African Problems or Common Concerns? / Peacekeeping in Afrika

`African solutions for African problems` was a key slogan in the international efforts for peacekeeping on the African continent over the last years. Under the motto of `non-indifference`, the African Union in particular became a central regional actor in the domain of security policy. In the few years of its existence, the African Union thus already fielded four armed peacekeeping operations, two of them in East Africa – AMIS in Sudan and AMISOM in Somalia.

The increased efforts of the African Union, however, contrast with the disillusioning results of current peacekeeping missions. Especially the still unresolved conflicts in Eastern and Central Africa show the operational limits of the AU security architecture which is still in its infant phases. Africa’s international partners thus remain responsible for a constructive commitment to the settlement of conflicts and the strengthening of peace processes in the region.

However, this responsibility can hardly be fulfilled by a policy of narrowly defined security interests. As the piracy off the coast of Somalia, but also the humanitarian crisis in Darfur show, ‘African problems’ are often international concerns as well. Against this background the question of a better security political division of labour arises: between the different political actors, but also between civilian and militarily approaches of conflict transformation.

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`Afrikanische Lösungen für afrikanische Probleme` lautete in den vergangenen Jahren die Maxime der internationalen Bemühungen zur Friedenssicherung auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent. Dem verstärkten Einsatz der Afrikanischen Union, aber auch der zunehmenden Normalisierung militärischer Optionen stehen jedoch die ernüchternden Ergebnisse aktueller Friedensmissionen entgegen. Besonders die Konflikte in Ost- und Zentralafrika zeigen die operativen Grenzen der noch jungen AU-Sicherheitsarchitektur, aber auch die mangelnde Bereitschaft internationaler Partner zum politischen Engagement. Die aktuelle Krise der Friedenssicherung in Afrika stellt daher die grundlegende Frage nach einer verbesserten sicherheitspolitischen Arbeitsteilung auf dem Kontinent.