THE GAMBIA UNDER SIEGE: ABSTENTION BY ECOWAS, AU AND THE UN IS A NAÏVE AND QUIXOTIC DECISION OF MODERN TIMES
In another development, Amnesty International Press release dated March, 18th, 2009, alerted the world about the detention of up to 1,000 people in The Gambia by “witch doctors”, taken to detention centers, and forced to drink hallucinogenic concoctions.
With the outcry by Gambian citizens and transnational civil societies, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and notably, the United Nations (UN), continue to be tight-lipped, basically centered on the clouded doctrine of Sovereignty: the principle of non-interference in to the internal affairs of nation states.
Is that abstention by ECOWAS, the AU and the UN not a naïve and quixotic decision of our times? This is indeed the good question modern scholars of international affairs would grapple with.
Responding to the question above requires the understanding that both the AU and ECOWAS, together with the UN have institutions that give early warning potential crisis situations. For example the ECOWAS Protocol Relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peace- Keeping was designed to be a regional early warning system and response to crisis situation. The Protocol states in the following article as follows:
Article 1: Establishment of the Protocol
… hereby established within the Economic Community of WestAfrican States (ECOWAS), a mechanism for collective security and peace to be known as “Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peace-keeping and Security”.
Article 3: Objectives of the Mechanism
The objectives of the Mechanism shall be as follows:
a) prevent, manage and resolve internal and inter-State…..
d) strengthen cooperation in the areas of conflict prevention, early warning, peace-keeping operations, the control of cross-border crime, international terrorism and proliferation of small arms and anti-personnel mines;
Even The Peace and Security Council of the African Union is designed to be “a collective security and early-warning arrangement to facilitate timely and efficient response,” to conflict and crisis situations in Africa.
In Article12 of the Protocol of The Peace and Security Council of AU, which is the Continental Early Warning System, it is stated that:
1. In order to facilitate the anticipation and prevention of conflicts, a
Continental Early Warning System to be known as the Early Warning
System shall be established.
4. The Early Warning System shall develop an early warning module
based on clearly defined and accepted political, economic, social, military and humanitarian indicators, which shall be used to analyze developments within the continent and to recommend the best course of action.
Both institutions of the AU and ECOWAS are further designed to work with the United Nations that has a global early warning system through its Peace Keeping and Prevention mechanisms.
From the first two world wars, the Yugoslavia war, to the Rwandan genocide, the wars of Liberia, Sierra-Leone and the 1990’s civil war of Guinea-Bissau, many lessons have been drawn to say – never again shall we reduce ourselves so low.
As innocent Gambian citizens continue to be tormented by their own government, not a single member state of both the ECOWAS, the AU and the UN raised concern of instability in a region that is already volatile to crisis as a result of poverty, illegal drugs and arms trade.
Although Gambian nationals refuse to use violence in tackling their impasse, would that continue unabated? How long would citizens continue to be killed, tortured and maimed by authorities responsible of their protection? Is the world waiting for another full-blown civil war in the region before considering possible solutions? Are we ready for another refugee exodus in a region already faced with the challenges of hundreds of thousands of refugees from the civil wars of Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Ivory-Coast? These are some of the questions that must be given thoughtful considerations.
ECOWAS, AU, UN, the United States and the European Union must make sober reflections about the Gambian state of affairs. Although the minuscule nation is a resource poor nation with little or nor interest to major global powers, waiting for the situation to blow out of proportion could be costly for our world that is already faced with numerous humanitarian conundrums. It is therefore our collective responsibility to transgress sovereignty and protect innocent Gambian citizens in the interest of regional peace and stability.
The abstention by ECOWAS, the AU and the UN would therefore constitute one of a naïve and quixotic policy decision of modern times. The choice is entirely ours. We either act now or deal with the consequences of a potential regional crisis. What else could one say?
