The Political Economy of AIDS in Africa by Nana K. Poku & Nana Poku & Alan Whiteside

Author:Nana K. Poku & Nana Poku & Alan Whiteside [Poku, Nana K. & Poku, Nana & Whiteside, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, International Relations, General
ISBN: 9780754638971
Google: bgTbAAAAMAAJ
Goodreads: 11264667
Publisher: Ashgate
Published: 2004-01-15T12:20:24+00:00

AIDS and the Domestic-National Security Nexus

Constitutionally, the SANDF shares an auxiliary law enforcement role with the SAPS, an unusual role for the military in a democracy. While there is tremendous reluctance to involve the SANDF in policing affairs, the extensive crime problems have necessitated it (Winkates 2000; National Defence for the Republic of South Africa 1996). The lack of an overt external threat to South Africa means that the domestic policing role may increase for the SANDF. However, they are not allowed to conduct normal police functions, investigations, suspect arrests or actual involvement in the criminal justice system. Despite these restrictions, the deployment of the SANDF in cases of ‘serious crime’ has been done. These crimes include armed attacks on farms, stock theft, arms trafficking, and car hijackings. The SANDF and SAPS have shared scarce equipment, supplies, and services, but forces also share the same problem: the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

In the general literature the overall impact of HIV/AIDS on the military has been dichotomized into the two spheres: the impact of HIV/AIDS on the military and the impact of the military on the spread of HIV/AIDS. The former is a security issue while the latter is a behavioural issue, though separating the two is a difficult proposition as behaviour ultimately affects security in some form. The more obvious security problem is with the military and the impact that the HIV/AIDS virus has on the military’s capacity to carry out its duties. This issue appears at a critical time in Africa’s history when Africa has been freed from external influences to manage its own affairs. The post-Cold War period has placed responsibility for Africa’s problems in Africans hands, almost by default. Given the lack of interest the international community has in Africa, the options for maintaining peace have narrowed, perhaps for the better in terms of the managing of Africa’s affairs by Africans. In one sense, the idea of Africans handling their own crises has tremendous appeal, particularly given that the will of others was the determining factor in settling Africa’s crises during the Cold War. But the additional responsibility being taken up by African governments puts a strain on already scarce resources. Much of those resources have been devoted to expanding military operations in conflict areas.

After the United States’ disastrous peacekeeping efforts in Somalia in 1992, regional and sub-regional organisations have acted to maintain peace in Africa, most prominently in southern Africa, the Southern African Development Community (SADC). SADC has officially committed itself to the expansion of peacekeeping operations in the southern African region; however, resource and power issues may hinder it from becoming active in this area. The only country capable of carrying out any significant foreign military peacekeeping is South Africa, but it has little ambition to take an active stance in any conflicts. The doomed Lesotho intervention of 1998 was the only exception (Danish Defence Ministry 2001). Despite the initial reluctance and even opposition from Zimbabwe (which fears South African regional hegemonic status), it is clear that South

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