The Crisis in Libya: the Imperative of rushing the ASF

Oliver Takwa

Established under the Bush administration and strengthened under Obama but out rightly rejected by African governments, scholars, and human rights champions, the New US Military Command-AFRICOM- had secured a new testing ground in Libya.

Introduction

The idea of this piece was provoked by the discussion in the currentanalyst.com on the AU and the crisis in Libya. With unparalleled clarity and originality the topic provided a hard-hitting analysis with which the African continent and its leaders will have to grapple. Thanks to Muammar Gadaffi’s heavy-handed attempt to crush Libyan demonstrators seeking change, the West has got what it was looking for to joyfully enter the scrimmage in the Northern part of Africa. The crisis in Libya is different from many other conflicts in Africa in many ways, bringing to the fore new aspects that scholars and policy makers should attend to.

There are, broadly speaking, four important aspects of the Libyan conflict and this note tries to deal with each one of them. The crisis in Libya marks the first large scale bombings by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization/NATO/ in the African continent. It also heralded the first major military operation in Africa by the New US Africa Command or AFRICOM. Besides, Libya became the first major African crisis in which the African Union/AU/ became a mere spectator, unable to play a significant role. Again, the crisis in Libya epitomizes, perhaps for the first time, that the Maghreb has become the center of attention for political and armed conflicts in the continent.

Western Military Intervention

NATO military intervention in Africa has become a reality and the motion is set for other similar operations to follow.  The results of the Libyan conflict and the large scale intervention of NATO are not only very depressing and wholly unexpected. They also have the potential to obliterate the evolving African security mechanisms. The same is true with the recently concocted US Africa Command. AFRICOM made its first major foray in Africa with massive air strikes on Libya. Indeed, U.S. involvement in the Libyan bombing has been turned into an ideal public relations ploy for AFRICOM. ‘The velvet glove of humanitarian trainer has at last been taken off to reveal the fist of the military and its dominant role in U.S. Africa engagement’. Like NATO, AFRICOM’s function is that of every predatory military power: The threat and use of armed violence to gain economic and geopolitical advantages. Nothing more, nothing less.

Established under the Bush administration and strengthened under Obama, and out rightly rejected by African governments, scholars, and human rights champions the New US Military Command had secured a new testing ground in Libya. Not to mention the underlying fact that AFRICOM serves as a front for U.S. military contractors like DynCorp, MPRI and KBR operating in Africa. AFRICOM’s lead role in the assault on Libya will breed greater anti-Americanism while draining much needed monies and threatening civilian lives, with each bomb dropped. With the addition of a separate military command for Africa, now tested and fully operational, the US has reinforced its position as the sole power  in maintaining regional multi-service military commands in all parts of the world, a process initiated after World War Two as America pursued its self-appointed 20th century manifest destiny as history’s first worldwide military superpower.  The conflict in North Africa has become a major military exercise for the New US Command.

African Responses

Still, one cannot overemphasize enough the fact that the epicenter of African conflicts has recently shifted to North Africa, with serious consequences for the region and Africa as a whole. Then, the ball must be in the hands of the African Union/AU/. Whatever methods and motivations might have been displayed by Western powers two things have remained constant in their approaches to African conflicts. The first is the assumption that African regional organizations are incapable of resolving their own problems. The second is that, they- the Westerners- have all the solutions to whatever ails the continent. It is up to the AU to prove them wrong. In order to preserve the integrity and independence of countries in the region, African leaders must take effective measures to resolutely oppose the threat of foreign military interference in internal African affairs, taking into account the fact that the US and its allies used military force against Libya exceeding the boundaries of the UN resolution.

The AU didn’t fare better either. The AU is busy criticizing the West for the marginalization it has suffered in Libya, and yet at the same time it is asking the European Union, the same actors that deliberately dwarfed its role, for financial help to be able to involve in the same crisis situation. Note how weakness and dependence functions here. The AU has been involved in other conflict situations, such as Darfur and Somalia, but it managed to do so due to the generous pay check from the West. Thus, it can send troops only if the bill is paid by the West. For obvious reasons it can’t play a military role in Libya, first because there are no funds available for it in Brussels or Washington. It is as simple as that. Although the West is providing some assistance and is willing to support the AU, serious engagement and extensive assistance for operational support to its military components cannot be taken for granted.

This allows the West to selectively involve in African affairs in an incoherent, haphazard, episodic, but more or less relentless effort to impose its will on the continent. Methods have varied. Historically, and sometimes in recent times, the Europeans have employed overt force. At other times they have relied on covert means, worked through proxies, or recruited local puppets. But the objective has always been the same. Promote their interests, including the removal of “out of favor” regimes and replacing them with loyal governments with the aim of controlling resources. Again the justifications for intervention have like-wise varied changing ranging from civilisational project to humanitarian doctrines. They have been creative in the selective use of new concepts that help them to encroach on the sovereignty of African countries whenever the locals behave in ways that raise Western ire. For the West, particularly Europe, Gaddafi had become an unreliable, indeed dangerous, neo-colonial dictator.  As they say, somehow they had to bring him to book.

The events in Libya and Cote d’Ivoire indicate that the USA, France and their NATO allies are ready to deliberately distort the UN resolution’s real meaning, which indeed allows the limited use of force only to protect civilian population. In these regard, the only way to deter NATO and AFRICOM is by speeding up the process of forming the African Standby Force/ASF/ and gradually replacing all foreign contingents in Africa by AU peacekeepers that could help meet the interests of African countries and serves as a guarantee from external aggression. The command, scheduled to become operational in 2010, will focus much of its activity on helping to build the fledgling African Rapid Reaction Force. Additional efforts are urgently needed to ensure the development of APSA to its full capacity, especially with regard to the African Standby Force (ASF).

Conclusion

In order to avert the Ivorian scenario in Libya the AU should make a decision to strengthen its role in the conflict settlement in Libya and among other means- send the available nucleus of ASF troops to the country. Even a symbolic gesture is very important. Only joint action of AU states can create certain guarantees for their sovereignty and empowers them in the future from being a victim of Western military force, with leading US role. To this effect, both the US and Europe need to stop bombing Libya and meaningfully work with the African Union, which (less malleable to Western interests than the Arab League) has been pushed aside. It is the AU, not NATO or AFRICOM, which should be Africa's principal enforcer.