Issue:
Developing measures to decrease the political
instability in West Africa
Forum:
Fourth Committee of the General Assembly (GA4)
Position:
Deputy Chair
Name:
Eva Ulmann
Introduction
Ever since the colonization of several countries in Africa, political instability
has been an enduring feature in this continent. The European imperialists provoked
African political and diplomatic responses and even military resistance. Colonialism
blocked further political development and since independence, many African nations,
mostly in West Africa, have been struggling with political instability, with civil wars in
Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire, and a succession of military coups
in Burkina Faso and Ghana.
This research report provides information on the history of West Africa,
exploring the main causes for this political instability, which are to be found in, for
example, the colonization and corruption, and the consequences of political
instability, such as decreased economic development, including definitions of the
most important key terms, a timeline of key events and the major parties involved,
which include for example Mali, Nigeria, UN Peacekeeping Operations and a UN
Stabilization Mission. The final two sections mention previous attempts to resolve the
issue of political instability in West Africa and discuss some possible solutions for
this issue.
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West Africa (UN sub-region)
The Maghreb, a separate region to West Africa.
Definition of Key Terms
Political instability
In an article from Harvard University's DASH repository, political instability is defined
as ‘the propensity of a government collapse’.
Colonialism
Colonialism was defined in La Réforme intellectuelle et morale (1871) by JosephErnest Renan as "the extension of Civilization", which justified the self-ascribed
cultural and racial superiority of the Western World over the non-Western world.
West Africa
West Africa, also called Western Africa or the West of Africa, is defined by the United
Nations as including the 18 countries Benin, Burkina Faso, the island of Cape Verde,
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mauritania, Mali, Liberia,
Nigeria, Niger, the island of Saint Helena, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe,
Senegal and Togo.
ECOWAS
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), established in May
1975, is an organization of states in West Africa, which aims to promote the region's
economy. It has defined the region of West Africa as including the following fifteen
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states since 1999: Niger, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra
Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and the
island of Cape Verde. Mauritania, first included in the ECOWAS, withdrew in 2000.
MAURITANIA
Figure 2: Geopolitical states of West Africa
General Overview
In the early history of West Africa, domestication and both intra-African and
extra-African trade enhanced the region’s economy. The development of the region's
economy allowed more centralized states and civilizations to form.
In 1445, Portuguese traders began establishing settlements along the coast of
West Africa, followed by the French and English. Not long after the colonization of
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certain regions in West Africa came the beginning of the African slave trade, which
would eventually weaken the region's economy and population.
In the first half of the 19th century, Fulani reformist jihads swept across West
Africa. Nevertheless, the French and the British continued to advance in Africa,
subduing several states. With the fall of new-founded African Empires in 1898 and
1902, most West African military resistance to the colonial rule had failed.
Throughout the colonial era, Great Britain controlled Gambia, Sierra Leone,
Ghana and Nigeria, whereas France controlled French West Africa, consisting of
Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire and Niger. Portugal
controlled the colony of Guinea-Bissau and Germany claimed Togoland. However,
Germany was forced to give it up due to the Treaty of Versailles after the First World
War, and Togoland would be divided between France and Britain.
Only Liberia remained independent, at the cost of considerably large territorial
concessions.
Figure 3: areas on the African continent which were controlled by European colonial
powers in 1913, shown along with the current national boundaries.
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Belgian
British
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Spanish
Independent
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After the second World War, nationalist movements arose in West Africa.
Ghana became the first sub-Saharan colony to achieve its independence in 1957,
followed by France's colonies during the next year. In 1974, all West Africa's nations
were completely autonomous. In the post-independence era, the current nations
were formed.
Since their independence, many West African nations have been struggling
with political instability, with civil wars in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte
d'Ivoire, and a succession of military coups in Ghana and Burkina Faso.
The region has been the stage for some fierce conflicts, including:

the Nigerian Civil War

the Guinea-Bissau Civil War

the First Liberian Civil War

the Second Liberian Civil War

the Ivorian Civil War

the Sierra Leone Rebel War
Political instability has been an enduring feature in the post-colonial landscape
of West Africa. There have been offered multiple reasons for this phenomenon, such
as the Cold War, ethnic antagonisms and rent-seeking behaviour, amongst others. It
has also been suggested that the peripheral capitalist African state is the primary
source of political instability of the continent. Specifically, it would have generated
various crises such as poor regime performance that provides the occasion for
political instability. Also, given the fact that the peripheral capitalist African state is a
product of the global capitalist system, the global capitalist system contributes to
instability in Africa.
An article from VOX CEPR’s Policy Portal argues that colonialism has
retarded the development of African countries. Colonialism would not only have
blocked further political development, but indirect rule would have made local elites
less accountable to their citizens.
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A paper from Oxford University Press explores the relationship between
political instability and economic growth in Sub-Saharan African nations. In addition
to the direct impact of political instability on economic growth, the paper confirms the
hypothesis that political instability indirectly diminishes economic growth by
decreasing long-run capital accumulation.
Figure 4: results of a study commissioned by the African Telematics program at
CIDCM (University of Maryland) regarding periods of state formation instability,
stability, and post-formation instability, as well as armed conflicts in each country in
Africa.
According to this diagram, in West Africa (indicated by the green line),
Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin and Togo struggle with regime instability, while
Nigeria suffers from regime instability, as well as armed conflict.
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In an article from Harvard’s DASH repository on Political Instability and
Economic Growth, there has been concluded that in countries and periods with a
high propensity of a government collapse, economic growth is significantly lower
than otherwise.
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Political Risk (Dynamic) Index 2014
Legend
Maplecroft’s Political Risk Atlas includes both dynamic
Extreme
High
Medium
political risks, which focus on short-term challenges, such as
rule of law, the macroeconomic environment, political violence,
resource nationalism and regime stability, as well as structural
Low
long-term political risks, such as resource security, societal
No data
resilience, economic diversification, infrastructure quality and
the human rights landscape, all of which are essential ingredients of a country’s long
term growth environment.
Various international corruption indices such as the Transparency
International’s (TI) annual Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI) reveal high levels of
corruption in West Africa. The majority of West African states actually occupy the
bottom ranks of these corruption indices. Local corruption indices by some civil
society organizations also reveal high levels of corruption in most West African
states. Institutions found to be highly corrupt in West Africa include; the police
service, the immigration service, customs and revenue agencies, the judiciary,
legislature and public service amongst others. In many West African states, actual or
perceived corruption, among other factors, has often provided the basis for violent
political change, some of which have resulted in protracted civil wars.
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Corruption can be considered as a source of political instability in the West
African context in two major ways. First, it increases the vulnerability of states to
violent political change. According to the United Nations Office for West Africa
(UNOWA), West African states had experienced 44 successful coup d’états, 43
bloody failed coup attempts and 7 terrible civil wars by the end of 2004. Secondly,
corruption erodes confidence in the rule of law as a conflict resolution mechanism. In
such situations, citizens often lack confidence in the rule of law. An analysis of the
2006 CPI by TI and the 2006 Failed State Index (FSI) by the Fund for Peace reveal
that all the West African countries considered highly corrupt on the CPI are also
those at the top of the FSI and are thus considered as states exhibiting signs of
political instability and for which conflict outbreak is looming. Examples of such
countries are Nigeria, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
While this analysis does not tell the entire story about the relationship
between corruption and political instability, it serves as a pointer for policy makers to
initiate early warning and response measures to curtail the menace in the subregion. The fight against corruption in the sub-region has been focused mainly at the
national level in spite of its cross border effects. It is therefore important that policies
to address the root causes of conflict, which, imperatively, include corruption, are
regionalized. In this direction, the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) in 2001 adopted the Protocol on the Fight against Corruption. Five years
on, however, the protocol has still not come into force owing to the fact that member
states have not ratified it.
To this end, it is of major importance that the ECOWAS Commission, together
with civil society groups, defend the ratification of the Protocol on the Fight against
Corruption to pave way for the development of an effective anti-corruption regime for
the sub-region. Developing effective anti-corruption policy in West Africa will,
however, require high political commitment; sub-regionally coordinated anticorruption strategies; close collaboration between states and civil society, with civil
society playing a watching role; and appropriate public education and information
dissemination. Economic growth and social development cannot take place in an
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unstable political environment. It is therefore important for ECOWAS to tackle
corruption as one of the sources of political instability in West Africa.
Major Parties Involved
Mali
Due to recent attacks targeting foreigners, for example the kidnapping and
mass shooting at a luxury hotel in Mali’s capital of November 2015, there are
growing concerns that terrorist groups in Mali are increasing in numbers and
strength. Jihadist groups associated with al-Qaeda from the Islamic Maghreb
together with inhabitants from the northern part of Mali may attempt to derail the
peace agreement signed in 2015 by the Coordination of Azawad Movements, which
is a coalition of the government of Mali and Tuareg rebel groups. As a consequence
of the declining security situation in Mali, U.S. citizens were warned in December
2015 by the U.S. Department of State not to travel to Mali, and the departure of nonemergency staff from the U.S. embassy in Mali was authorized.
Militant groups in Mali continue to express territorial claims in the north of
Mali, threatening to destabilize neighbouring countries and undermining the
government. A military coup by the army of Mali created a power vacuum, which
allowed militant group such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), as well as
the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa to gain territory in the northern parts
of Mali. In order to combat extremism in that region, military missions led by Mali,
Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, as well as the UN Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali were deployed. Despite this, some northern
areas are still controlled by militant groups.
Funding from the United States to the central government of Mali was cut off
after the coup of 2012, despite long support from the States for economic and social
programs in Mali. In 2013, the United States erected a drone base in Niger, a
country neighbouring Mali, to stand by the French in their mission of combatting
extremism, by providing surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance to partners in
the region.
If militant groups in Mali would be strengthened or if they would spread to
countries neighbouring Mali, the region could be destabilized through terrorism and
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militancy, and AQIM would be given the opportunity to establish a safe haven in Mali,
which would be devastating for the stability in the country.
Nigeria
After the colonization of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963 by Great Britain, political,
ethnic, cultural, economic and religious tensions existed in the country. This,
together with a military coup, a counter-coup and persecution of the ethnic group
Igbo, a group of people who felt they could no longer coexist with the federal,
Northern-dominated government of Nigeria, led to the Nigerian Civil War which
started in 1967 and ended in 1970.
United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
In resolution 1509, which was published in 2003, the United Nations Mission
in Liberia (UNMIL) was established by the Security Council as a Peacekeeping
Operation in Africa to assist the implementation of the peace process and the
ceasefire agreement, to protect civilians, facilities and United Nations staff, to
support human rights and humanitarian activities, and to assist in national security
reformation, including the formation of a restructured military and national police
training.
United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali
(MINUSMA)
Established by Security Council resolution 2100, which was published in
2003, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali
(MINUSMA) supports political processes in Mali and carries out several securityrelated tasks. In addition, it supports the transnational authorities of the country in its
stabilization and implementation of a transitional roadmap. Besides this, the Mission
focuses on duties such as, but not limited to ensuring protection of civilians, security
and stabilization, supporting reconciliation and national political dialogue, as well as
re-establishing the State authority, rebuilding the security sector and promotion, as
well as protection of human rights in Mali.
United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI)
In Security Council 1528 of 2004, the United Nations Operation in Côte
d'Ivoire (UNOCI) was established, with the mandate to facilitate the implementation
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of the peace agreement signed by Ivorian parties in 2003. After the Presidential
election in 2010 and the following political crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, UNOCI remained in
the country to assist the Ivorian government in demobilization, disarmament and
reintegration of former combatants, as well as to protect civilians and provide good
offices, and to support security sector reform and monitor human rights.
United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA)
The United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) was set up to take on
special assignments for the Secretary-General, to keep track of political
developments in the region, to ameliorate sub-regional capacities to prevent conflicts
and address cross-border threats to peace and security, such as instability related to
elections or security sector reformation, illicit trafficking and terrorism or transnational
organized crime, as well as to support good governance and human rights in conflict
management initiatives in the region.
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
The Economic Community of West African States, or short ECOWAS,
established in May 1975, is an organization of West African states, which attempts to
promote the economy of West Africa. It has defined the region of West Africa since
1999 as including the following 15 states: Niger, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, GuineaBissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Ghana, Togo,
Benin, Nigeria and the island of Cape Verde. Morocco, first included in the
ECOWAS, withdrew in 1999.
Timeline of Key Events
6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970
The Nigerian Civil War
May 1975
Foundation of the Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS)
1989 – 1997
First Liberian Civil War
1999 – 2003
Second Liberian Civil War
7 June 1998 – 10 May 1999
Guinea-Bissau Civil War
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2001
the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) adopts the Protocol
on the Fight against Corruption
19 September 2002 – 4 March 2007
First Ivorian Civil War
23 March 1991 – 18 January 2002
Sierra Leone Civil War
Previous attempts to resolve the issue
Various Peacekeeping Operations and Stabilization Missions have been set
up with the objective to, among others, monitor political developments in West Africa,
carry out special assignments and good offices roles on behalf of the SecretaryGeneral and enhance sub-regional capacities for the prevention of conflicts and
mediation in countries within West Africa; to enhance sub-regional capacities to deal
with cross-border threats to peace and security, election-related instability and
challenges related to security sector reform, illicit trafficking and terrorism,
transnational organized crime, and to foster good governance and general respect
for the rule of law, the mainstreaming of gender and human rights in the prevention
of conflict and conflict management initiatives in West Africa.
In addition, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
endeavours to promote the economy of the West African region. In 2001, the
ECOWAS adopted the Protocol on the Fight against Corruption, with the aims to
promote and strengthen the development in all State Parties effective mechanisms,
to prevent, suppress and extirpate corruption, to strengthen cooperation between
State Parties, with the objective of making anti-corruption measures more effective
and to promote the harmonisation and coordination of national laws and policies that
attempt to combat corruption.
Following are some of the resolutions that have been released on the issue of
decreasing the political instability in West Africa:
A/RES/62/242 http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/62/242
Modalities, format and organization of the high-level meeting on Africa's development
needs
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A/RES/62/179 http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/62/179
New Partnership for Africa's Development: progress in implementation and
international support
A/RES/62/275 http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/62/275
Implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the SecretaryGeneral on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and
sustainable development in Africa
A/RES/62/216 http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/62/216
United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa
A/RES/70/66 United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa
Possible Solutions
In order to solve the issue of decreasing political instability in West Africa, we
should address both solutions which focus on short-term challenges, such as
political violence, the rule of law, resource nationalism the macroeconomic
environment, and regime stability, as well as solutions that focus on structural longterm political risks, such as infrastructure quality, resource security, economic
diversification, societal resilience and the human rights landscape, all which are
important ingredients of a country’s long term economic growth environment.
It has been suggested that the peripheral capitalist African state could be a
primary source of political instability in the African continent. In order to tackle the
whims of political stability, the peripheral capitalist African state could be
democratically reconstituted, and fundamental changes could be made in the global
capitalist political economy.
Corruption is also a factor that contributes to political instability in West Africa
and the fight against corruption calls for the institution of an appropriate sub-regional
anti-corruption framework to deal with it. As long as the problem of corruption is left
unaddressed, it will continue to be a source of political instability which will eventually
affect the region’s development agenda.
Appendix/Appendices
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http://www.hmun.nl/
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http://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-i/index.html
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"Peace and Conflict 2014." CIDCM. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/pc/
"Global Conflict Tracker." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign
Relations, n.d. Web. 29 Dec. 2015. http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflicttracker/p32137#!/?marker=35
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