confidentially speaking
The Africa Confidential Blog
A summit about security
Blue Lines
The theme of the African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea on 26-27
June was 'Agriculture and Food Security' but the part that really
resonated among leaders was the word 'security'. Egypt was readmitted
to the AU after last month’s election and on 26 June, President Abdel
Fatah el Sisi denounced Islamism as the overwhelming threat of
the day
to thunderous applause. The day before, a bomb had exploded in Abuja
killing 21 people, which prompted Nigerian
President Goodluck Jonathan
to fly home just hours after he had arrived in Malabo. Last week’s
massacres in northern Kenya
reinforced concern about a belt of
worsening instability across the middle of Africa and the lack of
effective forces to stop it.
AU Peace and Security Commissioner
Smaïl Chergui insists that
an African Standby Force will be ready
for action by the end of next year. Yet some governments are reluctant
to second troops to a continental force. Chad's President Idriss
Déby is offering his capital as a base for African and
Western
forces to tackle Boko Haram,
the Islamist militia in northern Nigeria
and its border zones. In power since 1979, the summit host, President
Teodoro Obiang, is also keen on
regime security. His opening speech
called for reform of the United Nations to stop foreign meddling in
Africa. Unsurprisingly, Obiang is a great supporter of the protocol for
a new African Court of Justice which would try suspects for war crimes
and human rights abuses but would exempt serving heads of state and
senior officials from prosecution.
