Eager to quell its own conflicts, African Union feels overstretched

Uganda takes the lead, pledging troops for Darfur and announcing last week that it would send more peacekeepers to Somalia.

from the August 22, 2007 edition

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"This idea of African solutions for African problems tends to get abused by both sides," says David Monyae, professor of international relations at Witswatersrand University in Johannesburg. "Whenever the West doesn't want to get involved, it's an African solution that is needed."

That doesn't mean African peacekeeping doesn't work, Professor Monyae adds. African-led peacekeeping missions in the Ivory Coast and Burundi have shown the promise of what African countries can do, with all the sensitivities of what works in resolving conflicts in an African political context.

"Africans on their own, they can do their level best," says Monyae, "but we need a little help."

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that Africans understand their conflicts better than outside forces, but in Kampala there's a growing gap between the government's statements and public opinion on peacekeeping.

"Why should we expect other people to clean up our own messes on the continent?" Major Kulayigye asks. The spokesman admits that the "only problem" of an all-African force in Darfur is a lack of funding, but says that shortfall should be overcome by the UN.

Tamale Mirundi, Mr. Museveni's press secretary, acknowledges that Ugandan opposition politicians suggest that Museveni is trying to extend his influence in the Horn of Africa through these peacekeeping missions.

But he stresses that the president consulted not only parliament and cabinet members, but community leaders in his party as well about sending troops to Somalia.

"It's not a one-man decision ... the president did not wake up one morning and decide Uganda should go to Somalia," says Mr. Mirundi.

Yet Ugandans are growing wary of the government's foreign interventions and the rising death toll from such missions. So far, four Ugandan peacekeepers have been killed in the Somali insurgency.

"Many Ugandans have been complaining – we are not happy that our boys are dying for a war that does not reach into our borders," says Dickson Andabati, a security guard in Kampala.

"Uganda is now enthusiastic about sending peacekeeping troops without serious consideration," says Paul Omach, a political analyst at Uganda's Makarere University. Mr. Omach says that conflicting regional interests and security concerns are being ignored in the government's decisionmaking.

Uganda's government has a false perception of itself as a serious military power, according to Omach, and it is bowing to US interests by first entering Somalia, where it's still the only AU country with troops on the ground, and now jumping on the Darfur "bandwagon." "We need a cautious approach ... there is the possibility of us ending up a sitting duck again, like we are in Somalia," says Omach.

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