Peace-Making, Military Integration, Banditry, and Weaponization of the COVID-19 Pandemic by Extremist Groups

Abstract

This issue of African Security covers themes as diverse as peace-making, military integration, banditry, and weaponization of the COVID-19 pandemic by extremist groups. Contexts covered include East, West and Central Africa. The first paper in this issue, “A Faulty Prescription? Critiquing Joint Security Units after Peace Agreements in Sudan, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic,” problematizes the doctrine of military integration and establishment of joint units. Aly Verjee argues, in cases drawn from Sudan, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, that the results produced by these joint units have been largely disappointing because of politics. The second paper in this issue, “Beyond ungoverned spaces”: Connecting the Dots between Relative Deprivation, Banditry, and Violence in Nigeria’, challenges the concept of “ungoverned spaces,” which is fast approaching hegemonic status in analyses of violence in several parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Promise Frank Ejiofor produces a nuanced and textured argument noting that the concept does not put socioeconomic issues into cognizance. Ejiofor emphasizes the salience of material and ethnic grievances of pastoralists in cases of banditry and warns against the utilization of military measures, which may lead to persistence of violence. Olajide O. Akanji’s paper “In Hindsight: The African Union’s Peacemaking Role in Côte d’Ivoire’s Post-Election Crisis (2010–2011),” is the third piece in this issue. Akanji, building on existing literature, argues that the AU’s role was more robust than mere mediation. The paper’s argument is instructive. Akanji argues that the deployment of force by UNOCI/Force Licorne is an AU shortcoming and should not be construed as a failure of enquiry methods and conciliation. Akanji underscores how the international political environment acts as a constraining device on the AU’s capacity. The final article in this issue is titled “The Potential for Violent Extremist Organizations in Africa to take Advantage of the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis in Ungoverned Spaces: The Cases of al-Shabaab and Boko Haram.” In this piece, Viktor Marsai and István Tarrósy argue that violent extremist organizations have weaponized the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on examples from al-Shabaab and Boko Haram, Marsai and Tarrósy demonstrate how states have struggled to provide services during the pandemic while at the same time trying to deal with violent extremist organizations. The paper argues that states have been slower to adapt to the pandemic than violent extremist organizations. Consequently, alAFRICAN SECURITY 2022, VOL. 15, NO. 2, 89–90 https://doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2022.2085427