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Border Management and Security in Africa

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Border Management and Security in Africa

By Dr. Wafula Okumu1
Introduction

African countries are increasingly facing daunting tasks of managing their borders in ways that
secures their territorial sovereignty/integrity, ensures that they are bridges rather than barriers for
cross-border cooperation and regional integration, prevents illegal entries and exiting of people
and goods while allowing easy movement of goods and people, allows relatives to visit their kin
while keeping away criminals (such as drug and human traffickers, terrorists, etc), and facilitates
tourists to easily cross while keeping out terrorists.

The challenges facing African states to manage their borders are compounded by globalization
that is tearing down traditional borders through advancement in technology and transformation
of international relations. At the moment crimes are committed without crossing borders and
huge amounts of goods are sold through cyberspace. The internet has not only made it more
difficult to manage borders and to combat cross-border crimes, but has also effectively
dismantled borders by allowing imports without going through customs.

Increases in volumes of cross-border trading and movements of people from their countries of
origin in search of greener pastures elsewhere have put enormous pressure on border control
systems. These realities give urgency to African countries to put in place effective border
management systems that minimizes border tensions, increases joint enforcement and
surveillance efforts, decreases organized crime activities by syndicates and traffickers in
borderlands, generates common understanding of border insecurities and approaches to
addressing them, secures flow of goods and people in the spirit of regional and continental
integration, integrates and develops marginalized border areas through provision of essential
infrastructure and promotion of a sense of security and well being among the border population,
enhances communication and information exchange between neighboring countries, maintains
borders in ways that do not obstruct crossborder trading and legal movements of people,
harmonizes, and enables borders to be sources of mutual trust and harmony between neighbors.

Any discussion of border management must start with a definition of key concepts and an
understanding of the nature of a country‟s boundaries, their length, the economic and
anthropological characteristics, and how they are defined and marked. It must also be understood
from the onset that border management is a joint undertaking of a gamut of governmental
institutions, governments and border communities. This paper is divided into three parts. The
first part defines key concepts, the second part gives an overview and analysis of border
management, particularly security issues, the third part focuses on addressing African border
insecurities, the fourth part is a discussion on enhancing border security through strategy design

1 Dr. Wafula Okumu is the Senior Capacity Building Officer for the African Union Border Programme (AUBP),
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. My special thanks to David Williams and Tuemay Aregawi for their incisive comments and
suggestions on the first draft of this paper. This paper is a working document and its contents cannot be cited without
permission from the author. The views expressed in this paper are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of the
African Union.
1
and building capacities of institutions and personnel, and fifth part looks at the African Union
thinking and activities on border management.

Key Concepts

Besides border management, there are a number of concepts that are commonly used, sometimes
confusedly and interchangeably, in discussions of border security. Among these are boundary,
border, borderland, and frontier.

a) Boundary: The term has no clearly defined meaning, and its definition has raised
considerable heated debate amongst surveyors. However, it is generally understood as a line that
marks the confines or divides two contiguous territories. It defines the physical limits of a state‟s
territorial and physical jurisdiction. Boundary systems may be classified as fixed or general. A
fixed boundary is one that has been accurately surveyed such that if marking or beacon is lost, it
can be replaced in the same position by accurate survey measurements. A general boundary is
one where the precise line of the legal boundary between adjoining land portions is left
undetermined.

Hence, an international boundary is mutually agreed upon by two neighboring countries. An

international boundary is, therefore, jointly owned by the two countries involved. The creation of
an international boundary is a process known as delimitation. This is a mutual and consensual
process, where the two states chose to agree on what should constitute a boundary between them.
The agreement will normally translate into codification of a boundary treaty. The boundary treaty
is enhanced by determining the survey marks on the ground that will translate the narrative
description of the border into a treaty with annexure of border maps showing the physical ground
markings in relation to the surrounding features. A boundary can be marked by natural features
or by beacons. The physical boundary markings are used to control persons and goods entering
the territory of one state from another.

b) Border: this term, used interchangeably with boundary, is a region or area straddling a
boundary or the area adjacent to a boundary. This area may or may not be located exactly on the
boundary. In fact some borders such as airports are located hundreds of kilometers away from the
boundaries. Customs officials usually define the border as any place at, or within, the 12 nautical
mile limit where the state exercises statutory authority. But immigration officials have pushed
borders to other countries through Advanced Passenger Information/Advanced Passenger
Processing (API/APP). It is also notable that countries do not have single borders, particularly
those with maritime boundaries that are variously defined from 12 nautical miles to over 200
nautical miles, depending on the limit of the continental shelf.

Borders define a country‟s sovereignty by determining its territory, and where its administration
and jurisdiction ends. Borders also assign national identities. A nation-state‟s boundaries puts
people under one entity, define their lifestyles, national culture including language, destiny,
privileges (e.g., right to vote, enjoy welfare benefits and certain rights denied non-citizens), etc. 2
2 Note that Privileges can also be extended outside national boundaries, e.g., voting.
2
c) Borderland: is a zone adjacent to a boundary in which the lives of the inhabitants are
influenced by interactions with their neighbors on the other side of the boundary.

c) Frontier: although it is an historical term for boundary, it has the same meaning as
border and borderland, that is, a zone of an area on either side of a boundary. Lord Curzon of
Kedleston in 1907 called frontiers “the razor‟s edge on which hang suspended the modern issues
of war or peace, of life or death to nations.”3

d) Border management: commonly defined as the government functions of immigration,

customs and excise, and policing, with the aim of controlling and regulating the flow of people
and goods across a country‟s border/boundary in the national interest (particularly economic
development, security and peace). Border management also includes maintenance of boundary
beacons that mark the physical limits of the country‟s territory.

Border management is a collaborative process between a country and its neighbors. It cannot be
done unilaterally, and it is most effective and efficient when done regionally.

Border management has a number of stakeholders:

• Key government agencies (customs, immigration, police, armed forces, ministry of

agriculture—quarantine purposes), who in most cases operate independently and without
networking or exchanging information.
• Airlines
• Shipping companies
• Border local authorities
• International business companies and individuals
• Individuals (residents of the borders or travelers across boundaries e.g. traders, relatives,
tourists or terrorists)

The perceptions that a government/state has of external threats/risks determines its responses to
border insecurity and the border management system it puts in place. In other words, how a
country/state/government manages its borders reflects its fears and comfort.4

Indeed, border management is an expression of a state‟s sovereignty. A state‟s failure to manage

its borders can undermine its domestic and international legitimacies. The legal status of a
state/government depends on how it manages its borders. The Montevideo Convention on the
Rights and Duties of States of 1933 identifies 4 criteria for state sovereignty: permanent
population; a defined territory; a government; and the capacity to enter relations with other
states. In other
words,

3 See Curzon, Lord, Frontier, the Romance Lecture, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.
4 The best comparisons are how the US manages its borders with Canada and Mexico, and the United Kingdom
manages its own with EU members.
3
 • Territoriality is equal to sovereignty
• Citizenship is defined by territory
• Territory is defined by borders
• Borders enable countries to engage in international relations
• Borders define state-citizenship relationship
• Borders are us!

An Overview of African Borders

 Africa has 109 international boundaries that are approximately 28,000 miles.
 Of these boundaries, less than 25% are demarcated.
 African boundaries are characterised by a high level of porosity/permeability and poor or
lack of management. For instance, African international boundaries are „protected‟ by
about 350 official road crossing points, or one for every 80 miles of boundary (most
control posts are 16-20 kilometers away from the border).
• There are some land boundaries in Africa that are not crossed by road, rail or waterway
(e.g., the Central Africa Republic-Congo, Tanzania-the Democratic Republic of the
Congo).
• 109 international boundaries divide 177 cultural or ethnic groups.
• 20% of African borders are less permeable because of 27 national parks and game/nature
reserves along them.
• Only 414 roads cross borders in Africa.
• There are 69 roads that cross borders with no customs posts.
• Only 20 African boundaries are crossed by railways.
• There are 20 cross-border ferry routes.5

This high level of porosity has made African borders easily penetrable by smugglers of people,
drugs, weapons and contrabands. Furthermore, revenues generated on borders have been used to
fund criminal activities and fuelled severe social problems such as prostitution and prevalence of
HIV/AIDS and STDs at border crossing points. Organized crime syndicates have also smuggled
cars, cigarettes and livestock across borders, as have poachers of wild animals.

Borders are also rebel groups‟ best friends. Rebel groups, such as the Lords‟ Resistance Army
(LRA), have skillfully used porous and unmanaged borders of Uganda, Sudan, the DRC and the
CAR to evade military actions for the past 20 years. 6 Insecure borders have greatly contributed to
severe security threats such as insurrection, incursion and terrorist activity.

5 These statistics are provided by Ieuan Griffiths, “Permeable Boundaries in Africa,” in Paul Nugent and Anthony
Asiwaju (eds.), African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits and Opportunities (London: Frances Pinter Publishers Ltd,
1996). 6 See Wafula Okumu and Augustine Ikelegbe (eds.), Militias, Rebels and Islamist Militants, Human
Insecurity and State Crisis (Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2010).
4
Border security

Border security is a factor of border management. International borders are a security issue for
all governments. States are recognized under international law by their capability to maintain
their boundaries, secure their territories, and protect their citizens. The ability to secure national
borders is one of the criteria used to classify states as strong, weak and failed. A state has a
primary responsibility of protecting its citizens from both internal and external threats to their
livelihoods. It must be pointed out that the strategic location of a country determines
opportunities for illegal activities that exists or can take place in its border areas. Some countries
are more threatened by insecurities or mismanagement of other countries‟ borders than their
own. Hence, the importance of securing their own as well other countries‟ borders in the way the
US and European governments have done in Africa.

Border Security means different things: border control, border management, border monitoring,
border protection, etc. Usually, border security has been used to mean border control, which
seeks to facilitate or limit the movements of people, animals, plants, and goods in and out of a
country. Border control is divided into two main categories: securing borderlines (activities along
the boundary), and controlling ports (harbors, border posts and airports) of entry.

The purposes of border control are to:

• Impose conditions under which people legally cross borders with documentations such as
passport or visa.
• Ensure that animals and plants do not transmit diseases.
• Ensure that goods moved across a border have been paid for (excise tax, levies).
• Eliminate illegal activities (black market smuggling operations) at the borders.

But generally border security entails the following:

• Geophysical control of a boundary through patrol by the military or special border

protection force.
• Immigration by internally enforcing laws.
• Migration by controlling the transnational movement of people.
• Enhancing enforcement of the immigration and migration laws by asking questions that
assist in screening people using the border.
• Enhancing inspections through searches to ensure that harmful products or individuals do
not enter into a country.
• Enhancing management of institutions and systems that contribute to border security.
• Detecting and preventing criminals, and illegal persons, goods, drugs, and weapons, as
well as other prohibited items, from entering a country.

Border security is about asserting “territorial sovereignty by enforcing the boundary” and by
protecting “it through permanent surveillance…. Border enforcement and surveillance include
5
also the systems that allow the state to trace the movement and use of goods and data and
especially the actions of people once they are in the national territory.”6

The management and security of African borders appears to be influenced by a number of trends
taking place in Europe and America. The first trend is the increasing “criminalization” of
migrants through tightening of border controls to keep out criminals and terrorists. In Europe as
well as North America, the “fight” against illegal immigration is put on the same level as the
fight against organized crime and the fight against terrorism.”7

The second trend is the “securitization” or fortifying of borders and tightening of controls; which
in turn have led to increased spending on border security. For instance, “in the United States,
border security funding… more than doubled between 2001 and 2006 from $4.6 billion to $10.4
billion. Border security has entailed hiring more Border Patrol officers, putting the National
Guard on the border, constructing a fence, and installing ground sensors, stadium lights,
unmanned aerial drones, and new, 90-foot radar towers produced by Boeing that record images
and relay these to Border Patrol.”8

The third trend is the externalization of immigration policies: “the shifting of responsibility for
aspects of border control and management of migration to third countries. Some have also talked
about a „thickening‟ or „buffering‟ of the border.” 9 For instance, “Europe has increasingly
pressed countries like Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya to play the roles of “policemen” in trying to
curb migration coming from sub-Saharan Africa. Spain has had an agreement with Morocco to
admit returned third-country nationals who have transited through Morocco to get to Spain.
Spain has also sought out “readmission agreements” with a growing number of African
countries, as migrants have increasingly come from farther away. These agreements often
involve granting sums of money to induce foreign governments both to take back their nationals
and to admit migrants from third countries who are apprehended trying to enter Spain. Spain has
also enlisted African countries in policing their own coasts and smugglers‟ jumping-off points to
keep migrants from reaching Spanish shores or waters. Many African countries cooperate
reluctantly, in exchange for financial assistance, military equipment, and sometimes, a limited
number of temporary work permits for their nationals.”11

Border insecurity issues in Africa

6 Daniel Hernández Joseph, “North America: Managing our Borders and the Perimeter,” presentation made at the
American University, Washington, D.C., April 11, 2007.
7 See Maria Lorena Cook, “Unauthorized Migration and Border\Control": Three Regional Views,” ILR Collection
Conference Proceedings, Presentations, and Speeches, Cornell University ILR School, March 2008, p. 10. Web link:
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/conference/5.
8 Ibid, p.17.
9 Ibid, p. 18. David Williams views this as the application of upstream disruption technique, which is based on the
thinking that the nearer to the source, the more effective the outcome. Personal conversation, 6 July 2011. 11 ibid,
p.19.
6
Border security and the management of borders in ways that promotes national security has
generally been given low priority in Africa compared to security provided for political elites and
their assets in the national capitals and other urban areas far-removed from the borders. While
national security strategies of some countries mention the importance of secure and peaceful
borders, few have border security strategies. The negligence of border security and poor, or lack
of, management African borders has largely contributed to a prevalence of threats such as cross-
border crimes; African border security issues are distinctive, when compared to the other regions
of the world, as pointed out below.

Factors influencing border management in Africa

1. Lack of institutions: The management of African boundaries/borders is a factor of the

nature of African states and how they are governed. For instance, the prevalence of weak
or lack government institutions is most pronounced at the border. Most African countries
do not have institutions to manage their borders.

2. Lack of cooperation: The lack of integration at different levels: local, governmental and
regional. At the local level, most border management efforts do not incorporate or include
border communities. Some deployments of security personnel have most often been
carried out without including local interests or partnering with locals despite their
intimate knowledge of the border terrain. At government level, there is usually little or no
integration between different departments such as immigration, customs, police and
intelligence. It is a major security failure when personnel, such as police, military and
intelligence do not coordinate with each other at the border. At regional level, most
governments to do work closely to enhance border security by sharing of intelligence
information, undertaking joint border patrols, etc. Effective border security measures
require close cooperation among all these levels.

3. Lack of demarcation: Lack of, and poorly, marked boundaries have greatly contributed to
border insecurity in Africa. Managing African borders is a daunting task. Patrolling a
country‟s borders may often lead to violations of neighbors‟ territories, as one cannot
patrol what doesn‟t exist. Further, in the words of Helmoed-Römer Heitman, “one cannot
control what one does not patrol.”10 African maritime borders are even much more
insecure due to the lack of resources to patrol them. At the moment, very few maritime
boundaries have been marked. This has greatly contributed to the menace of piracy in the
Horn of Africa and Gulf of Guinea regions. Besides piracy, African states are threatened
from the sea by illegal fishing, dumping of hazardous and toxic wastes, and smuggling.

Issues in border management in Africa

10 See DefenceWeb, “African borders poorly policed,” http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&id=7157:african-borders-
poorlypoliced&catid=54:Governance&Itemid=118. Accessed on 17 March 2010.
7
 A point of departure in understanding Africa‟s border management agenda is that in the
continent, most governments do not know where state borders are, their nature/characteristics,
and what is moving across them. Because of this fact, these borders are not monitored, patrolled
or controlled. Consequently, these borders have become transit points for smuggling and other
illegal cross-border activities.11 In other words, most, if not all, African borders are transnational
crime zones. Key issues in border management in Africa are:

11 See Guy Martin, “Illegal Migration and the Impact of Cross Border Crime.” Web link:
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14001:feature -illegal-migration-
andthe-impact-of-cross-border-crime&catid=87:border-security&Itemid=188, 9 March 2011.
8
 

Human smuggling is assisting clients for a fee to cross borders and human trafficking is
facilitating crossing of borders and employment, usually exploitative, in foreign lands. 12
Victims of human trafficking put their lives at risk to look for better life opportunities in
promised lands by using criminal syndicates. War, poverty and flawed or nonexistent
birth registration systems are the main factors that contribute to African women and
children to be trafficked and forced into prostitution or work under deplorable
conditions.13 The most vulnerable are the women and children in refugee camps and those
orphaned by HIV/AIDS.14 Almost 90% of human trafficking is intra-African.15

• Criminal syndicates using ships, aircrafts and land transport, particularly in regional
conflict clusters of Horn, GLR, and Mano River, also smuggle arms across borders with
ease. Some of the arms smuggling activities are linked to conflict resources such as
diamonds that are used to purchase more weapons. The GLR conflicts have particularly
been fuelled by natural resources that have drawn in national armies of Angola, Namibia,
Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe and sustained motley of rebel groups, some of them
acting as proxies of foreign interests. Minerals exploited in Eastern DRC are smuggled
across borders with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.16 The same phenomenon was
witnessed during the Sierra Leonean conflicts when „blood diamonds‟ were siphoned out
through Liberia.

Arms smuggling in West Africa has been identified as a major contributor of regional
instability. A Small Arms Survey report points out that “countries with more porous
borders tend to have lower weapons prices. This is especially the case in Africa, where
porous borders allow the supply of weapons to meet demand more readily.” 17 However,
Amado Philip de Andrés has noted that “cross-border crimes are mostly symptomatic
rather than causes of instability” in regions.18

• Auto theft—in South Africa, more than 100 vehicles, mainly Land Cruisers, four wheel
drives, Mercedes-Benz, and BMWs are stolen and smuggled across the border with
Mozambique each month.21 This is done with the assistance of border communities who

12 It costs between 2,000-4,000 Euros to be smuggled across Africa to Southern Europe. Humans are trafficked in or
from Africa by air, sea and land transportation.
13 Jonathan Fowler, “UNICEF: Human Trafficking in Africa Fueled by War, Economic Hardship, and Lack of Birth
Registration,” Associated Press, 23 April 2004.
14 United Nations Children‟s Fund, Africa’s Orphaned Generations (New York: UNICEF, 2003).
15 See United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), A Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. Web link:
http://www.unodc.org/documents/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf.
16 For more details on how rebel groups have exploited porous borders to smuggle natural resources, see Phillip
Kasaija,
“Rebels and militias in resource conflict in the eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo,” in Okumu and Ikelegbe, Militias, Rebels and Islamist Militants in Africa, pp. 183-218.
17 Small Arms Survey 2007, “What Price the Kalashnikov: The Economics of Small Arms.”
18 Amado Philip de Andrés, “West Africa under attack: drugs, organized crime and terrorism as the new threats to
global security,” UNISCI Discussion Papers, Nº 16 (Enero / January 2008). 21 See APA, “Up to 100 cars smuggled to
Mozambique monthly: Parliament,” http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=123317.
9
 “hide the vehicles and provide information on local law enforcement patrols” for a fee of
between $150-200.

• Terrorists have been crossing porous and poorly secured borders, particularly in the Horn
of Africa and the Sahel regions, with ease while armed with weapons, ingredients for
making bombs and radical ideas. Sources of transnational terrorism in Kenya and Uganda
have been traced to stateless Somalia.19

• Mercenaries have become major players in African civil wars such as those fought in
Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, the DRC and Somalia. Some mercenaries have fought in
most of these civil wars after easily crossing from one Conflict Theater to the other.20

 Drug trafficking—Africa has become a major transshipment route of drugs that are
carefully disguised to hide their origins and avoid and inspection. Almost all African
countries lack the advanced technology to detect harmful substances and goods such as
narcotics and weapons. In some cases where the border control personnel have seized
contrabands, drugs barons have connived with high-ranking government officials to
undermine their efforts. Narcotics such as cocaine smuggled from South America to
Europe have easily flowed across West African boundaries. 21 Illicit drug trafficking is
carried out using cargo containers and offshore drops. Most African countries do not have
the capabilities to board and interdict at sea, and inspect their harbors for illegal and
dangerous goods.

• There are millions of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) contaminating African
battle spaces and border areas. They were used to protect borders from infiltration by
enemies in conflicts or to deter illegal entry by foreigners. The United Nations Mine
Action Service (UNMAS) 2009 Annual report pointed out that sub-Saharan Africa is the
most heavily mined region in the world. 22 The most landmine contaminated African
countries are Angola, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia,
Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan.

• Population movements across borders caused by armed conflicts have far-reaching security
and legal implications. While refugees fleeing armed conflicts have rights and protections
guaranteed by international humanitarian laws, among their ranks may be armed
combatants who could threaten the security of civilian refugees and local populations
near the camps. There have also been cases where combatants have used refugees as

19 See Wafula Okumu and Anneli Botha (eds), Understanding Terrorism in Africa: Building Bridges and
Overcoming the Gaps (Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2007).
20 See Abdel-Fatau Musah and J. Kayode Fayemi (eds.), Mercenaries: An African Security Dilemma, (London:
Pluto Press, 2000).
21 See UNODC, Drug Trafficking as a Security Threat in West Africa. Web link:
http://www.unodc.org/documents/dataand-analysis/Studies/Drug-Trafficking-WestAfrica-English.pdf
22 See UNMAS Annual Report 2009. Web link: http://www.mineaction.org/doc.asp?d=1487.
10
 

shields and the camps to stage cross-border attacks or to organize invasion of neighboring
countries.

• Border security is largely focused on ports of entry and not the border line.

• A state inability to secure its borders creates a security vacuum that attracts entrepreneurs
of violence, and inevitably border insecurities. Criminal syndicated also take advantage of
weak state capacities to control/manage its borders to transact illegal activities.

Cattle rustling in Horn of Africa region have become a regional security issue due to their
trans-boundary aspects.23

• Smuggling of contrabands (untaxed cigarettes and alcohol) is a common occurrence over

most borders. The smuggling of contraband goods and undocumented aliens is usually
done with the connivance of border personnel (customs & immigration).

• Although armed conflicts over borders have been few, most violent conflicts have taken
place in borderlands. According to Daniel S. Carik, “unsecured borders allow for the free
movement of … militants and criminal actors who spread violence and insecurity from
state to state. Militant groups regularly cross the border with impunity, attacking civilian
populations on both sides.”24

• When border communities are marginalized and excluded from the center, they become
uncooperative and highly secretive, and “rarely inform government officials on
suspicious individuals.”25

Sources of African Border Insecurity

• Lack of political will and commitment of resources to effectively manage borders.

• Lack of cooperation within departments, between departments and between countries.

• Inadequate personnel available for deployment on the borders.

• Inadequate skills of personnel deployed to manage borders.

23 See Paul Eavis, “SALW in Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region: Challenges and Way Forward,” in The Brown
Journal of World Affairs, Vol. IX, Issue 1, Spring 2002: pp. 251-260.
http://www.watsoninstitute.org/bjwa/archive/9.1/SmallArms/Eavis.pdf.
24 Daniel S. Carik, “Porous Borders and the Insecurity of Civilians: Cross-border Violence in Darfur and Eastern
Chad,” Policy Brief, Ford Institute for Human Security, GSPIA, University of Pittsburgh, winter 2009.
25 Sammy Cheboi, “Illegal migration thriving at far-flung border with Somalia,” Daily Nation, October 29 2009.
11
 • Poor motivation among border personnel.

• Lack or poor intelligence sharing between agencies and countries.

• Lack of facilities and equipment to secure and manage borders.

• Lack of office spaces & accommodation for border patrol & control personnel
(dilapidated houses with collapsing walls and leaking roofs).

• Poor and inadequate communication channels—most of the border management

personnel do not have the basic communication means such as radios or even mobile
phones.

• Lack of transport and roads along borders to enable patrols.

• Poorly controlled and managed border points due to absence of offices.

• Poorly demarcated borders; as pointed out above, more than 75% of African boundaries
are poorly marked or unmarked.

• Illegal border crossing points, usually called “mice or rat routes,” are used by smugglers
who charge a fee ranging from $15-100 depending on the difficulty of terrain and
presence of border security personnel.

• Porosity of borders: “The porosity of the land borders is perceived by some as a danger
and vulnerability, but for the borderland communities it is an essential part of their very
mode of transnational existence, of their social and economic life and of the cultural
uniqueness that conform to their identity and livelihoods. An indiscriminate attempt at
closing up that porosity becomes a threat to the borderland form of life.” 26 Daniel
Hernández Joseph adds that “the dynamism produced by these borderland communities
expands the challenges and demands of border management beyond the traditional issues
of law enforcement and surveillance (border maintenance) and into the whole greater
agenda of public administration: health, education, infrastructure, social and economic
development, culture, arts, and most notably trade and transnational modes of
production.”

• Presence of cross-border communities that are difficult to administer and often

uncooperative in managing borders. Some borders, particularly in Eastern African, have

26 Daniel Hernández Joseph, “North America: Managing our Borders and the Perimeter,” presentation made at the
American University, Washington, D.C., April 11, 2007.
12
 

become almost unmanageable due to the lifestyles (gun culture) of pastoralist border
communities.

• Lack or non-functioning border commissions.

• High-level corruption, on 26 January 2010, Sierra Leonean President Ernest Koroma

accused immigration officials of selling passports to foreigners and police of fleecing
passengers at checkpoints.27 According to Koroma, “a Sierra Leonean passport can be
bought by any African for $250 to $500.”

What is Africa’s border management agenda?

In view of the foregoing discussion, Africa‟s border management agenda should be to:

• Secure the flow of goods and people in the spirit of regional and continental integration.

Develop infrastructure in borderlands to demarginalize the communities and enhance

effective patrols of the borders.

• Share intelligence on individual activities that might cross borders.

• Manage and maintain borders in ways that do not obstruct trade and the legal movement
of people across.

• Harmonize border management systems, e.g. visa policies, as a means of promoting

regional integration or creating a borderless Africa. However, countries such as RSA are
experimenting with a security perimeter.28

• Minimize border tensions and end long-standing border disputes.

• Increase joint enforcement and surveillance efforts.

• Decrease organized crime activities by drug traffickers in borderlands.

• Generate common understanding of border insecurities (should countries enforce

stringent control measures, and erect maximum enforcement and surveillance measures

27 See “Sierra Leone leader lambasts 'corrupt' ministers,” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8483840.stm.

28 This has caused negative perceptions by her neighbors in region. It has also led to a question: what impact does a
“fortress state” have on regional integration that is based on free movement of people and goods?
13
 on their borders or seek regional security perimeters? Or would countries prefer
concentric security perimeters?)

• Manage borders without turning them into barriers or sources of mutual distrust and
tensions between neighbors.

• Create appropriate mechanism for the monitoring movements and illegal activities across
the borders.

• Adopt regional and international approaches to regionalization and internationalization of

crimes (by tracking and disrupting criminal activities and movements before they spread
out or relocate across borders. Identify sources of regional and international criminal
activities, define strategies for addressing them and undertake decisive measures.)

Border Security Measures

• Aims:
– Secure territorial sovereignty/integrity
– Prevent illegal entries/exiting of people & goods
– Keep away criminals (drug/human traffickers, terrorists, etc)
– Ensure national security by keeping out arms
– Keep out enemies of the state/nation
– Cooperation between all the stakeholders

• Keys to effective border control:

– Knowledge of international boundaries

– Local community involvement
– Adequate capabilities/resources (human, financial, and physical)
– Understanding of roles, purposes and responsibilities of key stakeholders
– Appropriate and effective legislation

Operationally, the following activities can be undertaken to enhance border security:

a. Coordination within and between a country‟s border management agencies.

b. Coordinated Patrols and Joint Patrols with neighboring countries, in frame of bilateral or
trilateral cooperation. Some countries such as Uganda, South Africa and Rwanda have
deployed military personnel to patrol their borders while others such Kenya prefer to

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deploy police units. Those that use the military assume that the military is less prone to
being bribed than the police.

c. The establishment of Joint Border Posts (JBPs)/Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) to

increase cross-border communication and sharing of crucial intelligence information. This
would build trust and dialogue between the opposing border control agencies and increase
the spontaneous information exchange about the movement of goods, suspects and
vehicles across common borders.29 The EU in February 2011 offered to construct JBPs at
Seme (Nigeria/Benin), Noepe (Ghana/Togo) and Malanville (Benin/Niger) border posts at
a cost of 37 million Euros.

d. The installation of surveillance equipment in border regions. Such equipment as usually

expensive to procure and maintain. It should also be noted that peddling of border
security gadgets have become a growth industry worth billions of dollars.

e. The deployment of Mobile Interdiction Teams (MOBITs) to guard long, porous borders
that are often crossed with ease.

f. The creation of an intelligence-led border control capacity that aims to control cross-
border crimes. This approach will focus on the identification, analysis, management and
sharing of intelligence on cross-border criminal activities.

Strategically and politically, the following measures can be undertaken by states to secure their
borders:

29 See http://www.unodc.org/centralasia/en/drug-trafficking-and-border-control.html.
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 1. Clear demarcation of all borders.
2. Establishment of border management agencies.
3. Coordination of border management activities.
4. Cross-border cooperation through economic activities and security management.
5. Incorporation of local communities in managing and securing borders.
6. Use of border security management strategies incorporating concepts such as Integrated
Border Management (IBM).

Border management & border maintenance approaches

• Adapting a strategic plan on border security/management that aims at, among other
things, enhancing inter/intra-departmental/agencies cooperation.

• Undertaking an assessment/analysis of border security threat focusing on matters such as

trafficking trends, patterns, tactics, routes and traffickers‟ methods. This exercise should
also assess the needs for equipment and skills.

• Understanding border characteristics and how they impact on management.

• Involving local communities in securing and maintaining borders.

• Implementing the smart border agreements that enhance international cooperation in

border management.

• Balancing development and national security priorities.

• Creating bilateral institutional framework that allows joint border management.

• Moving from simple border maintenance through enforcement and surveillance to

comprehensive border management that involves borderlands communities and enhances
integration.30

• Building borders and borderlands management institutions.

• Controlling and regulating cross-border activities as a way of ensuring peace and

stability, and enhancing regional and continental integration.31

30 See Daniel Hernández Joseph, “North America: Managing our Borders and the Perimeter,” presentation made at
the American University, Washington, D.C., April 11, 2007.
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 • Improving land and sea surveillance by acquiring equipment to detect low flying aircraft
used to smuggle goods between countries, helicopters or ATV to patrol high seas, and
horses to patrol areas inaccessible borders.

• Developing radio networks to improve communication between border

management/security personnel.

• Providing border security personnel with radios, cell phones, patrol means, and uniforms.

• Creating and maintaining automated data bases and information systems (both national,
regional & international) on cross-border crimes, illegal movements and crime
syndicates.

• Setting up border criminal investigation units and training border security personnel in
criminal investigation techniques.

• Enabling border patrols to operate throughout country.

• Militarizing or actively patrolling border crime hotspots.

• Providing specialized and continuous training to border management personnel; through

advanced courses on diverse law enforcement topics such as informant handling, suspect
profiling techniques and drug and precursor identification and testing.

• Developing and adopting border management legislations and aligning them to regional
standards.

• Standardizing, realigning and harmonizing border management techniques to meet

regional border standards/guidelines.

The African Union and border management in Africa

On its part, the African Union Border Programme (AUBP) is contributing to better border
management in Africa by encouraging AU member states to demarcate their boundaries, assisting
local communities in their cross-border activities, and by developing a curriculum that seek to
enhance the capacities of personnel to effectively manage borders. The AUBP is developing a
strategy and a training curriculum to enhance border management in Africa by drawing on
previous AU efforts. Among these initiatives is Article 4 (2c) of the OAU Convention on the
Prevention and Combating of Terrorism (of 1 July 1999), which calls on African governments to
“development and strengthen methods or controlling and monitoring land, sea and air borders and
31 Amado Philip de Andrés, “West Africa under attack: drugs, organized crime and terrorism as the new threats to
global security,” UNISCI Discussion Papers, Nº 16 (Enero/January 2008).
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customs and immigration check points in order to pre-empt any infiltration by individuals or
groups involved in the planning, organization and execution or terrorist acts.”

However, the African Union perspectives on border management were broadly enunciated in the
Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA)
memorandum of understanding of July 2002, which called for strengthening of “existing
confidence building measures through, among other means, annual border post activities, joint
border patrols, joint border development and management, regular consultations amongst security
agencies operating along the borders, joint training programmes for personnel operating at the
borders, including workshops and seminars to educate them on regional and continental
agreements on free movement of persons, goods and services and stabilizing measures for
localized crisis situations for inter-state relations.” Additionally, it called for “effective
monitoring of the movement of persons and goods across borders by utilizing crime analysis and
information gathering capability and establishment of joint border operations to investigate and
apprehend criminal elements and to stop money laundering, drug and human trafficking.”32

Another important source prescribing the AU border management perspective is the Migration
Policy Framework for Africa adopted by the Ninth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council
held from 25-29 June 2006 in Banjul, The Gambia. This policy points out that “effective border
management is a key element in any national migration system.” 36 The same policy framework
points out that “the strategic goals of border security are to control: i) the movement of
prohibitive and restrictive goods including drugs, weapons, etc.; ii) the appropriate use of import
and export permits, quotas, exchange controls, etc.; iii) the movement of persons to eliminate
illegal border crossings, human trafficking and smuggling; iv) the illegal smuggling of goods.”

The AU acknowledges that border management systems in Africa, “as in other parts of the
world,” are being influenced by “pressure from large flows of persons, including irregular and
„mixed flows,‟ moving across regions and/or national borders;” and “by security concerns.” 33
Forged travel documents used to cross borders are a source of border insecurity as much as
international terrorism which is carried out across borders. In fact some of the perpetrators of
international terrorist incidents carried out in East Africa between 1998 and 2002 used forged
travel documents to cross the region‟s porous borders with radical ideas and bomb-making
ingredients.34

The AU Migration Policy Framework for Africa points out that “specific challenges to border
management mechanisms and personnel include building capacities to distinguish between
persons having legitimate versus non-legitimate reasons for entry and/or stay….Consequently, the

32 Article 4 (2c) of the OAU Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism (of 1 July 1999) calls on
African governments to “development and strengthen methods or controlling and monitoring land, sea and air
borders and customs and immigration check points in order to pre-empt any infiltration by individuals or groups
involved in the planning, organization and execution or terrorist acts.” 36See EX.CL/276 (IX).
33 Ibid.
34 See Wafula Okumu, Gaps and Challenges in Preventing and Combating Terrorism in East Africa, in Okumu and
Botha, Understanding Terrorism in Africa: Building Bridges and Overcoming the Gaps, (Pretoria: Institute for
Security Studies), pp. 61-70. 39
See EX.CL/276 (IX).
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strengthening of border management systems in terms of technology, infrastructure, business
process for inspection of travelers, and training of staff has become a primary area of concern.”

The AU recommends the following border management strategies for Africa:39

• Improve the capacities of border management mechanisms and personnel by optimizing

new border management technologies (improving the security of travel documents,
computerization, in conformity with international norms, upgrading inspection, data
collection and communication systems) and providing technical training for those
involved in border management and migration policy.
• Provide adequate information about the requirements, challenges and opportunities of
migration for the population in general and particularly for potential labor migrants
before they cross borders.
• Strengthen co-operation and co-ordination at the national level between law enforcement
officials, immigration and customs services to ensure a more efficient and effective
approach to managing the flow of goods and people across borders.
• Strengthening co-operation between States‟ sub-regional/regional agencies, and the
international community in particular in the area of law enforcement, sharing
migrationrelated data and information, training and sustained dialogue.
• Enhance the role of AU as well as other sub-regional/regional agencies in mobilizing
financial/technical resources, harmonizing policies and programmes of action, and
coordinating activities of Member States for effective border management.
• Strengthen Inter-State Dialogue, Regional Consultations and Cooperation for effective
migration and management of State borders.
• Strengthen national policy, structures and laws to establish co-coordinated and integrated
approaches at national level through, among others, incorporating the United Nations
Convention Against Trans-national Organized Crime and its two additional Protocols
(2000), Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in persons, Especially
Women and Children, and the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea
and Air and harmonizing provisions into national legislation.
• Develop common regional countermeasures, that incorporate considerations to encourage
more legal channels and orderly migration, dismantle international organized criminal
syndicates, prosecute smugglers and others involved in such activities while, at the same
time providing humane treatment for migrants.
• Encourage regional consultative processes and dialogue on irregular migration to
promote greater policy coherence at the national, Sub-regional and regional levels.
• Reinforce and encourage joint cross-border patrols between neighboring States.
• Adopt comprehensive information collation systems on smuggling to facilitate the
tracking and dissemination of information on the trends, patterns and changing nature of
smuggling routes as well as the establishment of databases on convicted smugglers.
• Reinforce national policy, structures and laws in order to establish a co-coordinated and
integrated approach at national level by incorporating the United Nations Convention
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 Against Trans-national Organized Crime and its Trafficking Protocol (2000), Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
and the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; Convention
182 of the ILO on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, and integrating relevant provisions
into national legislation.
• Member States are encouraged to adopt those instruments that sanction the trafficking in
narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances as addressed in (i) The 1961 United Nations
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs; (ii)The 1971 United Nations Convention on
Psychotropic Substances; and (iii) The 1988 United Nations Convention on Illicit
Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
• The development of common regional countermeasures, based on a spirit of solidarity
among States and with a focus on the human rights of trafficked victims, including
harmonization of immigration laws; strengthened and modernized border management;
cooperation and co-ordination between concerned ministries, particularly State security
agencies; greater efforts to dismantle international organized criminal syndicates; signing
of bilateral and multilateral agreements; and prosecuting traffickers and others involved
in such activities.
• Reinforcement of information gathering systems relating to trafficking to facilitate
dissemination of information on the changing nature of trafficking routes and, the
establishment of databases on convicted traffickers and on missing persons, presumed to
be victims of trafficking.
• Increasing of awareness on the dangers inherent in irregular migration from State of
origin to receiving State thereby allowing the citizens to make informed choices.
• Pursue and develop preventive action through intensive information campaigns and other
educational and informational efforts in both the country of origin and the receiving
country.
• Member States are urged to condemn in very strong terms sexual tourism and prostitution
in receiving States in order to discourage trafficking in women and children as well as
pedophiles in source States.
• Extend adequate protection and assistance to victims of trafficking, including establishing
reception centers, return and reintegration assistance such as settling grants, skills training
and employment counseling as well as access to health care and psycho-social
counseling, including voluntary testing and counseling for HIV/AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases.
• Strengthening Law Enforcement measures to curb the activities of traffickers and
consider stiffer penalties for perpetrators.
• Explore opportunities for prosecution of traffickers and others involved in such activities,
and extend witness protection to victims of trafficking who want to testify against
traffickers.

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 Concluding remarks

In view of the fact that border insecurity is to some extent a factor of lack of strategies and of
weak state institutions it follows that the first steps to enhance border security is through adoption
of national border management strategies and building state capacities to manage their borders.

Although African boundaries are difficult for traded goods to cross and easy for cross-border
crimes, there are a number of concrete measures that can transform borders into secure areas
where people earn decent living, states are not denied revenues, and nations coexist peacefully.
Currently, African borders are managed in ways that allow arms and criminals to freely across
them. Poor or lack of management of these borders has been a major cause of national insecurity.
In order to enhance African border security, a number of far-reaching measures must be
undertaken. These include adopting appropriate legal and organizational frameworks, improving
infrastructure and adequately equipping personnel and border posts, effectively exchanging
information and data, improving conditions of local communities and integrating them into
border management initiatives, and clearly demarcating international borders.

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