SADC's Uncommon Approach to Common Security, 1992–2003

Abstract

This article describes and explains the Southern African Development Community's difficulty in establishing a common security regime and its failure to play a useful peacemaking role. The malaise is attributed to three major problems: the absence of common values among member states, which inhibits the development of trust, common policies, institutional cohesion and unified responses to crises; the reluctance of states to surrender sovereignty to a security regime that encompasses binding rules and decision-making; and the economic and administrative weakness of states. These are all national problems that cannot be solved at the regional level. Paradoxically, the challenge of common security in southern Africa is less a regional than a national challenge.

Notes

^*I wish to thank Chris Ankersen, Barry Buzan, James Putzel and Herbert Wulf for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article, a working draft of which was published as L. Nathan, ‘The Absence of Common Values and Failure of Common Security in Southern Africa, 1992–2003’, Working Paper Series, 1, 50 (Crisis States Programme, London School of Economics, July 2004). In 2004 I also benefited greatly from opportunities to present work-in-progress at seminars hosted by the Centre for Southern African Studies at Sussex University, the Department of Peace Studies at Bradford University, the Crisis States Programme at the London School of Economics, and the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London; and at the Conference on ‘Looking at South Africa Ten Years On’, Institute of Commonwealth Studies and School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in collaboration with the Journal of Southern African Studies and Review of African Political Economy.

 1 In 2003 the members of SADC were Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

 2 See M. Malan, ‘Regional Power Politics under Cover of SADC – Running Amok with a Mythical Organ’, ISS Paper, 35 (Institute for Security Studies, October 1998); A.W. Tapfumaneyi, ‘Regional Security Cooperation in Southern Africa: A View from Zimbabwe’, Global Dialogue, 4, 2 (August 1999), pp. 23–26; B. Tsie, ‘Regional Security in Southern Africa: Whither the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security?’, Global Dialogue, 3, 3 (December 1998), pp. 8–10; C. de Conig, ‘Breaking the SADC Organ Impasse: Report of a Seminar on the Operationalisation of the SADC Organ’, ACCORD Occasional Paper, 6 (African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, 1999); W. Breytenbach, ‘Failure of Security Co-operation in SADC: The Suspension of the Organ for Politics, Defence and Security’, South African Journal of International Affairs, 7, 1 (Summer 2000), pp. 85–95; M. Baregu, ‘Economic and Military Security’, in M. Baregu and C. Landsberg (eds), From Cape to Congo: Southern Africa's Evolving Security Challenges (Boulder, CO and London, Lynne Rienner, 2003), pp. 19–30; and T. Neethling, ‘Pursuing a Functional Security Community in Southern Africa: Is It Possible after All?’, Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 25, 1 (2003), pp. 29–52.

 3 See, for example, Malan, ‘Regional Power Politics’; Tapfumaneyi, ‘Regional Security Cooperation’; de Conig, ‘Breaking the SADC Organ Impasse’; Tsie, ‘Regional Security’; and L. Mørup, ‘Strengthening African Security Capacities: Research Project on How Denmark Can Make a Difference in Strengthening African Regional Security Organisations’, DIIS Report, 2004:3 (Danish Institute for International Studies, 2004).

 4 For overviews of the peace and security initiatives of other regional organisations, see M. Pugh and W. Pal Singh Sidhu (eds), The United Nations and Regional Security: Europe and Beyond (Boulder, CO and London, Lynne Rienner, 2003); L. Fawcett and A. Hurrell (eds), Regionalism in World Politics: Regional Organization and International Order (New York, Oxford University Press, 1995); and C. Peck, ‘The Role of Regional Organizations in Preventing and Resolving Conflict’, in C.A. Crocker, F.O. Hampson and P. Aall (eds), Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict (Washington, DC, United States Institute for Peace, 2001), pp. 561–83.

 5 See R. Jervis, ‘Security Regimes’, in S.D. Krasner (ed.), International Regimes (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1983), pp. 173–94.

 6 Towards the Southern African Development Community: A Declaration by the Heads of State or Government of Southern African States (Windhoek, 1992), pp. 9–10. For a review of different approaches to common security, see A. Butfoy, Common Security and Strategic Reform: A Critical Analysis (Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1997).

 7 I served as a part-time adviser on regional security to the SADC Executive Secretary in 1994–1996; the South African Deputy Minister of Defence in 1994–1999; and the Foreign Minister of Swaziland in 1999–2000 when he oversaw the finalisation of the protocol governing the Organ.

 8 See K. Lambrechts, ‘The SADC's Origins’, in The IGD Guide to the Southern African Development Community (Johannesburg, Institute for Global Dialogue, 2001), pp. 22–7.

 9 See Towards the Southern African Development Community; and SADCC, Theme Document (Maputo, January 1992).

 10 The Treaty can be viewed on the SADC website, www.sadc.int, last retrieved on 15 December 2004.

 11 The other sectors cover food security, land and agriculture; infrastructure and services; industry, trade, investment and finance; human resources development, science and technology; natural resources and environment; and social welfare, information and culture.

 12 See SADC, Southern Africa: A Framework and Strategy for Building the Community (Harare, January 1993), pp. 24–6.

 13 SADC Secretariat, ‘Workshop on Democracy, Peace and Security. Workshop Resolutions. Windhoek, Namibia, 11–16 July 1994’ (unpublished workshop report, 1994).

 14 The Frontline States coalition, established in 1976 and disbanded in 1994, sought to secure the liberation of southern African countries and counter regional destabilisation by Pretoria. Its members included Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

 15 See A. Pahad, ‘Regional Security in Southern Africa’, ISSUP Bulletin, 5/95 (Institute for Strategic Studies, University of Pretoria, 1995).

 16 See J. Cilliers, ‘The Evolving Security Architecture in Southern Africa’, African Security Review, 4, 5 (1995), pp. 30–47.

 17 J. Cilliers, and A. Zacarias, ‘Redefining Security’, in Baregu and Landsberg (eds), From Cape to Congo, p. 37.

 18 SADC, ‘Communiqué: Summit of Heads of State or Governments of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’ (Gaborone, 28 June 1996).

 19 See H. Brammer, ‘In Search of an Effective Regional Security Mechanism for Southern Africa’, Global Dialogue, 4, 2 (August 1999), pp. 21–2.

 20 Tapfumaneyi, ‘Regional Security Cooperation’, pp. 25–6.

 21 See ‘SADC Security Split Threatens’, Mail and Guardian, 17–23 July 1998.

 22 South Africa's position is presented in an article written in 1999 by Horst Brammer, then Deputy Director for SADC Political Affairs, South African Department of Foreign Affairs. See Brammer, ‘In Search of an Effective Regional Security Mechanism’.

 23 Zimbabwe's position is outlined in an article written in 1999 by Lt-Col. Walter Tapfumaneyi, then serving in the Directorate of Defence Policy, Zimbabwe Ministry of Defence. See Tapfumaneyi, ‘Regional Security Cooperation’.

 24 Quoted in ‘Congo Wins Membership in Sudden Expansion of SADC’, SouthScan, 12, 33 (12 September 1997), p. 258

 25 Author's correspondence with South African government official, 16 August 2000.

 26 See J. Isaksen and E.N. Tjønneland, ‘Assessing the Restructuring of SADC – Positions, Policies and Progress’, Report of the Chr. Michelsen Institute, R 2001:6 (December 2001).

 27 The requirement of ratification by two-thirds of the SADC states was met in March 2004.

 28 The following documents can be found in the ‘Key Documents’ section of the SADC website, www.sadc.int, last retrieved on 15 December 2004: the Consolidated Text of the Treaty of the Southern African Development Community, As Amended, 2001; the Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, 2001; the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan, 2003; and the Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ, 2003.

 29 A summary of the Protocol can be found in Nathan, ‘The Absence of Common Values’, pp. 8–10.

 30 Reports on these conflicts can be found in the bi-weekly publication SouthScan: A Bulletin of Southern African Affairs.

 31 On repression and state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe since 2000 see, for example, the reports of the International Crisis Group at www.crisisweb.org, retrieved on 3 October 2004.

 32 See, for example, Human Rights Watch, ‘Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe’, Human Rights Watch Report, 14, 1(A) (March 2002).

 33 See ‘SADC Heads Read Riot Act to Mugabe’, Cape Times, 11 September 2001.

 34 ISDSC, ‘Final Communiqué. 23rd Session of the Inter State Defence and Security Committee (ISDSC) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation’ (Luanda, 9 August 2002).

 35 SADC Organ, ‘Communiqué of the Third Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation’ (Harare, 3 April 2003), para 12.

 36 See, for example, SADC, ‘SADC Heads of State and Government Support Zimbabwe’ (Windhoek, 7 August 2000); SADC, ‘Final Communiqué. January 2002 SADC Extra-Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government’ (Blantyre, 14 January 2002), para 19; and SADC, ‘2003 SADC Summit Final Communiqué’ (Dar es Salaam, 26 August 2003), paras 24 and 25.

 37 ‘SADC Welcomes Mugabe as an African Hero’, Mercury, 26 August 2003.

 38 See for example, Malan, ‘Regional Power Politics’, pp. 7–8; Tapfumaneyi, ‘Regional Security Cooperation’, p. 25; F.K. Makoa, ‘Foreign Military Intervention in Lesotho's Elections Dispute: Whose Project?’, Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 21, 1 (June 1999), pp. 66–87; ‘Army Top Brass Slam Incursion into Lesotho’, Star, 1 October 1998; and ‘More Questions Than Answers as Smoke Clears around Maseru’, SouthScan, 13, 20 (2 October 1998), pp. 153–4.

 39 See, ‘Stalemate in Peace Process Led to SADC Intervention’, Sunday Independent (South Africa), 27 September 1998.

 40 ‘Stalemate in Peace Process Led to SADC Intervention’, Sunday Independent See also South African National Defence Force, ‘The SADC Intervention in Lesotho: A Military Perspective’, Salut (July 1999), pp. 22–9.

 41 See R. Williams, ‘From Peacekeeping to Peacebuilding? South African Policy and Practice in Peace Missions’, International Peacekeeping, 7, 3 (Autumn 2000), pp. 84–104.

 42 See ‘Foreign Affairs Tries to Deny Mugabe's Snub’, Southern Africa Report, 16, 32 (14 August 1998), pp. 4–5.

 43 For further details, see E.G. Berman and K.S. Sams, Peacekeeping in Africa: Capabilities and Culpabilities (Geneva, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research and Pretoria, Institute for Security Studies, 2000), pp. 175–80.

 44 Quoted in ‘The Last Days of Laurent Kabila?’, Mail and Guardian, 21–27 August 1998.

 45 Quoted in ‘DRC: Zimbabwean, Angolan Troops Arrive to Back Kabila’, Integrated Regional Information Network Bulletin (United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 21 August 1998).

 46 Quoted in Berman and Sams, Peacekeeping in Africa, p. 178.

 47 SADC, ‘Communiqué of the Summit Meeting of the SADC on the Democratic Republic of the Congo’ (Pretoria, 23 August 1998).

 48 Author's correspondence with South African foreign affairs official, 3 September 2002. See also Berman and Sams, Peacekeeping in Africa, p. 179; and ‘SA Seeks to Recoup its Diplomatic Losses on Congo Intervention at Peace Summit’, SouthScan, 13, 18 (4 September 1998), pp. 137–38.

 49 SADC, ‘Communiqué. Mauritius – Grand Bay: 13–14th September, 1998’ (Grand Bay, 1998).

 51 SADC, Southern Africa: A Framework and Strategy, p. 24.

 50 See Towards the Southern African Development Community, p. 5; Article 5(1)(b) of the SADC Treaty; and Article 2(2)(b) of the Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation.

 52 Quoted in ‘Leaders Should Practise Democracy’, South African Press Association, 15 October 2000.

 53 A. Piano and A. Puddington (eds), Freedom in the World 2004: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties (Lanham, MD, Rowman and Littlefield, 2004).

 54 ‘Mugabe Will Not Be Swayed by the Polite Coaxing of Despotic Peers’, Sunday Times (South Africa), 20 January 2002.

 55 On South Africa's pacific approach to international conflict resolution, which does not preclude participation in peace support operations, see L. Nathan, ‘Consistency and Inconsistencies in South African Foreign Policy’, International Affairs, 81, 2 (March 2005), pp. 361–72.

 56 Tapfumaneyi, ‘Regional Security Cooperation’, pp. 23 and 26.

 57 Williams, ‘From Peacekeeping to Peacebuilding?’, p. 97.

 58 Tapfumaneyi, ‘Regional Security Cooperation’, p. 23.

 59 See ‘Mugabe Forms New Defence Pact’, Mail and Guardian, 16–22 April 1999.

 60 Article 4 of the Defence Treaty among the Republic of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of Zimbabwe (Luanda, 1999).

 61 Article 6 of the SADC Mutual Defence Pact (2003).

 62 See ‘Harare's Herald Swipes at Mbeki’, Business Day, 4 December 2001.

 63 ‘President Thabo Mbeki Given a Lashing by Zimbabwe as He Gets Tough with Mugabe’, Southern Africa Report, 19, 49 (7 December 2001), pp. 1–2.

 64 Press release issued by the Botswana Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gaborone, 8 August 2003.

 65 See, for example, SADCC, Theme Document; Towards the Southern African Development Community; and SADC's Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan.

 66 See Berman and Sams, Peacekeeping in Africa, pp. 167–72.

 67 On the core values that bind states in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), by way of contrast, see M. Caballero-Anthony, ‘The Regionalization of Peace in Asia’, in Pugh and Sidhu (eds), The United Nations and Regional Security, pp. 195–211.

 68 See K.W. Deutsch, S.A. Burrell, R.A. Kann, M. Lee, Jr., M. Lichterman, R.E. Lindgren, F.L. Loewenheim and R.W. Van Wagenen, Political Community and the North Atlantic Area: International Organization in the Light of Historical Experience (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1957), pp. 46–9 and 66. On the question of whether SADC constitutes a security community, see Neethling, ‘Pursuing a Functional Security Community’; A. Hammerstad, ‘Domestic Threats, Regional Solutions? The Challenge of Security Integration in Southern Africa’, Review of International Studies, 31, 1 (January 2005), pp. 69–87; and L. Nathan, ‘Security Communities and the Problem of Domestic Instability’, Working Paper Series, 1, 55 (Crisis States Programme, London School of Economics, November 2004).

 69 On the problem of weak states in Africa, see R.H. Jackson and C.G. Rosberg, ‘Why Africa's Weak States Persist: The Empirical and the Juridical in Statehood’, World Politics, 35, 1 (April 1982), pp. 1–24; C. Clapham, ‘Discerning the New Africa’, International Affairs, 74, 2 (1998), pp. 263–9; and J.W. Harbeson and D. Rothchild (eds), Africa in World Politics: The African State System in Flux, 3rd edition (Boulder, CO, Westview, 2000).

 70 SADCC, Theme Document, p. 33.

 71 Article 4(a) of the Treaty.

 72 Articles 7 and 8 of the Pact.

 73 SADC Secretariat, ‘Terms of Reference for the SADC Sector on Political Cooperation, Democracy, Peace and Security: Meeting of SADC Ministers Responsible for Foreign Affairs, Defence and SADC Affairs’ (unpublished document prepared for the ministerial meeting in Gaborone on 18 January 1996), para 2.2.1(i).

 74 SADC Secretariat, ‘The SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security: Meeting of SADC Ministers Responsible for Foreign Affairs, Defence and SADC Affairs’ (unpublished minute of the ministerial meeting held in Gaborone on 18 January 1996).

 75 SADC Secretariat, ‘The SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security: Meeting of SADC Ministers Responsible for Foreign Affairs, Defence and SADC Affairs’ (unpublished minute of the ministerial meeting held in Gaborone on 18 January 1996), p. 2.

 76 The appointment of Tribunal members was announced at the Summit in August 2005.

 77 By way of comparison, in 2003 the GNI per capita was $2,250 in the Middle East and North Africa; $3,260 in Latin America and the Caribbean; and $22,850 in the European Monetary Union. All figures are in US dollars and were drawn from the World Bank's World Development Indicators database at www.worldbank.org/data/quickreference/quickref.html on 14 November 2004.

 78 See E. Tjønneland, ‘Foreign Aid and Regional Co-operation’, SADC Barometer, 4 (January 2004), pp. 15–16.

 79 Towards the Southern African Development Community, p. 6.

 80 SADC, ‘1995 Annual Consultative Conference: Communiqué’ (Malawi, 4 February 1995), para. 5.2.1.

 81 See Isaksen and Tjønneland, ‘Assessing the Restructuring of SADC’, p. 3.

 82 See Isaksen and Tjønneland, ‘Assessing the Restructuring of SADC’, p. 3

 83 See ‘African Tensions against SA on the Rise’, Southern African Report, 15, 33 (15 August 1997), pp. 3–4; and ‘Key Countries and Regions Neglected in Foreign Affairs’, SouthScan, 13, 20 (2 October 1998), p. 157.

 84 See B. Buzan and O. Wæver, Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 235–8; and Baregu, ‘Economic and Military Security’.

 85 Baregu, ‘Economic and Military Security’, p. 21.

 86 See Republic of South Africa, White Paper on National Defence for the Republic of South Africa (Pretoria, 1996), Chapter 4.

 87 Author's discussions with South African officials between 1996 and 2003.

 88 On South Africa's foreign policy in Africa, see Nathan, ‘Consistency and Inconsistencies’.

 89 On weak administrative capacity in South Africa see, for example, J. Bardill, ‘The Presidential Review Commission and the Dilemmas of Administrative Reform in South Africa’, Governance in Southern Africa: An Occasional Paper Series, 8 (School of Government, University of the Western Cape, 1998).

 90 See M. Schoeman and C. Alden, ‘The Hegemon That Wasn't: South Africa's Foreign Policy towards Zimbabwe’, Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 25, 1 (May 2003), pp. 1–28.

 91 Quoted in ‘We Won't Make the Same Mistake with Zim’, Mail and Guardian, 2 March 2001.

 92 Peck, ‘The Role of Regional Organizations’, pp. 578–9.

 93 S.D. Krasner, ‘Structural Causes and Regime Consequences: Regimes as Intervening Variables’, in Krasner (ed.), International Regimes, p. 3.

 94 See, for example, Zacarias, ‘Redefining Security’, pp. 47–8; de Conig, ‘Breaking the SADC Organ Impasse’; M. Baregu and C. Landsberg, ‘Southern Africa's Security Architecture: Challenges and Prospects’, in Baregu and Landsberg, From Cape to Congo, p. 353; and Hammerstad, ‘Domestic Threats’.

 95 See, for example, R. Williams, ‘From Collective Security to Peacebuilding? The Challenges of Managing Regional Security in Southern Africa’, in C. Clapham, G. Mills, A. Morner and E. Sidiropoulos (eds), Regional Integration in Southern Africa: Comparative International Perspectives (Johannesburg, South African Institute for International Affairs, 2001), pp. 109–12.