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The AU Task Forces: an African response to transnational armed groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2017

Matthew Brubacher ,
Erin Kimball Damman  and
Christopher Day
Matthew Brubacher*
Affiliation:
Rule of Law and Security Institutions Unit (ROLSI), United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU), PO Box 1357, ECA Complex, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Erin Kimball Damman*
Affiliation:
Florida International University, Department of Politics and International Relations, SIPA Building, Room 410, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199, USA
Christopher Day*
Affiliation:
College of Charleston, Department of Political Science, 66 George Street, Charleston, SC 29464, USA
*
Email: brubacher@un.org
Email: edamman@fiu.edu
Email: dayc@cofc.edu
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Abstract

This article examines the Task Forces created by the African Union (AU) to address the security threats posed by Boko Haram and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). It argues that these Task Forces are well suited to address transnational armed groups whose ambiguous political goals and extreme violence make traditional conflict resolution ineffective. Although the Task Forces fall within the AU's collective security mandate and broadly within the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), their distinct characteristics make it more capable of addressing these new cross-border threats. Their reliance on nationally funded and directed militaries also allow the Task Forces to fulfil both the goals of the AU and the interests of the regimes that take leadership roles within these structures.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , June 2017 , pp. 275 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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