Issues of fragility in Africa

fragility in Africa

Rome [ENA] Issues of fragility in Africa, can lead to the eruption of new cycles of violence, exacerbate and prolong existing conflicts and become drivers of regional instability through their spillover effect. The maintenance of international peace and security continues to face major challenges, as a permanent peace and sustainable security remain difficult to achieve in many parts of the world, especially in fragile contexts

on the African continent, where a variety of security, socioeconomic, political and environmental pressures have put populations under significant tension, creating a risk of violence and conflict. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the emergent environmental damage provoked by climate change are exasperating issues of fragility across the african regions, impacting to mass unemployment, menacing food security, creating conflict over depleting land and water resources and emphasizing existing lines of political or social division. So far, the official cases in the continent are over 13,000, 60% of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa and more or less 25% in South Africa. But data are constantly evolving.

African states are taking more and more drastic measures to deal with the emergency. From the Sahel and the Great Lakes region to the Horn of Africa and beyond, drivers of fragility such as violence led by armed groups, organized crime, terrorism and violent extremism, intermixed with chronic poverty, socioeconomic inequalities, illegal exploitation of natural resources and weak governance, are aggravating existing tensions, propagating cycles of violence and prolonging conflicts, in spite of the long presence of several United Nations missions such as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,

the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia. Not only are a rising number of fragile contexts now experiencing prolonged conflicts and high levels of organized violence, causing huge flows of refugees and internally displaced persons, but also, in the absence of State authority and efficient institutions, fragile contexts often provide breeding grounds and safe havens for terrorist groups, transnational crime networks (including weapons smugglers and human traffickers) and other violent non-State actors, who use such contexts as strongholds to conduct their destabilizing operations, both locally and on a larger scale, threatening

the stability and security of neighbouring countries and international peace and security in general. Fragility may seem like an abstract concern. In fact, it is a main impediment to peacemaking and peacebuilding. While violent conflict and fragility are distinct issues, they are undoubtedly inextricably linked and mutually self-reinforcing to the extent that it would be inefficient to address one without tackling the other. As conflicts around the world become rooted and humanitarian crises proliferate, persuasion is growing around the need to adopt more wide-ranging approaches for the maintenance of international peace and security in order to address the drivers of conflicts, including the underlying causes of fragility.

There are many cross-border issues, drivers of fragility, such as transnational organized crime, the illicit arms trade and conflict minerals which must be addressed. The global architecture of development cooperation is moving, on the international level, on two levels: on the one hand, the urgent response, on the health level, to deal with the pandemic; on the other, the economic, social and development response to deal with its consequences, and each actor must play its part.