Background

As stated in the Commission for Africa report of 11 March 2005,

"the right to life and security is the most basic of human rights. Without increased investment in conflict prevention, Africa will not make the rapid acceleration in development that its people seek."

The MOD is making a significant contribution to HMG efforts to promote peace and security in Africa where we seek to enable Africans to deal with conflict prevention, resolution and management in a self-sustained manner. African ownership for us is the main underlying principle and the UK welcomes recent efforts by African nations to forge through the African Union and regional organisations an African Peace and Security Architecture. These developments are very promising and the MOD has been keen to help ensure that the UK’s G8 and EU Presidencies in 2005 are used to rally the necessary support from the international community behind these plans. Our ongoing cooperation with France in Africa is equally part of our effort to seek maximum partnership with key players in areas of common concern.

MOD defence relations with Sub-Saharan Africa are central to this overall effort. They are largely funded through the African Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP) which is jointly run with the FCO and DfID. Within this framework, the MOD’s main focus is peace support capacity building of African Armed forces which form essential building blocks for the African Peace and Security Architecture. This critically important work is carried out through the network of Defence Attachés, Advisers and the permanently deployed training teams in West British Military Advisory Training Team West Africa (BMATT (WA)) & British Defence Advisory Team (BDAT) Nigeria, British Peace Support Team for East Africa (BPST(EA)) and British Peace Support Team in South Africa (BPST(SA)). They assist and help train in-country African armed forces to internationally recognized standards. They also coordinate complementary short-term training teams and UK-based training. In addition, the MOD, with ACPP funding, has supported in recent years a number of innovative infrastructure projects, for example the establishment of high quality training facilities such as the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Ghana and the International Mine Action Training Centre (IMATC) in Kenya. Such facilities will be instrumental in delivering the necessary peace support training that is still missing in many parts of Africa.

Our lead role in the International Military Advisory Training Team in Sierra Leone (IMATT(SL)) currently represents the UK’s main military commitment in Africa with a total of 90 British military personnel deployed.

The MOD is also engaged in conflict resolution and management in Africa. Thus, British Armed Forces are regularly engaged in international peace support operations such as those undertaken by the UN or the EU. Furthermore, British Armed Forces are ready to support the AU in the management of its own operations, as is currently the case in Darfur, Sudan.

The MOD’s engagement both in the immediate business of helping to resolve conflict in Africa, and the longer term project to build self-sustained African peace support capacity, demonstrate the UK Armed Forces�?determination to play a role as a ‘force for good�?in the interests of international peace and security.