The Governance, Security and Development Nexus by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030493486
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Emerging Regional Security Architecture in the Lake Chad Basin: The MultiNational Joint Task Force (MNJTF)

The end of the Cold War security order has resulted in the relative neglect of armed conflicts in the global South. Following the United Nations Security Council’s demand for robust transnational and regional counter-terrorism measures (Heupel 2007), states in the region have increasingly been impelled to act collectively. Against the backdrop of emerging security realities, states within the LCBC with the support of the African Union decided to form a transnational counter-terrorism measure that resulted in the expansion of the mandate of the MNJTF in the LCB. The MNJTF reflects a regional military alliance to coordinate efforts to combat the common threats to their national security posed by the Islamic fundamentalist group. This security architecture, under the ambit of a restructured MNJTF from “international border control” to “counter-terrorism,” is driven by the changing dynamics of armed conflict in Africa, in particular the resurgence of violent Islamist terrorism and the geopolitics of regional powers. Reminiscence of the West African security regionalism underpinning ECOMOG in the 1990s, the MNJTF in the LCBC represents a new security frontier.

In the LCB, the geostrategic implications of Boko Haram insurgency have altered the power configuration. This has called for the necessary deployment of a security regimen. As a result of the frequency of security threats posed by Boko Haram, the LCB is undergoing the emergence of a new security order and regional configuration. As a regional power, Nigeria and its neighbors in the region realized the tremendous negative geostrategic consequences of Boko Haram transnational border attacks and demanded for the supply of collective regional security arrangements to decimate the insurgency and their associated criminalities (Tar and Bala 2019).

MNJTF reflects a regional military alliance to coordinate efforts to combat the common threat to national and collective regional security posed by the Islamic fundamentalist terrorist group. This emerging regional security architecture institutionalized a paradigm shift and change of mandate of the MNJTF from “international border control” (1990s) to “counter-terrorism” outfit (2015 +). MNJTF as a platform for African-led multilateral securitization and counter-terrorism has focused solely on interstates security dialogue, bringing together the regional defense Chiefs to coordinate region-wide counter-terrorism measures. Increased threats by Islamic radicalism have led to the integration of counter-terrorism into LCBC emerging regional security agenda (UN News 2016, May) (Fig. 10.1).

Fig. 10.1Lake Chad Basin security architecture

(Source Tar and Mustapha [2017, p. 108])

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