Domestic Constraints on Nigeria’s Role in Ecowas Management of the Conflict in Mali
ABSTRACT
This study examines the role of Nigeria in ECOWAS’ bid to resolve the conflict in Mali. In line with her leading role, Nigeria had played a major role in preventing further loss of lives and property, and restored democracy in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
However, with the current security situation in Nigeria, a sub-regional leader, raised concern about what the country has done in the security and constitutional conflict in Mali.
In this study, the specific objectives were to assess: Nigeria’s role, explanation for the intervention, and factors that affected her performance in Mali.
It is the assumption of this study that; Nigeria’s involvement in managing the conflict in Mali was to enhance its national interest and policy of promoting sub-regional peace and security,
Nigeria did not play a leadership role in ECOWAS’ effort to resolve the conflict in Mali and that Nigeria’s domestic challenges, especially internal insecurity militated against her performance.
The Hegemonic Stability Theory was employed to explain Nigeria’s role in ECOWAS intervention in Mali. This theory argued that Institutions designed to help states cooperating with one another are more likely to be created and maintained when there is a powerful state that is capable of providing collective goods (stability) and willing to do so.
As it affects ECOWAS, Nigeria has been a leading force in view of its population, military strength, and resource (oil).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover page………………………………………………………………………………………………………………i
Fly Leaf………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….ii
Title page……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….iii
Declaration……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..iv
Certification……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..v
Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………………………………vi
Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………………………………vii
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..viii
Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………………………………….ix
Acronyms……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..xiv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………….. 1
1.1 Background to the Study……………………………………………………………………………………1
1.2 Statement of Research Problem………………………………………………………………………….4
1.2.1 Research Questions…………………………………………………………………………………………5
1.3 Objectives of the Study………………………………………………………………………………………5
1.4 Assumptions………………………………………………………………………………………………………5
1.5 Significance of the Study……………………………………………………………………………………6
1.6 Scope and Limitation…………………………………………………………………………………………7
1.7 Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………………………..8
1.8 Outline of Chapters………………………………………………………………………………………….13
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK…………………………………………………………………………12
2.1. Literature Review……………………………………………………………………………………………14
2.1.1 Concept of Conflict……………………………………………………………………………………….14
2.1.2 Concept of Conflict Management…………………………………………………………………..20
2.1.3 Conceptualising Conflict Resolution………………………………………………………………25
2.1. 4 Conflict Resolution Debate……………………………………………………………………………32
2.1.4.1Conflict versus Management…………………………………………………………………………..32
2.1.4.2 Resolution versus Transformation………………………………………………………………….34
2.1.5 The Role of Nigeria in United Nations Intervention………………………………………..35
2.1.6 Nigeria’s Conflict Management Efforts in Africa……………………………………………41
2.1.7 ECOWAS Intervention in Sub-regional Conflicts…………………………………………..45
2.1.7.1 Liberia………………………………………………………………………………………………………..45
2.1.7.2 Sierra Leone………………………………………………………………………………………………..49
2.1.7.3 Guinea Bissau………………………………………………………………………………………………51
2.1.7.4 The Republic of Guinea………………………………………………………………………………..53
2.1.7.5 The Case of Cote d’Ivoire……………………………………………………………………………..54
2.1.7.6 Togo…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..56
The 2.1.7.7 Republic of Niger…………………………………………………………………………………………57
2. 1.8 The Role of Nigeria in ECOWAS’ Interventions……………………………………………59
2.1.9 An Appraisal of the Review……………………………………………………………………………67
2.2 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………………………………67
2.2.1 Relevance of Hegemonic Stability Theory…………………………………………………………70
2.2.2 Criticism of the theory…………………………………………………………………………………….72
CHAPTER THREE: ECOWAS CONFLICT MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
AND NIGERIA’S WEST AFRICAN POLICY………………………………………………….74
3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………74
3.2 Background to ECOWAS Framework of Conflict Management……………………74
3.3 ECOWAS Mechanism for Conflict Management…………………………………………..75
3.3.1 The Authority……………………………………………………………………………………………..76
3.3.2 The Mediation and Security Council………………………………………………………………76
3.3.3 The Defence and Security Commission…………………………………………………………..76
3.3.4 The Council of Elders…………………………………………………………………………………..77
3.3.5 The ECOWAS Cease-Fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG)………………………………77
3.3.6 The Executive Secretary……………………………………………………………………………….77
3.4. The Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance (2001)……………………………78
3.5 Convention for the Control of Influx of Small Arms in
West African Sub-region………………………………………………………………………………79
3.6 ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework……………………………………………………79
3.7 ECOWAS Objectives in Mali…………………………………………………………………………81
3.8 Nigeria’s Foreign Policy…………………………………………………………………………………81
3.9 Nigeria’s West African Policy…………………………………………………………………………84
3.10 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………..89
CHAPTER FOUR: NIGERIA IN ECOWAS CONFLICT RESOLUTION
EFFORTS IN MALI………………………………………………………………………………………….. 91
4.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 91
4.2 Mali and its Conflicts………………………………………………………………………………………91
4.2.1 Mali: Political
History…………………………………………………………………………………….91
4.2.2 Economy of Mali……………………………………………………………………………………………93
4.2.3 A Brief History of Mali Conflict………………………………………………………………………93
4.2.4 Mali Conflict of 2012……………………………………………………………………………………..94
4.2.5 Causes of the Conflict in Mali………………………………………………………………………….97
4.2.6 Triggers of the Conflict…………………………………………………………………………………..98
4.2.7 Structural Causes of the Conflict……………………………………………………………………..98
4.3 The Rationale Behind Nigeria’s Role through ECOWAS Intervention in
Mali…100
4.4 Nigeria’s Role in Mali: A leadership Commitment?………………………………………..105
4.5 Factors that Militated Nigeria’s Role in Mali…………………………………………………..112
4.6 Summary of the
Findings……………………………………………………………………………….123
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………………………………………………………………124
5.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….124
5.2 Summary of the Study……………………………………………………………………………………124
5.3 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………….126
5.4 Recommendations………………………………………………………………………………………….127
References……………………………………………………………………………………………………..129
Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………………………….153
INTRODUCTION
Conflict constitutes one of the major features confronting the West African sub-region and the world at large. The sub-region has always been in potential or actual antagonism between the political elite and militant groups.
Accordingly, the fundamental incompatibility in most Post-Cold War conflicts did not revolve around disputes over territory between two or more states; rather they were disputes between two or more groups within a state.
This incompatibility found expression in the ethnicization of politics, the use of religion as a means of mobilization, the violent assertion of rights to self-determination, the collapse or near-collapse of the state, resource conflicts, and criminal activities through trading in precious minerals like diamond, oil, arms and drugs (Bolaji, 2010).
This fact has been reinforced by the end of the Cold War which has not resulted in a reduction in the number and intensity of conflicts in West Africa.
Unlike in the 1970s when foreign military interventions were rampant in Africa, the dawn of the 1990s witnessed little or a half-hearted effort at complementary regional conflict resolution efforts.
This is probably a result of the end of Cold War politics and the shift in attention of the superpowers to the geostrategically explosive situations in the Persian Gulf.
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