NATO SACEUR’S ADDRESS AT RUSI: LESSONS FOR AFRICA

NATO SACEUR’S ADDRESS AT RUSI: LESSONS FOR AFRICA

 

Kudakwashe Kanhutu

RUSI, Whitehall, London 2 October 2009.

Admiral James Stavridis, the newly appointed NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe made his inaugural address at the Royal United Services Institute, Whitehall, to defence experts and policy makers on Friday.

 

To a packed RUSI Conference hall the Admiral brilliantly outlined his vision and targets on the job in an address titled NATO: A Bridge to the Future. He began by representing the discussion in the most literal sense with a picture of a bridge and then proceeded to the abstract of NATO being the bridge that has linked Europe and North America. In paying tribute to Article 5 as the bedrock of NATO, he presented that no nation has attacked a NATO member nation in the history of the alliance.

 

The Admiral emphasized his desire that NATO should become ‘fast, sleek and precise’, and be innovative to be able to cope sufficiently with the brain on brain warfare of the 21st century. He identified challenges that exist within the alliance as well as areas of potential conflict with non alliance nations. Cooperation and not competition was his most important message, even military to military cooperation with non alliance nations.

 

In his presentation, the Admiral put up a picture of a high tech boat and talked at length about its amazing capabilities, radar evasion, speed and all the sophistication usually associated with Pentagon equipment. He then made the point that this instead was developed by a Colombian drug lord, to transport cocaine to the United States, in under nine months from conception to operation (‘it would have taken the Pentagon longer’). He therefore, reiterated the need to respect the adversary in the 21st century who has become as sophisticated and determined as conventional forces.

 

Lessons for Africa

 

I find the lesson for Africa being a need to apply the Admiral’s targets for NATO with the same or even greater vigour for our own institutions (SADC) and particular challenges (food security). I also found the Admiral’s honest approach in identifying NATO’s future areas of conflict such as the High North (North Pole’s natural resources and trade routes) an eye opener. With Zimbabwe in mind, I believe our future area of conflict which has not been addressed honestly is the Shona/Ndebele divide and I would like to see an honest projection of how this insidious problem will be overcome.