Western Efforts to Develop African Peacekeeping

This research paper assesses Western efforts to develop African peacekeeping capabilities in the late 1990s, specifically focusing on the 'P-3 Initiative' (US, UK, and France) and Danish contributions. The authors argue that while these capacity-building programs provide tangible training and equipment, they are primarily driven by Western domestic political desires to avoid direct military or financial involvement in African conflicts. The document also details the institutional, financial, and operational limitations of African regional bodies like the OAU, SADC, and ECOWAS in managing peace and security independently.

• Western capacity-building initiatives, particularly the 'P-3 Initiative' involving France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, are primarily motivated by a desire to avoid direct military or financial involvement in African conflicts. The authors describe these programs as a way for Western states to "obviate their need to intervene militarily in Africa" and as a response to "domestic political concerns — not African limitations."
• The US African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) provides bilateral peacekeeping training and non-lethal equipment to African states. The program consists of a 70-day Phase 1 culminating in a field training exercise and a Phase 2 involving up to six shorter Sustainment Training (ST) modules. As of the report, agreements were concluded with Ghana, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Senegal, Uganda, and Benin.
• France's RECAMP program emphasizes subregional training and the pre-positioning of equipment. A key example was the Guidimakha exercise in February 1998 in Senegal, which involved approximately 3,600 troops from eleven countries. France also established a regional peacekeeping training centre near Yamoussoukro in Côte d’Ivoire, scheduled to open in early 1999.
• The UK's African Peacekeeping Training Support Programme adopts a 'top-down' approach by focusing on 'training the trainer' for officers. This is implemented through British Military Advisory and Training Teams (BMATTs) in Ghana (West Africa) and Zimbabwe (Southern Africa), with a third planned for Uganda to cover East Africa.
• Denmark's efforts focus on the SADC subregion, specifically Zimbabwe, where it is developing a Regional Peacekeeping Centre and a 'clearing house' to monitor training activities. Denmark's budget for the three-year program at the Zimbabwe Staff College was approximately US $900,000 per year.
• The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) faces severe limitations in its peacekeeping capacity, including a tenuous financial base where only 5% of its annual budget is allocated to peace initiatives. Its current plan to establish a stand-by African peacekeeping force is described as "unrealistic" given its reliance on donors for basic equipment like boots.
• The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its force, ECOMOG, suffer from a lack of formal decision-making mechanisms and a precarious funding model based on voluntary contributions. This has led to concerns that Nigeria has "appropriated ECOMOG to further its own foreign policy agenda."
• The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is hampered by internal divisions and a non-operational Organ on Politics, Defence and Security. While members like South Africa and Angola possess significant force-projection assets, the organization has struggled to agree on the deployment of a stand-by brigade.
• Recent ad hoc African interventions demonstrate a heavy reliance on external support. The Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Implementation of the Bangui Agreements (MISAB) in the Central African Republic required direct French assistance for deployment, logistics, and funding for food and subsistence allowances.

APA

Berman, E. G., & Sams, K. E. (1998). Western Efforts to Develop African Peacekeeping. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono33.pdf

Chicago

Berman, Eric G, and Katie E Sams. Western Efforts to Develop African Peacekeeping. Institute for Security Studies, 1998. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono33.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Berman |first1=Eric G |last2=Sams |first2=Katie E |title=Western Efforts to Develop African Peacekeeping |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=December 1998 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono33.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{berman1998western, author = {Berman, Eric G and Sams, Katie E}, title = {{Western Efforts to Develop African Peacekeeping}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {1998}, month = dec, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono33.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }