Where The Shoe Pinches!

The much-expected African Union Summit on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes of Government has come and gone with several questions pending. Organized to assess  persistent threats, evaluate current response mechanisms, and decide on the specific actions and measures necessary to strengthen the collective security of member states facing terrorism and violent extremism, actionable measures needed to stem their upsurge on the continent and also consider the recommendations in the Accra Declaration on Unconstitutional Changes of Government in Africa, the African Union  in camera session that took place in Malabo left many African leaders undecided.
Since 2011 when terrorism re-escalated in Africa, the continent has remained prone to violent extremism and civil strife. Terrorists groups today operate in the Sahel, the Lake Chad basin, Somalia other parts of the continent. Apart from streets protests by the population that have led to the fragility of some governments, the major consequence is that it has instigated unconstitutional changes of regime in some countries. A total of 11 coup d’états have been recorded since 2011. Because it is a disturbing situation for the African Union as it slows down development and undermines the rule of law, African leaders during the 16th Extraordinary Summit on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Regime Changes tried to revamp their commitments, but failed to agree on what and the modus operandi due to the following factors;
Ideological difference is one of the major handicap of the African Union since its creation. It is no more a secret that most often before the holding AU sessions there are consultations between member states at the level of ministers and then heads of state. The outcome of these consultations is that linguistic or regional interest prevail. Thus, by the time most of the heads of state are meeting at the summits, they already have a fixed ideas in mind or positions which make it difficult to change even if they convinced with the ideas that others are proposing.
Lack of finance is a major impediment for the African Union in the fight against terrorism and unconstitutional change. Each year, every member country of the African Union has a financial commitment to contribute to the institution. But most often majority of these countries do not respect their engagements especially when it comes to urgent security issues. Because of this apathy, the ...