-Caveat Lector- African Armies CAN'T Stand Fire Kampala (The Monitor - Kampala, September 1, 1999) - Why do African armies, though pampered by their regimes, fail to deliver at the critical time? Chander Mehra delves into the reasons in this article first published in the Khaleej Times of India in 1997:- African armies are a highly pampered lot, especially by illegitimate unpopular and despotic regimes. This is because the rulers wish to help them stay in power indefinitely. Past and on-going events show without doubt that they have been significantly ineffective in fulfilling their masters' desires. About 13 years ago, faced with Yoweri Museveni's Tanzania-aided National Resistance Army (NRA), the Ugandan army scattered like so much chaff. In 1994, the Rwandan Tutsi rebels decimated the country's Hutu forces and set up their government in Kigali. In 1996 in Burundi, Maj. Pierre Buyoya just strutted into the presidential palace. The defeat of Mengistu Haile Mariam's army in Ethiopia by Eritrean and Tigrean rebels is well documented. So is the disintegration of the Somali army. Liberia went the same way, as did countless other African countries. Such events lead one to conclude that African armies, except in the power-house that is South Africa, are simply incapable of guaranteeing their countries' territorial integrity. They are even incapable of dealing with local rebellions. Why is this so, despite the fact that armed forces personnel in Africa are among the best paid in the world? The success of any army depends on prudent management of recruitment, training, logistics, morale and welfare and, above all, the command and control structure. There are other intangibles, an important one being political will. The conduct of military operations is circumscribed by the provisions of international and national laws. Guided by this framework, it is for a government to decide on the deployment of armed forces and to set the parameters within which they are to operate. Rules of engagement are the means whereby government provides political direction to commanders on the degree and manner in which force may be applied, especially when formal war has not been declared. However, such rules do not apply, when dealing with domestic insurgency. As is well known, Africa has had more civil strife than cross-border wars; the latter have largely been inconclusive while the former have often resulted in rebel victories, except perhaps in Mozambique, where a power sharing formula had to be negotiated. African armies have faltered as a result of many factors. One is lack of political direction. Recruitment is a murky affair. There is manipulation in favour of the tribe to which the head of state belongs. Imbalance in tribal representation in the armed forces causes disenchantment among the people at large and creates disloyalty among those officers and men who belong to the non ruling tribe - a sure enough recipe for strife sooner or later. Recruitment to rebel movements cannot be said to be entirely voluntary, but it is usually well targeted, even though it may be a marriage of convenience in pursuit of a single enemy: a tyrannical and partisan regime. That's one reason civil strifes in Africa tend to last for years; having fulfilled their first goal, the rebels then start fighting among themselves for the spoils of the strife. In most African armies, indiscipline, economic problems and laxity in management have relegated training to the back seat. It is not unusual to find entire brigades who have not fired a rifle since their basic training. The situation is as worse in the case of officers. The soldiers do have weapons, but they are less than mediocre marksmen. African governments, ironically, spend more money on acquiring military hardware than they do, for example, on providing civic amenities to the people. "That's money down the drain," says a retired Kenyan colonel. "A tank without an experienced crew is a useless piece of metal. Similarly, a helicopter or a sophisticated fighter is an operational liability." The three basic elements of war are logistics, strategy and tactics. African armies fail on all three counts. Logistics bring the troops to the point of conflict, strategy decides where to act, and tactics how to act. Most African armies are unable to mount a sustained campaign against an enemy due to lack of good logistic systems. Either there is no money to procure the goods and services, or there is no transport to move them to where they are required. Logistics have also been compromised by corruption and by a lack of planning. In many cases, there is a serious conflict of interest because senior officers are also suppliers to the defence establishment. Copyright 1999 The Monitor - Kampala. Distributed via Africa News Online. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================= Robert F. Tatman [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Remove "nospam" from the address to reply. NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml POSTING THIS MESSAGE TO THE INTERNET DOES NOT IMPLY PERMISSION TO SEND UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL E-MAIL (SPAM) TO THIS OR ANY OTHER INTERNET ADDRESS. 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