The Strategic Role Of South Africa In The Fight Against Terrorism In Africa

The transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994 marked a defining moment for South Africa in the 21st century, not just marking the stoppage of racial segregation, but for strengthening South Africa's position in African geopolitics. As the second largest economy and the most developed nation on the continent, South Africa plays a strategic role in the maintenance of peace, security and in representing Africa's interest in the international arena.

However, South Africa's low commitment towards fighting the rising terrorism and religious radicalism raises critical questions such as, what South Africa is doing to assist Kenya, Somalia, Mali and Libya to tackle the recent terrorist activities within their geographic territories, and whether or not such assistance forms a critical component of South Africa's foreign policy and manifests in its diplomatic engagement with its peers on the continent.

For over 6 years, Nigeria has been struggling to flush out the deadly Boko Haram insurgents from its territory where over 15 000 people have been killed with more than 1 000 000 internally displaced. Also, Mali has been boiling through the ongoing political crisis which started by a political revolt by the Tuareg rebels and intensified through a military takeover in March 2012 which required French military troops to restore calm. Moreover, Libya is still on fire and being used as terrorist training hub for lunching professional terrorists into mainstream Africa.

It is without doubt that, Libya is the hardest hit by the Arab Spring after Tunisia has transition successfully into democracy with Egypt still struggling. Recent media reports from the United States indicate that most terrorist groups in Africa have close link with Benghazi where Ansar al-Shari'a is based with the notable ones being Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and al-Mulathamun Brigade in Algeria, Ansar al-Shari'a in Tunisia, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in Egypt, Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia. This indicates the urgency with which the African Union (AU) should quickly resolve the Libyan crises.

Furthermore, the recent Garrisa Massacre in Kenya which claimed the lives of about 146 innocent university students with al-Shabaab admitting that they are the perpetrators requires swift response from the AU and key regional players such as South Africa. From an informed perspective, it can be observed that these terrorist have formed a strong network which requires a multidimensional and complex continental response from the African Union. South Africa should play the lead role in this response to give meaning to the popular mantra of 'African solution to Africa solution' which runs through its foreign policy.

Meanwhile, the growing global and domestic interests of Pretoria through rising multilateral and bilateral engagements with the West and China has entangled and implicated South Africa's relations with other African capitals, a practice which has diminished the influence of Pretoria in regional and continental geopolitics particularly in the areas of peace and security.

These critical issues build various domestic tensions within South Africa and reveal the gray areas of its foreign policy towards Africa as well as the domestic realities of engaging an equally complex continent beset with poverty and political instability.

Therefore these tensions point to moiled observations and expectations of South Africa's commitment towards continental security and development. South Africa owes African the moral obligation in the maintenance of peace and security especially during this critical era of rising armed conflicts, political crises, insurgencies, disease outbreaks and terrorism across the continent due to the overwhelming support it received from African countries during apartheid struggle.

Moreover, the South African military is classified as one of the most modern fighting forces on the African continent with complete local military industry. Hence, Pretoria should find a balance in its multilateral engagement and resolve tensions by ensuring that such diplomatic engagements contribute significantly to the maintenance of continental peace as well as the deepening of regional integration on the continent.

To achieve this, South Africa needs to set out clear foreign policy strategy especially in formalising mechanism for combating terrorism and resolving political crises through financial assistance as well as advance military craft and troops. Based on this, South Africa has the sensitive obligation of ensuring political equilibrium among strong national interests, regional and global aspirations and at the same time adhering to the common pan-African objectives of promoting continental unity, security and economic prosperity for the rapidly growing population.

Therefore, South Africa should position itself as a key player in regional and continental politics by building deeper engagements with other key regional players such as Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Ethiopia to build common position on security matters pertinent to the continent through strategic traditional African diplomacy. This has become urgent because it has been noted within SADC and at the AU that South Africa has already stopped engaging with its peers on common African issues.

These ardently pursued by Pretoria would position South Africa as well as reinforce its aspiration of securing a permanent membership seat in the United Nations Security Council when Africa's request for permanent membership is granted in future United Nations reforms. In this regard, South Africa must swiftly play a strategic and lead role in initiating an interactive process within the scope of AU and other Regional Economic Communities within Africa to deepen security and technical cooperation as well as in the implementation of this strategy.