Continental security cooperation in South America – Changes and challenges in the 21st

Jan 07, 2018 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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(Address of H.E. David Granger at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Brasilia, Dec. 21, 2017)

 Brazil, seventeen years ago, celebrated the quincentenary of the arrival of Pedro Álvares Cabral who claimed the country for Portugal on April 22^nd 1500.  The celebration of the 500^th anniversary of Cabral’s arrival in Brazil signified, also, the confirmation of Brazil as a continental and hemispheric power.

The Federative Republic of Brazil is correctly called the ‘colosso do sul’ – the colossus of the South. It is the fifth largest country in the world and the biggest on the continent of South America, occupying almost half of the 17, 840,000 km² of the continental land mass.

Brazil is the most populous country on the continent and shares borders with all of the countries of South America except Chile and Ecuador. It is a regional and global economic power with active armed forces numbering in excess of 300,000 troops.

 

SOUTH AMERICA – ZONE OF PEACE

Brazil has used its diplomatic influence, economic strength, and military power as a moderating force on the Continent, ever since the turn of the century.  It has been committed to reducing threats to peace in the western hemisphere and to strengthening organizations which enhance cooperation and improve stability on the Continent. These include the Amazon Cooperation Treaty, the Common Market of the South and the Union of South American States.

The promotion of South America as a Zone of Peace is an integral element of Brazilian foreign policy. Brazil has been supportive of declarations which affirm the right of the continent to be a zone of peace:

• The Brasilia Communique of 1^st September 2000, committed the leaders of the continent to the establishment of a “South-American Peace Zone.”
• The Guayaquil Consensus of 27^th July 2002, issued two years later at the Second Meeting of the Presidents of South America, declared the continent as a Zone of Peace and Cooperation and proposed that:

… the use of or the threat of the use of force between states shall be banned, in keeping with the principles and provisions of the United Nations Charter and of the Charter of the Organization of American States.

Brazil was in the forefront in establishing a continent-wide mechanism of Defence cooperation –  the South American Defence Council (SADC).  Brazil’s advocacy and its soft power were pivotal to the acceptance, by the other states of the Continent, of the establishment of the ‘Council.’

Brazil has a proud record of military cooperation within and outside of the Continent. Brazil has participated in more than 50 peacekeeping missions since 1947 including those in Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Western Sahara.

It was part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti since 2004, boosting the size of its contingent in that mission to more than 2,000 following the earthquake of 2010.

Defence cooperation, for Brazil, is a sine qua non for ensuring the South American Peace Zone.  The inter-state incident of 1^st March 2008 between Colombia and Ecuador triggered a response from Brazil.

Defence cooperation, however, was not confined to the continent and to these peace-keeping missions.

Defence cooperation between Guyana and Brazil has involved the tactical, technical and staff training of defence personnel in Brazilian military schools.  Guyana’s President was trained, 48 years ago, at the Jungle Warfare Instruction Centre in Manaus. The Brazilian Army, at the moment, has a small team of  instructors at the Officer Cadet School and the Jungle Warfare School of the Guyana Defence Force.

 

SOUTH AMERICAN DEFENCE COUNCIL

Brazil’s Minister of Defence –  Nelson Azevedo Jobim –  canvassing idea of the South American Defence Council (Conselho Sul-Americano de Defesa), defined four clear objectives. These were: to develop a defence policy; resolve international disputes on this continent without resort to extra-continental mediators; act collectively on peacekeeping missions; and combat organised crime.

Jobim had advised that the Conselho would aim at dealing with what he called “low- intensity conflicts that may spread out of control.”

The South American Defence Council was aimed at consolidating the South American Peace Zone, promoting a regional Defence identity and strengthening regional defence cooperation. It was not intended to be a military alliance but a mechanism of collective security aimed at promoting a community of cooperation among South American Defence forces.

Brazil, in pursuing the establishment of the South American Defence Council did not ignore the concerns of the continent’s small states.  Guyana and Suriname, the two independent small states of South America, were assured that their special security concerns would be met in a continental security system.

Jobim paid a brief visit in April 2008 as part of a series of meetings with Guyana’s Bharrat Jagdeo in Georgetown, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez in Caracas and Suriname’s Ronald Venetiaan.  These visits and this initiative which took place in the wake of the Colombia-Ecuador confrontation fostered a feeling of confidence that  a mechanism such as the ‘Council’ could create a comprehensive platform, including small and large states, to prevent political  controversies from degenerating into military conflict.

 

DEFENCE COOPERATION

The South American Defence Council is an idea whose time has come.  The Council has not yet graduated towards providing collective security.   The Council, as a Defence community, however, can use diplomatic suasion and peace-keeping initiatives as means of deterring interstate conflict, including conflicts between states of asymmetrical capabilities.

The security of South American states, particularly small states with limited military capability, is best guaranteed through a multilateral system which, as a form of functional cooperation, can:

• strengthen peace-promotion norms by encouraging greater respect for principles which promote peace and deter aggression, such as the peaceful settlement of disputes, the prohibition on the use of force or the threat of the use of force and respect for international treaties and agreements;
• strengthen the Defence capabilities of small states by providing training, sharing experiences and joint participation in peace-keeping exercises; and restore stability to countries affected by natural disasters and humanitarian crises;
• strengthen regional integration through the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) which aims at physically linking the countries of South America through networks of bridges, communication, energy, ports, roads and waterways. A bridge linking Guyana with Brazil has already been built across the Takutu River; and
• strengthen institutions and agencies for the sharing and exchange of information which would allow for the neutralizing of transnational syndicates operating across national borders. The services of agencies such as SIVAM and SIVAP could be expanded to more countries.

Defence cooperation, through the South American Defence Council, can help secure a South-American Peace Zone. It can deter aggression, promote respect for international law, improve the Defence capabilities of smaller states, strengthen regional integration and confront non-state threats.

Small states are very vulnerable to transnational terrorism. One such threat took place forty-one years ago. On a sunny Wednesday 6^th October, 1976 eleven Guyanese were among the 73 passengers who were blasted out of the sky off the west coast of Barbados.  The small states of the Caribbean became the target for the deadliest terrorist attack in the Western hemisphere up to that time.

The Cubana de Aviación flight CU 455 in which they were travelling had originated in Guyana. It went to Trinidad and then to Barbados with the intention of heading to Jamaica before terminating in Cuba.

It was no coincidence that the Prime Ministers of the same four Anglophone Caribbean states – Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago – had made the courageous, and at that time outrageous, decision to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba in December 1972. Their diplomatic démarche might not have been unrelated to their being selected as targets for a terrorist attack. The terrorist attack on Cubana de Aviación flight CU 455 took place twenty-five years before 9/11.  It was an assault on the Caribbean as a zone of peace

The nature of the security threats confronting South America has changed since the start of the 21^st century.  Interstate threats to peace on the Continent, however, still include a number of unresolved and long-standing border and territorial controversies, such as the dispute between:

• Ecuador and Peru, over the Condor Mountain Range;
• Bolivia and Chile, over access to the sea;
• Guyana and Venezuela, over the latter’s claim to Guyana’s territory; and
• Guyana and Suriname for the same reason.

New security threats have emerged. Transnational crime, climate change, natural disasters – including earthquakes, hurricanes and landslides –  and humanitarian crises now present security risks to the continent.

South America must be preserved as a Zone of Peace. The South American Defence Council, by promoting Defence cooperation, can reduce threats, build trust and graduate towards the eventual goal of continental collective security.

Defence cooperation can lead to responses to these threats which are often costlier in human and material terms than armed conflicts. The Continent’s armed forces are already involved at the national level in responding to such threats.

Defence cooperation in summary, can lay the foundation for the creation of continent-wide collective security mechanism that would deter internal interstate conflict.

Brazil played a visionary role in conceiving the South American Defence Council. It must now play a role in consummating the ‘Council’ by making it fully operational. The Continent looks forward, with Brazil’s partnership, to the invigoration of the South American Defence Council as a vehicle for peace and security in South America.

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