[ Interview with Brian Chigawa, COMESA ]

Crisis prevention in Africa:
“We need to be more patient”

Mr Chigawa, what did you find most useful about the InWEnt Training Course? What do you take home with you?
I’m taking back home a lot of new skills, knowledge and experiencees with regard to issues of crisis prevention and conflict management in our region. As the Coordinator of the COMESA Peace and Security Programme, I still need to go a long way to develop my capacity to be able to organize programmes in the region and to strengthen COMESA as an institution for conflict management.

Where is donor country support most needed?
The mandate of COMESA is to focus on crisis prevention, since once a conflict becomes violent it is very expensive and difficult to manage. Accordingly, German assistance would be most helpful in developing the capacities of members of staff of COMESA so that we were able to integrate the issue of conflict prevention into all our programmes. Any programme we carry out should contribute to resolving our conflicts and to building peace.

During the course you had the opportunity to visit some German institutions, state and non-state. What is your impression: does German politics pay enough attention to conflicts in Africa?
Actually, one of the highlights of the course was the meeting with Members of Parliament and attending a session of the Bundestag. We also met officials of the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Economic Cooperation. I would say that Germany is paying attention to what is happening in Africa; you can see it on the ground in African countries what the German government is doing. However, it is important to intensify the dialogue. Interactions like those we had with German officials during our course can promote understanding between Germany and developing countries, but more work needs to be done. We have to improve the provision of information from the developing countries to Germany, especially with relevance to decision-makers, for example in the Bundestag.

In the past, the principle on non-intervention was seen as being of paramount importance in African politics. Must this principle be weakened in order to strengthen African crisis prevention capacities?
It is indeed desirable that countries cede part of their sovereignty when forming a regional organisation, that they feel responsible towards each other and that they address conflicts together. So I agree with you that the principle of non-intervention has to be weakened. We cannot stick to absolute sovereignty and at the same time hope to progress with development.

Are African governments ready for that step?
I’m quite sure that they are willing to abandon part of their sovereignty to improve the capacities of their organisations. But different countries have different laws, and it might in some cases take time to sign an international instrument.

So you would say there is some progress, but one needs to be more patient ...
Exactly. You can’t push a sovereign state. It has to move at its own pace – just like in the European Union where the United Kingdom hasn’t joined the Euro.
Questions by Tillmann Elliesen.