This article, written in two parts, aims to draw attention to the role that the Captains of Industry – businesses and entrepreneurs – can play to enhance the African security environment, fundamental for any business development. Part I starts by providing a synopsis of a presentation given by the author during the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) Conference held in June 2011 in London. The presentation employed a ‘tour d’horizon’ approach, which provided audiences with the opportunity to gain an insight into the Riverine and Great Lakes environment that surround the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The aim of the discussion was to bring to the fore a focus on the dynamics of African inland water transport systems in contrast to the more typical matters that tend to concentrate primarily on the oceans and littoral regions. A secondary aim was to highlight the increasingly significant role that rivers and lakes play to combat water stress and its dire implications for social, economic and environmental development. ‘Project Future Urban Extreme Littoral – Land’, described below, was used as an additional backdrop for discussion, highlighting the positive and negative linkages of the increasing level of migration towards the urban littoral, but also – for instance – the city of Kinshasa.

This reorientation away from the traditional focus of Maritime Domain Awareness created a ‘Black Swan’⁽²⁾ and a framework that was dual in purpose. The first comprised a communication methodology intended to reinforce effective knowledge exchange, and the second was to produce a backdrop whereby other Black Swans could be introduced. However, the primary goal of the presentation, and this article, is to raise awareness of Africa’s littoral, riverine and lake environments and their potential to provide ‘movement corridors’ to contribute to regional economic growth, diversity and prosperity. Outside the scope of this article, but certainly very connected are the ecological and habitat aspects of the littoral and riverine environment. A ‘dead’ littoral and riverine environment will have catastrophic consequences for all bordering nations!

The first prerequisites to utilise this potential to its full capacity are – no surprise – a safe and secure environment, and secondly, the introduction of imaginative, yet sustainable development programmes that effectively tap into, and provide momentum to the socio-economic capacities of a vast geographical area. Yet the necessary security mechanisms that need to underwrite such development programmes come at a price, with their ‘justification’ being hampered by a crumbling appetite for development aid, reduced budgets for the military and continuing local and regional turmoil.

In part II (available here), three possible models will be introduced that warrant study as cost-effective and imaginative precursors, enhancing that necessary ‘safe and secure’ environment before sustainable economic development can really take off.

Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and Riverine Domain Awareness (RDA)

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) provides a broadly accepted definition of MDA, which is ‘the effective understanding of any activity associated with the maritime environment that could affect upon the security, safety, economy or environment.’ By employing a similar format, this paper defines Riverine Domain Awareness (RDA) as ‘the effective understanding of any activity associated with the maritime, riverine and lake environment that could affect the security, safety, economy or environment.’

As evidenced by the London conference, RDA is a vital element for ensuring an integrated approach. It also underlines that sound economic development and a safe and secure environment will help counter prevailing and potential security challenges by ‘negative forces.’ The individual elements are thus intertwined and, by consequence, must be viewed in a comprehensive, cross-cutting manner. Additionally, natural geographical boundaries can often challenge or constrain an integrated scheme. Whilst it could be argued that certain security challenges only have a local and possibly temporary effect, the author, from experience, would promote, in line with the IMO, an approach that views security challenges in a regional, if not global perspective and searches for possible linkages to anticipate and, where possible, mitigate against ‘future shocks.’

In the context of this article, the primary consideration is to discuss the potential role Captains of Industry and private businesses can play in fostering greater security. By working in a transparent partnership with local military and law enforcement agencies, they could foster greater ownership of the security and economic challenges that face the continent of Africa. This would ultimately minimise the security seams⁽³⁾ that currently exist between the perceived awareness in the maritime domain surrounding the continent of Africa, and the near total lack of awareness in the riverine and Great Lakes environment of Central Africa.

“Riverine domain awareness” in the Central African region is not well documented and is often overlooked. However, since 9/11, global security issues have undergone a dynamic shift with criminal acts associated with terrorism now being a major concern. Accessible transit corridors play an important role for criminals who conspire to harm a state or their civilians and, therefore, riverine corridors could provide a lucrative opportunity, especially in the absence of appropriate security frameworks.⁽⁴⁾ Thus, RDA may quickly become of a mainstream interest if organisations such as Al-Shabaab (or Boko Haram) start to establish a base in the region.⁽⁵⁾ One of the key players to ‘stitch these seams tightly together’ could be the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Force Navale (FN). Not as a gargantuan, single actor effort, but in cooperation with neighbouring countries that also have a stake in promoting a seamless security environment in both the riverine and littoral environments. Deepening such partnerships between private and public organisations would also constitute a pivotal step towards a maturing African Maritime Economy, where success is influenced, if not underpinned, by visible and credible efforts in the areas of Maritime (littoral) and Riverine Domain Awareness.

Littoral urbanisation – ‘Project Future Urban Extreme Littoral – Land’ (FUEL-L)⁽⁶⁾

The majority of the world's population today live in cities, and these urban conglomerations are expanding at an unprecedented pace.⁽⁷⁾ Security challenges are growing more complex, from terrorism and organised crime to political, social and economic unrest, raising questions about the resilience of critical infrastructure against cyber-attacks, energy security, and the effects of climate change. Urban security requires a comprehensive and multi-dimensional strategy that spans the police and judiciary as well as other local and global administrative structures and should aim to address internal and external threats. A multi-dimensional strategy must equally consider how to improve communications (and their systems) between police, military, and intelligence communities. This task would require a review of what new technologies are available and, more importantly, which ones would be compatible, effective, and resilient in improving urban security within the geographical scope of the intended deployment.

Put in simple terms, it is important to understand that to achieve a forward-looking strategy, documentation and research is a vital part of the process. The combined effects of migration towards the urban littoral need to be fully explored, as do the preparations employed by different stakeholders and the potential challenges posed by the environment. Such an examination will require input and incorporate the needs of civilian first responders, law enforcement agencies, fire brigades, medical services and the military, and should provide a final report and recommendations for decision makers, including politicians and governmental officials. This first stage would provide the discussion platform to enable ‘cultural connection’ between, and with, the plethora of military and civilian decision makers that are representative of a very complex urban environment.

As a precursor, a concept project, ‘Project Future Urban Extreme Littoral – Land’ (FUEL-L), was initiated in late 2009 and launched along with a series of FUEL-L related scenarios, which identified recent (2010-2011) global events that have demanded unique, multi-dimensional responses. A few examples are the immense chemical factory fire that occurred in the Rotterdam Port Area of the Netherlands and the numerous ‘Spring Events’ in Northern Africa, the Arab Peninsula and the Middle East. In Japan, the combined effects of an earthquake and a tsunami that struck a densely populated area demonstrated the ability of nature to breach security and safety measures alike (but equally demonstrated the value of well-coordinated civil-military cooperation to manage this crisis). Additionally, in Rio de Janeiro, scenes of coordinated police-military action against criminal and drug occasions.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – Kinshasa

The city of Kinshasa is a sprawling urban environment situated alongside the River Congo (as opposed to a coastal city). It offers the social scientist ample opportunities to observe and assess many of the global issues that affect and restrict the development of a nation. These include: the dynamics between the extreme rich and poor, the influences of development, technology, animated migration and the daily movement of over one million individuals, unequal distribution of quality food supplies, potable water, wealth and employment, the behaviour of international organisations, and the effects of persistent electricity failures (coupled with the associated secondary effects).

The urbanisation trend in the DRC is characterised by the establishment of an increasing number of peri-urban centres. These types of centres are often accompanied by considerable environmental pressures and consequences. DRC examples would be declining fish stocks due to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, ‘unsupervised logging operations,’ and ‘commercial poaching’ in the Congo Basin forest.⁽⁸⁾ The DRC’s coastal marine and riverine environment has been witnessed by the author as serving as a dumping ground for large quantities of urban and industrial wastewater. As alluded to above, there is evidence that fish stocks are in decline, which has numerous direct and indirect effects on the local populace. Moreover, local food stress gives cause to other community-based issues because – in this example – fishermen have to venture out further afield and increasingly into other nations’ fishing grounds. Ramifications of this socio-economic domino effect is the increase in maritime crime reports associated with the theft of fish, nets and boats from other fishermen. One solution to stem this trend is to increase the capacity to monitor most, if not all, activities that occur in the littoral and riverine domain. The Force Navale should now step up to this challenge and become the actor of choice to assume a leading role!

From theory towards action – A gradual approach with the need for resilience and ‘affordable options’

Project FUEL-L’s first phase is rooted in the concept of ‘Littoral Engagement, Assistance and Influence Zones’, which, in turn, is based on the principle of establishing regional affiliations between European and African nations, and by doing so, seek to achieve persistent, long-term cooperative engagement by foreign civil-military expertise and capabilities with a broad spectrum of local actors. This is judged as the ‘Rolls-Royce solution’ of choice. But, unless enshrined in a robust policy framework (for instance between the European Union (EU) and African Union (AU)), it is unlikely to deliver its many ‘security related products’ in a coherent, cost-effective, and persistent manner. Two of those security products, MDA and RDA, are specifically designed to guide and support local actors developing a strategy to manage the security of the littoral and riverine dimension effectively, within a structured national and (sub-)regional framework. The market (‘demand’) for these particular products is driven by the prevailing multi-dimensional and highly complex challenges and the quantity of experience and knowledge of local actors and institutions to effectively deal with these combined challenges region wide. In many African nations this is further frustrated by the lack of functional infrastructure and the costs associated with replacement, repair or building from scratch.

Therefore, it is intended that one of the outputs of Project FUEL-L is to minimise the impact of ‘security seams’ and to focus on affordable options. This will require a specific management tool to be developed at the project design stage and this must take into consideration the importance of sovereignty. The concept of Littoral Engagement, Assistance and Influence Zones is far from being just military-centric. One of its principal objectives is to create the conditions to revolutionise the African Maritime sector, as a major catalyst for regional, if not continental development and prosperity.

“The oceans, ports and inland waterways of the African Continent are more than mere sources of food and energy; they are how Africa trades with the rest of the world. Accordingly, the African maritime – and riverine (my addition) – sector holds the key to wealth and prosperity for the continent as a whole.” ⁽⁹⁾

This concept implicitly embraces the implementation of the African Union’s (AU) African Maritime Transport Charter⁽¹⁰⁾ (2009) and the development of an overarching African strategy for the sector. It can be a vehicle to assist African nations in determining what roles their maritime capabilities can undertake, striking a balance between realistic ambitions and available financial resources, heritage and tradition and regional reach and influence. In a similar vein, it supports the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s call for countries and regional organisations in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea to develop a comprehensive strategy to combat maritime piracy (which he says threatens to hinder economic development and undermine security in the region).⁽¹¹⁾

In the post-Lisbon context, one of the recognised constraints of employing a ‘joint approach by nations’, an important if not fundamental component of the concept, is the current budgetary stresses that have already forced a dramatic review of the level of engagement by some European nations on the African continent. Such financial stresses are not conducive to a sustainable approach to unite European nations, as it is likely to disrupt programming (development) partnerships, impact on agreements for task allocation and the establishment of required regional affiliations.⁽¹²⁾ However, as a response to that constraint, other ‘financial’ opportunities that lend themselves to the concept can be explored, exploited, and forward traction enabled.

These affordable options must be sufficiently robust to prevent the risk of creating ungoverned spaces and allowing negative forces and other ‘spoilers’ to take a free reign through the manipulation of seams in existing, but not (fully) connected security structures. In addition it is important not just to focus on these negative forces and other ‘spoilers’ alone, but also to recognise and take into account the significant combined effects of migration towards the urban conglomerations, most notably in the littoral regions. As a solution Project FUEL-L was also discussed as a starting point because it focuses on the combined effects of urban migration, which may become the root cause of many future global security and environmental challenges. Examples of these combined effects – for instance – are the negative impacts of pollution on the environment, unemployment and food and water stress. These aspects are all interrelated. Unlocking the potential of Central Africa’s inland waterways, to promote, and inter-link regional socio-economic development opportunities, may be the only answer to prevent each, or all of these aspects spinning out of control.

By way of a summary, Part I discussed the importance of a safe and secure littoral, riverine and lake environment, as a precondition to re-energise the African inland waterway transportation systems. It introduced Project FUEL-L to draw attention to the cascading effects of migration towards the ‘urbanised littoral,’ and the conceptual platform it provides for timely engagement within this urbanised littoral. Above all, it suggests an enhanced role for private actors, such as businesses and Captains of Industry, to strive for a secure environment where sustainable development can take root. Part II (available here) will outline and explore three possible cost-effective and cross-cutting models that could be exploited to accelerate the implementation of sustainable solutions to the many security challenges in the maritime and riverine domains of West and Central Africa. If successful, nothing stands in the way to unlock the vast potential of the African Continent as a whole.

NOTES:

(1) Contact Marco Hekkens through Consultancy Africa Intelligence's Conflict and Terrorism Unit ( conflict.terrorism@consultancyafrica.com).
(2) Wikipedia; The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept that the event is a surprise (to the observer) and has a major impact. After the fact, the event is rationalised by hindsight.
(3) Finman, B., 2007. Maritime Security on the Horn of Africa: Threading the Needle at a Seam of Responsibility. Joint Military Operations Department: London UK.
(4) Allegedly on 27 February 2011, ‘negative forces’ used the Congo river to approach the presidential residence in Kinshasa. DRC media periodically report of ‘negative forces’ using the Ubangui river to enter Equateur Province from the Central African Republic. For more information, see: ‘RDC incursion des militaires centrafricains signalèe á l’Équateur, 7 January 2011, http://www.rdcongomonde.com.
(5) Anon., 3 November 2011. ‘Nouvelle menace dans la sous-région des Grands Lacs’, Le Potentiel, Edition 9065.
(6) Project FUEL-L is a personal research project by the author; for more information and to contribute to the project, see http://www.linkedin.com.
(7) Belgian Technical Cooperation, 18-19 December 2007, Reflection and discussing paper based on the seminar ‘THE URBAN [F]ACTOR Challenges facing sustainable urban development, Brussels.
(8) ‘Congo Basin – DRC, Case Study on the Ngiri – Tumba – Maindombe Wetland Landscape - Environmental Security Assessment’, Institute for Environmental Security, December 2009, http://www.envirosecurity.org.
(9) Baker, M.L., 2011. ‘Toward an African Maritime Economy – Empowering the African Union to Revolutionise the African Maritime Sector’, Naval War College Review, Spring 2011, Vol. 64(, no 2); Address by Deputy UN Secretary-General Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 21 November 2011, http://www.un.org.
(10) African Union, 2009, African Maritime Transport Charter: 2nd Ministerial Meeting of Ministers responsible for transport, Durban, South Africa.
(11) UN Security Council Resolution 2018 (2011), S/RES/2018 (2011), 31 October 2011.
(12) ‘Increasing the impact of EU Development Policy: an Agenda for Change’, European Commission reference COM (2011) 637 final, 13 October 2011; Sherriff, A., ‘Is there a new impetus on the EU to deal with conflict and fragility in third countries? Part 2: Recent policy developments’, ECDPM, 25 November 2011, http://www.ecdpm-talkingpoints.org.

Written by Marco Hekkens ⁽¹⁾