peter
Prosper Ndlovu, Feature
A SENSE of dread continues to hang over developing economies across the world including Africa in the wake of vexing Covid-19 variants.
For southern Africa, the pandemic’s baleful impacts are increasingly visible in the form of weakening human security levels among member states.
Job losses due to strained economic activity, weakening incomes and associated mental distress, widening inequalities in terms of access to food and health services, gender-based violence and reversals in development, are among the multiple adverse impacts.
Recent academic studies confirm that the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) is being confronted with human security ramifications due to Covid-19.
These are being compounded by climate change complications, which affect many communities, as well as the emergency of isolated armed conflicts and violent protests in some parts of the region.
The notion of human security emphasises the need for countries to prioritise addressing issues that affect citizens of a particular state, as root causes of insecurity.
International relations experts are convinced this approach offers a more comprehensive framework in tackling diverse challenges to national peace and security through focusing on people’s needs.
Senior director at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Marina Caparini, in a research paper on “Covid-19 impact on human security” published by the United Nations in May this year, identifies seven human security components that should be prioritised if regions are to achieve sustainable peace and security.
These are health security, economic security, food security, environmental security, personal security, community security and political security.
She warns that as governments focus on containing Covid-19, enforcement of regulations should not overshadow these human security sensitive elements, given their broader implications on national peace and security.
“The subject of the human security approach are individuals, and its end goal is the protection of people,” says Caparini.
Her views are supported by South African researcher, Joshua Rosenberg, who notes that Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe faced greater risk across several labour market dimensions from Covid-19 shock.
“These countries all face high risk in their youth populations, with Angola and Zimbabwe seeing high risks for women,” he said, citing findings of a recent study on ‘Covid-19 impact on Sadc Labour markets’.
“South Africa faces more sector specific risks in their secondary and tertiary sectors, as does Mauritius. Comoros, DRC and Madagascar all face high risks of employment loss for women and youth, with Comoros and Mauritius facing severe general employment risks.”
This emphasises the need to move security interests beyond state centric issues alone but appreciating that human security deprivations could heavily undermine broader peace and stability within and between countries.
International relations experts agree that human security modelling could offer effective responses to prevailing security vulnerabilities and insecurities, which is critical to lasting regional peace building.
While Covid-19 is not a traditional security threat, it has exposed how regions, including Southern Africa, respond to emerging human security threats, says Juliet Eileen Joseph from the University of Johannesburg.
She adds that regional peace and security is being further compromised due to an upsurge in violent conflicts within Sadc, all happening amidst the coronavirus global pandemic period.
The violent protests sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma in South Africa are a case in point after claiming about 337 lives in July this year, according to that country’s Presidency Office.
Vandalism and looting by angry mobs also disrupted normal business flow and regional trade supplies via South Africa, which heavily crippled service delivery and affected incomes.
This was to be followed by the ‘‘Phoenix Massacre’’ where about 30 people died from vigilante killings in August following outbreak of violence involving blacks and Indians, the local media reported.
Analysts attribute these to existing socio-economic inequalities and criminality that emanates from human security gaps.
Similar violent protests erupted in Eswatini from mid-2021 over democratic reforms resulting in negative impacts on civilian security including death of dozens of people.
By July this year, Eswatini acting prime minister Themba Masuku was quoted as saying the protests had caused 5 000 jobs losses and R3 billion in damages with an estimated 1 000 small businesses affected.
Mozambique’s Carbo Delgado terrorist insurgency also remains a thorn in the flesh for the whole of Sadc. By November 2021, for instance, Mathias Eick of the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations reported that almost 800 000, nearly half the population of the province, had been displaced by the insurgency.
Some have become refugees in and around the province’s capital of Pemba, creating humanitarian crisis in terms of provision of basic humanitarian assistance, including the rehabilitation of health centres and schools.
“First we fled into the bush when Al Shabab attacked our village,” Jifa Nguile who is over 70 years old, narrated her ordeal to Relief Web.
“But my sons then helped me and my granddaughters to flee first to Macomia and then to this place near Pemba, where we feel much more secure.”
Estimates indicate that since its start towards end of 2017, the conflict has killed over 3 000 people and displaced more, some even more than once.
Commenting on this situation, Dr Clayton Hazvinei Vhumbunu, of Rhodes University in South Africa, suggests the major cause behind Mozambican insurgency is linked to poverty, lack of socio-economic opportunities, marginalisation, discrimination, inequality and the frustrations of young people as a result of prolonged and unresolved conflict in the country.
He adds that when the first insurgent attacks were recorded in 2017, Mozambique’s economy was coincidentally experiencing a slowdown, which took a toll on ordinary people.
Although Sadc is not engaged in large scale war of the magnitude of liberation struggles, it is no doubt battling a full force human security threat induced by the above factors, which collectively compromise sustainability of regional peace and security.
Southern Africa peace and security expert, Michael Aeby, concurs saying that such armed conflicts and violent protests are not only driven by ambitious rebel leaders, but largely by social grievances and human security concerns of the marginalised fighters.
While dialogue and military intervention could halt violent confrontation, such as the case between the Mozambican government and the late rebel leader Alfonso Dhlakama’s Renamo in 2014, Aeby suggests that sustainable peace and stability will remain fragile until such a time when existing human security concerns are addressed.
He urges Sadc governments to invest more in improved governance systems and democratisation processes that will foster inclusive sense of nationhood and development.
In Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa has expressed commitment to driving equitable development in all parts of the country under Government’s Vision 2030 drive, citing the need to foster inclusivity and tackling historic conflicts such as the early 1980s Gukurahundi strife.
In line with the region’s desire for a shared future as espoused in the Sadc Declaration and Treaty as well as the Protocol on Politics, Peace and Security, there is a need for increased regional integration and collaboration among member states towards enhancing human security, in particular.
This includes speeding up implementation of key regional agreements and projects that have higher impact on ordinary people’s livelihoods, which will enhance regional resilience strategies and safeguard citizens from any potential social and economic fallout.
Such interventions would further assist Sadc in advancing sustainable development as expressed in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as Africa Agenda 2063, which have mainstreamed human security across the spectrum.
Despite the highlighted human security gaps, the Sadc region must be commended for its efforts in fostering collective peace and security responses, which have registered key milestones.
This has seen deployment on 15 July 2021 of the Sadc Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) through an Extraordinary Summit of Heads of States and Government resolution.
The November 2021 Sadc report, highlights some of the key successes that include recapturing villages, dislodging terrorists from their bases and seizing weapons and warfare material, which has contributed to create a relatively secure environment for safer passage of humanitarian support.
“Additionally, members of the community have developed confidence in SAMIM forces, feeling more secure and allowing internally displaced persons to return to their normal lives,” said Sadc.
The political and security situation in Lesotho has also remained generally stable after the successful conduct of the national stakeholder’s dialogue in 2020.
Working closely with the United Nations, the Sadc region has also been credited for stabilization of operations in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has been marred by armed conflict in recent years.
The interventions, among others, have enabled neutralisation of negative forces, protection of civilians and facilitating the provision of humanitarian assistance to the population affected by terrorism, said Sadc.
Online Reporter