contribution to international peace and security brings with it both opportunities and concerns. This report examines four central issues surrounding African police personnel in peacekeeping missions: What kind of roles are African police playing in peacekeeping missions? African police are playing roles at all levels of peacekeeping missions. Several African nations, notably Nigeria and Senegal, have emerged as major sources of “formed police units,” paramilitary police units increasingly in demand by peacekeeping missions because they are trained to secure law and order in unstable situations. African nations also contribute police advisers and “rank and file” police. How do African police help fill current needs for peacekeeping police? Beyond the obvious fact that African contributions help meet the demand for sheer numbers of police in UN missions, African police bring potentially useful language skills and cultural competencies to peacekeeping missions deployed in Africa. African nations have also been moving toward a regional peacekeeping capacity, through missions like the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), and proposed structures like the African Standby Force. How are non-African nations contributing to African capacity? Western nations, NGOs, and international institutions have a number of programs in place to train African peacekeepers. Police training is a relatively recent addition to most programs, but is now getting attention. The UN also provides pre- mission training and training materials used by national police training programs. Logistical and material support has been harder to come by. What challenges do African nations face in contributing police to peacekeeping missions? Despite advances, many challenges remain. African nations still encounter difficulties contributing police whose skills meet international standards, and
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