New Partnerships for a New Era: Enhancing the South African Army's Stabilization Role in Africa

摘要

Since emerging from the mire of its apartheid past, South Africa has become a key player in Sub-Saharan Africa. The very significant challenge of creating a truly national military during a period in which South Africa has also wrestled with tough internal socioeconomic problems has left the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in a weakened state. Despite this, in recent years the branches of the SANDF, particularly the South African (SA) Army, have made a considerable contribution to efforts to bring peace and stability to the African continent. A critical step in building a capable and confident future SA Army has been the commencement of the Army's Vision 2020 forward planning process. Recent political changes in both the United States and South Africa have opened up a new window of opportunity for developing a productive partnership between the two nations. This monograph outlines ways in which the United States can contribute to the SA Army's Vision 2020 program so as to help optimize South Africa's potential contribution to the emergence of a peaceful and stable Africa. The primary product of the Vision 2020 program to date is the recently document titled 'The Future SA Army Strategy,' informally referred to as 'Strategy 2020.' Strategy 2020 outlines two central objectives for the future SA Army: (1) To deter potential adversaries and, where that fails, to successfully engage and defeat actual adversaries that threaten South Africa's territorial integrity, sovereignty, or vital interests; and (3) To contribute to peacekeeping, peace enforcement, and stability operations in the continent at large. An ancillary function for the SA Army will be to provide support to the nation's population in response to threats to human security that are beyond the ability of the nation's other security forces to address, and to contribute to socioeconomic development in South Africa.