Analysis of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as an Approach to Resolving Conflicts in Africa: The cases of Libya, Sudan and Central African Republic

Abstract

This study intended to investigate the application of R2P doctrine in the African continent with reference to Libya, Sudan and Central African Republic as case studies for the discussion. The African region continues to struggle with intra-states conflicts since 1960s. This study objectives were to examine whether superpowers use the doctrine of R2P to strive towards national interest, to examine the role of state and non-state actors such as civil society organizations in supporting the implementation of the R2P approach in resolving conflicts in Africa, review (analytically and comparatively) the relevant theories suggested for its explanatory capacity as it pertains to the case studies and the notion of R2P and to examine the power of veto within the UNSC when it comes to theimplementation of R2P in Africa. The study research method focused mainly on Qualitative methodology which was used to study this approach to resolving conflicts in Africa through different data collection techniques, such as case studies and documentary analysis. The selected method was adopted to furnish a comprehensive and detailed description of the study undertaken. This study has discovered that the African Union has been marginalized and manipulated in global politics when it comes to African conflict resolution mechanism, for instance, in the case of Libya, African Union voice was ignored by the United Nationsand European Union which led to the NATO intervention which was a disaster, even though R2P was implemented differently in Sudan, Libya and Central African Republic, the African Union showed effectiveness in fostering peace and ending conflict in the Africa region. Itcan be argued that the international community has failed to implement the doctrine of R2P in all 3 cases based on the study I conducted. The biggest setback for the doctrine of R2Pin the African region is the national interest of superpowers who tends to use the doctrine of R2P to push or fulfil their political agenda, for instance, the international community was so fast in reacting to Libya case while the international community dragged their feets in Sudan and CAR, based on these findings, it is more evident that the superpowers use the doctrine of R2P for their national interest which challenges the effectiveness of R2P in the African region. Furthermore, the study discovered the use of veto power by P5 of the UNSC, for instance, the case of Sudan, where Russia and China used their veto power to defend their national interest in oil and weaponry sector.