African Security Review - Volume 12, Issue 4, January 2003

Extracted from text ... Good intentions are famously dangerous. History is full of them and newspapers are filled with accounts of their terrible consequences. But the case of the International Criminal Court seems to defy the advocates of caution and circumspection. The ICC, its supporters say, is a landmark achievement in international justice; one which promises hope for the wronged and a sticky ending for those who commit the most serious crimes. Where national systems of justice fail, the international system will provide a sort of judicial dole. In short, the ICC will fill the gap. There is much evidence in favour of ..

The implications for African states of the recently created International Criminal Court should be carefully considered. There are far-reaching limitations placed on the ICC's jurisdictional scheme, both temporally as well as by the preconditions to the exercise of jurisdiction in the form of territoriality and nationality. The Court's powers may also be constrained out of deference to the grant of an internationally acceptable amnesty, and national courts may be constrained to recognise immunities from prosecution for high-ranking officials. These limitations need to be properly understood so that the ICC can be effectively utilised by African States to declare and act upon their commitment to the principle of individual criminal liability for those responsible for the most serious crimes.

International judicial norms developed slowly during the Cold War but have recently begun to draw on the experiences of the Criminal Tribunal in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. These ad hoc bodies had to respond quickly to emergency situations by combining different international approaches to justice and prosecution. The Special Court for Sierra Leone is the latest of these experiments. Despite having had more time for reflective discussion and negotiation, the Special Court faces the same challenge and constraint: the parameters of time and resources are set by political imperatives. The International Criminal Court goes some way to addressing the problems of funding, good judicial appointments and contrasting legal systems, the details of future trials will not be easy. Ad hoc tribunals will probably still have a role to play in cases where the ICC cannot intervene.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is a multilateral international agreement or treaty. All states have the right to become parties to it. When a state does ratify or accede to it, it incurs international obligations to the other State Parties to the agreement. State Parties must ensure that their domestic laws enable them to comply with its international obligations. Failure adequately to provide for the international obligations is not only undesirable internationally but also domestically. The South African Parliament has incorporated the Rome Statute into national (municipal) law by passing the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002. This is a commendable step in ensuring that its international obligations are met. Unfortunately, it appears that the scheme of arrest and surrender to the ICC provided for in the South African legislation to give effect to the Rome Statute is somewhat defective. There is no provision for any competent authority, whether a court or the executive branch of government, to issue an order of surrender. This defect should be remedied as soon as possible.

Extracted from text ... During the early hours of 16 July 2003, the small, West African island state of S?o Tom? and Principe (STP) was woken by the sounds of gunshots and exploding grenades. The usually calm and peaceful capital city, also called S?o Tom?, would soon learn that a coup d'?tat was underway and that the democratically elected government had been toppled by force. A group of army officers, led by the commanding officer in charge of the Army Training College, Major Fernando Pereira, had taken control of the airport; the radio and television buildings; the central bank and several ministries; and ..

Extracted from text ... BURUNDI: THE PRETORIA PROTOCOL Events in the week following the signature on 8 October 2003 of the Pretoria Protocol on Political, Defence and Security Power Sharing in Burundi might support the argument of those who dismissed it as yet another dishonoured agreement in a conflict littered with useless bits of paper. The killing continued within days of President Domitien Ndayizeye and Pierre Nkurunziza of the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) inking the agreement in the presence of President Thabo Mbeki and his deputy, Jacob Zuma. The worst of these incidents involved ..

Extracted from text ... TRENDS AND MARKERS Recent data, statistics and indicators AFRICA WATCH International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Budget submission for 1998, $US millions Chambers 2.1 m Office of the Prosecutor 14.1 m Registry 34.7 m Source: www.un.org Budget allocation for biennium 2002-2003 $201.6m Source: UN Resolution GA 56/248B International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia Budget allocation for biennium 2002-2003 $262.6m Source: UN Resolution GA 57/288 Special Court for Sierra Leone Estimated allocation for 2004 $30m Estimated budget for three years' operation $116m Source: www.un.org 44 ? 2003 Court section of the International Criminal Court 2004 Draft Programme Budget Registry ..

The response of the UN Security Council to the massive world war in the DRC is characterised by an abundance of rhetoric and a deficit of concrete action. When it has acted, its actions have often been clearly inappropriate, with the token deployment of lightly armed peacekeepers into a volatile area of ongoing conflict. In choosing such an option, it has shown how little political will there is for serious engagement, but also how little the Council has learnt from its own history. This paper seeks to analyse the Council's response to the conflict in the DRC, separating the rhetoric and the appearance of action from concrete measures designed at realising some form of conflict resolution.

The economic value, social status and symbolic meaning of small arms are particular and temporal in nature. This is demonstrated through a historical account of the dynamics of cultural change and adaptation in Nuer society. Specifically, the article shows how attitudes towards small arms shifted over time from a positive valuation of guns as prestigious objects, to ambivalence between the need for protection and the experience of increased local lawlessness and violence. More generally, it demonstrates how weapon-related activities can only be fully understood when seen against a specific cultural background. Even if the display, use and circulation of weapons appear to carry cross-cultural references, typically as expressions of power and masculine identity, the meaning is always primarily local. Therefore, strategies to reduce the destructive impact of small arms through demand side programs, based on voluntary participation, can only be carried out successfully if built on an in-depth understanding of a particular cultural context.

The twin concepts of secrecy and transparency are central to any discourse on the freeness and fairness of elections, because they are universally accepted yardsticks of the degree to which elections can be said to be legitimate. Without challenging this truism, this paper explores these concepts as both theoretical constructs and as manifested in empirical situations. It will highlight their ideological function and argue that they have an alienating effect in practice. The article will also attempt to show how secrecy and transparency have helped to shape Lesotho's electoral process and the mode of its management, and will also discuss the issues and questions that it raises. Next, the most critical issues in any debate concerning Lesotho's elections and their management are raised, followed by the recommendation of an ideal way of managing elections to serve the interest of voters better. Lastly, the paper demonstrates the danger of depoliticising elections and relegating them to the legal sphere, which only the courts of law are competent to interpret.

This essay outlines recent developments in the Horn of Africa with particular focus on the emerging democratic state of Somaliland. It maps out the key political contours of Somaliland and Somalia. In this respect, the implications of recent developments for the international community and multilateral institutions are analysed. Somaliland has shown extraordinary determination to succeed. Those governing Somaliland have shown respect for democratic principles, begun to develop natural assets which will strengthen the economy, and rebuilt much of the capital city. The union with Somalia has proved difficult to say the least, while relations with Kenya, Djibouti and African multilateral organisations remain complex. Yet despite the advances the citizens of Somaliland have made, recognition of Somaliland as a viable independent entity by the international community remains an uncertain hope.

The privatization of activities previously performed by government has been a major characteristic of economic policies over the past two decades. This article examines the potential for privatization of military activities in the African context. Four categories in which this has or might occur are mercenaries employed by a government to provide for defence or to supplement its own military; private security company personnel employed to protect economic assets or to advise and train the local military; the contracting out of the provision of goods and services ranging from heavy weapons through to accounting services; and the transfer of non-core activities currently undertaken by the military to other government departments or civilian bodies. Of these, the last is of potential importance in Africa, given the wide range of activities which its militaries have come to perform. Three examples where private sector organisations or other government departments could play a much larger and probably more cost-effective role are peacekeeping, internal security and surveillance, resource protection and rescue activities.

This article first looks at the relationship between international terrorism and terrorism in Africa. Since sub-state terrorism is already endemic to Africa, the future threat potential in the continent lies in a complex mixture of sub-national and international terrorism. Africa may come to play a central role in international terrorism. The motivation, means and targets all exist and these opportunities will not go unheeded for much longer. Africa presents both a facilitating environment and a target-rich environment for terrorists that seek to attack the United States, and indeed the global system. The article concludes with some remarks on counter-strategies.

This article argues that whereas the waves of democratization which enveloped the continent in the early 1990s following the collapse of Eastern European one-party socialism generated expectations of a 'new dawn' for 'good governance' and sustainable human development on the continent, one wave after another appears to have suffered serious setbacks. Indeed, a decade later, some of the most articulate pro-democracy leaders, who came into office on the crest of the democratic waves of the 1990s have sought to manipulate their countries' constitutions in order to perpetuate their presidential tenure. Such undemocratic behaviour will only fuel speculation in the industrialized world that the New Partnership for Africa's Development is just another decorative blue-print drawn up by beleaguered African despots in order to obtain new resource inflows at a time the international community under the hegemonic leadership of the United States will be wholly preoccupied with rebuilding post-Saddam Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian roadmap.

This article aims to explore possible avenues that the international community can use in order to justify forcible intervention in sovereign states in cases where gross and systematic violations of the human rights of the he population take place, but where the legal authority for such intervention is not forthcoming from the United Nations Security Council. Two possible justifications are identified: the doctrine of humanitarian intervention, which despite being controversial, enjoys a measure of acceptance due to the practice of states in this regard, and the notion of an international responsibility to protect vulnerable populations and individuals. The latter option, despite a vague and uncertain legal basis, offers several advantages: it focuses on the suffering of human beings and not on the rights of states, it enumerates clear and definable thresholds for intervention by the international community and acknowledges that intervention is only one step in the process of achieving peace, to be preceded by preventive action and followed by post-conflict reconstruction. It is submitted that elements of the notion of an international "responsibility to protect" are to be found in the Constitutive Act of the African Union and especially the Protocol on the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council. Furthermore, the principles underlying this notion, as developed by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty may serve as guidelines in decisions by the Assembly to authorise interventions in AU members.

Extracted from text ... The adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998 marked an historic achievement for humanity. The entry into force of the Statute in 2002 and the election of the judges and appointment of the Prosecutor and the Registrar in 2003 were quick by comparison to previous behaviour of states in such serious matters. For the first time in history a truly international criminal judicial institution has been established. The gap created by the fact that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was given a limited mandate to interpret the UN Charter and to adjudicate ..

Extracted from text ... Constitutional issues in South Africa On 18 July 1998 South Africa signed the Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC Statute) thereby expressing its intention to ratify the Rome Statute and consequently ratified it in November 2000. South Africa adheres to the dualistic rather than the monistic system of implementing international treaties.1 This means that an international treaty ratified by South Africa is law in South Africa only once it has been enacted into national law by an Act of Parliament, except for the self-executing provisions of such treaty. Consequently, in July 2002 the South African Parliament approved legislation ..

Extracted from text ... On many levels the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD) should be, and has been, criticized by various groups inside and outside of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After reading the feature article on this topic (ASR 12.3, Delegates, Dialogue and Desperadoes), the criticism of the ICD seemed unbalanced and partially premised upon misconceptions and misinformation. The aim, therefore, of this commentary is to shed some light on the ICD process from the point of view of someone who was intimately connected with the ICD process for two years. The previous article focused on the failure of the ICD, but there ..

Extracted from text ... Little research has been done on the state of the South African defence industry since 1994. From an industry perspective, two related factors served it with a virtual death sentence in the late 1980s. The first factor was the end of the Cold War which left the world with considerably more capacity and capability to develop and produce arms than it needed or could afford. The second factor was the end of Apartheid in South Africa and the concomitant decline in the National Party government's need for an independent arms industry. In the 1990s, the industry therefore not only ..