Category: AfSol Publication

Securing through the Failure to Secure? Civilian Joint Task Force and Counter-Insurgency Operations in North-East Nigeria

Securing through the Failure to Secure? Civilian Joint Task Force and Counter-Insurgency Operations in North-East Nigeria

Posted by | Jun 8, 2026 |

The advent of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in 2012 had a great influence in the evolution of national security in the north-eastern region of Nigeria. This is because many scholars have, at various times, described the region as an ‘unfinished’ region, and of inevitable instability. This article interrogates the role of CJTF in counter-insurgency operations (CIOs) and its influence on the establishment and alliance with the military forces in the north-eastern region. The article succinctly investigates the efforts of CJTF and its CIOs. It also explicates, in clear terms and with relevant cases, CJTF’s role in preventing and fighting insurgency in the region. In particular, it focuses on answering the following questions: Can the current security architecture of CJTF cope with the level of sophistication of the Boko Haram insurgency groups across the region? Under what arrangement will CJTF be able to adequately confront Boko Haram insurgency? What are the challenges affecting the CJTF’s efficiency and effectiveness in this region? The article will also examine how existing CJTF can be strengthened to achieve effective CIOs against insurgency in the north-eastern region of Nigeria.

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How Relevant Is the International Criminal Court to the 21st Century Africa and Beyond?

How Relevant Is the International Criminal Court to the 21st Century Africa and Beyond?

Posted by | Jun 8, 2026 |

Although the International Criminal Court (ICC) was examining some non-African situations by 2013, most of the Court’s indictees happened to come from African conflict situations. As will be discussed later, this state of affairs was worsened by the arrest warrant on President Omar Al-Bashir while he was then a sitting president. This made the African Union (AU) feel unfairly targeted and, therefore, contemplate withdrawal from the ICC. Some African leaders have also maintained slanderous charges against the ICC describing it in uncharitable identities and questioning its modus operandi. However, given that the Court was established to dispense international justice for the commission of core crimes, the AU’s contemplation of withdrawal evokes some pertinent questions regarding the future of justice on the continent should the AU eventually withdraw from membership of the Court. How justifiable is the AU withdrawal contemplation? Is this the best of options? What are the possible alternatives for the AU? How does the AU contemplation of withdrawal represent a conflict of interest? In which ways could the Court be strengthened to dispense the international justice for which it was established? In the wake of the aforementioned questions, this paper seeks to address the issue of how relevant the ICC is to the 21st century Africa and beyond. Dwelling on critical discourse analysis as a methodology, the paper employs interdisciplinary perspectives featuring reflections on research in human rights, international law, political science and other relevant areas of interest and speaks to such probing concerns. This paper concludes that though the challenges the AU raises against the ICC are reasonably admissible, they are not compelling enough to justify an AU withdrawal since they are not of the magnitude that deprives the Court of its capacity to dispense justice. This means that the Court remains relevant to the 21st century Africa and beyond. The paper ends by proposing a framework within which the AU could contribute towards making the Court more functional.

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Are women a missing link in Africa’s peace process? Interrogating women’s involvement in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Africa

Are women a missing link in Africa’s peace process? Interrogating women’s involvement in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Africa

Posted by | Jun 8, 2026 |

This paper locates peacebuilding within the context of selected African countries with a focus on Zimbabwe; highlighting the intersection between gender and peacebuilding. The central argument in this paper is that gender relations and its relationship to peacebuilding in Africa must be understood within the context of the disruptions brought by European colonialism, struggles for self-determination and independence and post-independence struggles to construct new nation-states. The paper provides a sociohistorical analysis of gender relations in pre-colonial and colonial Africa and attempts to draw parallels with the postcolonial African state. It argues that a complex combination of these processes gave rise to exclusive, androcentric and elite driven peace processes in the postcolonial state. In examining women’s struggles for equality and social justice in the postcolonial state, the paper highlights how civic society and the civic space has come to be synonymous with women and women’s struggles to influence the peace process. Building on indigenous models of conflict resolution, the paper critically engages the concept of Ubuntu and appraises how it can be appropriated to re-insert women’s peace agency in postcolonial Africa. The paper concludes by examining options for increasing women’s involvement in conflict resolution and peacebuilding in postcolonial Africa.

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Multidimensionalism or Militarism? A Decade of Experimentation in African Peace Support Operations

Multidimensionalism or Militarism? A Decade of Experimentation in African Peace Support Operations

Posted by | Jun 8, 2026 |

The relationship between the military, police, and civilians within the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) has, at times, been characterised by considerable tension and mistrust. This bears direct implications on the effectiveness of the African Union in promoting peace and stability on the continent. This article explores the evolution of the African Standby Force (ASF) based on case studies of the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) and ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) to understand why and how the 2015 bench mark for achieving ASF’s full operation capability did not happen. The article argues that, with regard to the uncertainty surrounding the evolution of the ASF; it is not enough to focus solely on the macro-level factors affecting the evolution of ASF. Instead, internal processes and structures such as the attitude of peacekeepers to each other is, without doubt, an inseparable part of the ‘sluggishness’ in the realization of a rapid deployment capability (RDC). It is, therefore, more appropriate to consider the role of internal processes and civil-military power relations in the evolution of the ASF post-2015.

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Gendered Dimensions of Reparations: Addressing the Harm of Wartime Sexual Violence Through African Feminist Policy Lenses

Gendered Dimensions of Reparations: Addressing the Harm of Wartime Sexual Violence Through African Feminist Policy Lenses

Posted by | Dec 30, 2025 |

Given various peace agreements and transitional justice programmes, the gendered aspects of reparations are frequently overlooked, resulting in inadequate retribution for survivors, the majority of whom are women and girls. The paper investigates how African feminist policy ideas might influence reparations frameworks that are both inclusive and transformational. The paper assesses the feasibility of gender-sensitive reparations programmes using empirical evidence from post-conflict settings such as Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda, highlighting key actions such as establishing survivor-centered reparations funds, incorporating psychosocial care into national health services, and ensuring women’s participation in reparations design and monitoring.The paper argues that by focusing on survivors’ perspectives and feminist ideals of justice, reparations can serve as both a healing tool and a catalyst for gender-equitable peacebuilding and development on the continent. Finally, the paper contends that reparations must go beyond symbolic gestures and offer survivors with material, psychological, and socioeconomic assistance that truly restores their dignity, agency, and opportunity.

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