State, regional and international responses to militia and rebel activities in Africa

Abstract

States are expected to maintain general harmony and satisfaction among the people, or generic peace, as well as to keep the peace, meaning law and order. Most states, however, tend to concentrate on keeping the peace at the expense of maintaining generic peace and the result is often confrontations.1 This is particularly the case with fragile states, which, argues Eka Ikpe, lack the ‘capacity and resilience’ to protect themselves from various challenges. This means that they cannot protect citizens, absorb shocks and manage conflict without resorting to violence.2 Fragility creates an environment for violence because of the perceived inability of security forces in a state to command trust. Such states become breeding grounds for illicit activities that compound their problems.3 If properly handled, the agitations can lead to reforms or semblances of reform as a way of keeping the peace, for it is the unheeded calls for reforms that lead to rebellions. When the point of rebellion has been reached, it means that the ruling elite would have lost legitimacy in the eyes of the ruled, who have transferred their loyalty to new groups or leaders.4 In the process, different types of militia and rebels emerge. Militias and rebel groups tend to destabilise individual states and their regions and some have extra-continental ramifications and require different types of responses. Both these groups challenge constituted authority, whether at the state, regional or international levels. Militias are organised and often armed groups that operate within a state and sometimes appear to be condoned. They generally do not challenge the legitimacy of the government. Rebel movements, however, do not consider the government to be legitimate and may aim at overthrowing it. Since rebels can transform a local conflict into a much wider issue that calls for solutions beyond the capacity of any single state, it calls for concerted effort within the region to resolve the conflict, on a regional or even continental basis. Responses to militia and rebel movements, whether at state, regional and international levels, vary according to the challenges they present. Responses include attempts at suppression or political accommodation through constitutional restructuring in the form of power-sharing. If unresolved, it could lead to state fragmentation and separation. Regional as well as continental players, worried about their complex interests, contribute to each of the responses.