Neighbourhood Watch? The African Great Lakes Pact and Ius Ad Bellum
Zeitschrift für Ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, Vol. 69, pp. 931-959, 2009
30 Pages Posted: 3 Mar 2010 Last revised: 16 Jun 2011
Date Written: September 30, 2009
Abstract
This article focuses on the ius ad bellum provisions contained in the Protocol on Non-aggression and Mutual Defence which forms an integral part of the 2006 African Great Lakes Pact. The Protocol contains peculiar provisions that provide the opportunity to develop broader considerations on the alleged African unorthodox approach to the regulation of the use of armed force. The Protocol is not considered in isolation and is analysed taking into account other analogous African treaties, with the ultimate purpose of establishing whether or not its provisions are consistent with existing law. Section 2 deals with the prohibition of aggression and compares the definition contained in the Great Lakes Protocol with that adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1974. Section 3 analyses the right of individual and collective self-defence as contained in the Protocol and discusses its consistency with Article 51 of the UN Charter and customary international law. Finally, the last two sections investigate whether and under what conditions the Protocol provides for further exceptions to the prohibition of the use of force in addition to self-defence, in particular the ‘responsibility to protect’ populations by military means and the right of pro-democratic intervention.
Keywords: Use of force, responsibility to protect, pro-democratic intervention, self-defence, aggression, Africa, Great Lakes
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation