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Making military and security forces in West Africa accountable

Governments and civil society in many West African countries are trying to restore security. Democratising states or complete rebuilding of collapsed states provides opportunities for security sector reform (SSR). However, democratisation does not necessarily make police, army and intelligence services accountable to parliaments and citizens.

A report from the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) warns that commitments by West African states on principles of good governance at the inter-governmental level does not necessarily lead to changes within the state. It is therefore vital to promote security sector governance (SSG) at sub-regional, national and local levels.

Some parts of West Africa have moved away from authoritarian governments to more participatory systems. Armies can no longer secretly do as they want. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has played a pivotal role in this transformation.

When ECOWAS, a regional group of sixteen countries was founded in 1975, it was not intended to play any security role. However since the early 1990s it has organised varyingly successful military interventions and promoted regional security norms. In 2001 heads of state agreed sanctions to be applied in case of violations of human rights by a member within its borders.

At their 2003 meeting, ECOWAS leaders – under pressure from their secretary-general – formally permitted civil society representatives into ministerial meetings and agreed with their demand to take action against the regional trade in small arms. Liberia’s peace agreement specifically defines the role of civil society agencies. While some member states remain anxious to reduce civil society influence, the opening up of this space has provided the opportunity to firmly place regional SSR initiatives on the agenda of ECOWAS.

An overview of developments in sixteen states shows that:

Democratisation has not been accompanied by reform of police, military and other security forces.
In Togo, Guinea, Mauritania there have only been cosmetic political changes to authoritarian structures.
While countries like Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Niger and Nigeria have thriving free press and dynamic civil society organisations, their security services remain unreformed.
In states emerging from civil war – such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, and Côte d’Ivoire – programmes to promote disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) – have focused on bringing insurgent groups into national armies, not on changing how armies are managed.

Through ECOWAS, West Africa has attempted collectively to rise to the challenge of

instability, insecurity and conflict. Consolidating these achievements will require:

clear definition of the roles and tasks of each security agency and the oversight functions of parliaments and government agencies
creation of transparent and participatory policy environments with mechanisms to hold leaders at all levels to account
transparent recruitment and promotion policies within security forces
efforts to ensure there is local – and not just external ECOWAS or donor – support for reform
efforts to ensure intelligence services protect the state and its population, not political elites
preparing military forces for new tasks – peacekeeping missions, fighting transnational crime and providing emergency aid to civilians.

Source(s):
‘Democratizing Security Sector Governance in West Africa: Trends and Challenges’, Conflict, Security and Development, Vol. 5:2, pp 203-226, by Alan Bryden, Boubacar N’Diaye and Funmi Olonisakin, August 2005

‘Security Sector Governance in West Africa: Turning Principles to Pra ctice’, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Policy Paper 8, by Alan Bryden, Boubacar N’Diaye and Funmi Olonisakin, November 2005 (PDF) Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 24 January 2007

Further Information:
Alan Bryden
Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)
Rue de Chantepoulet 11
P.O. Box 1360
CH-1211 Geneva 1, Switzerland

Contact the contributor: a.bryden@dcaf.ch

Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)

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