Compendium - Fondation Charles Léopold Mayer pour le progrès ...

DEUXIÈME PARTIE – Interventions en Séances PlénièresColloque International, 8-11 novembre 2010 - DAKARForces de Défense et de Sécurité au cœur de la Séurité HumaineAIMThe aim of this paper is to discuss the contribution of defence and securityforces to multinational and humanitarian operations in the 21st century.SCOPE1. The presentation will cover the following:2. Conceptual Discourse3. Security Environment and Threats: An Overview.4. Enabling Framework for Multinational Humanitarian Operations.5. Strategy for Multinational Humanitarian Operations.6. Challenges in Multinational Humanitarian Operations.CONCEPTUAL DISCOURSEDEFENCE FORCESDefence or armed forces generally refer to the members of the army, navy andair force. They are also known as and called military. The military profession isrelatively modern, but the art of warfare and the business of soldiering are as oldas recorded history. The military according to Friedrich Engels is described as;“the organised association of armed men (women) maintained by the state forthe purpose of defensive and offensive warfare.” 4 This definition does notprovide an exhaustive account of all the purposes for keeping a military force bythe state in a fast changing world. This is because nowadays, the military ofmost states are usually engaged in many operations other than war.In this regard, the term military in a democratic nation would mean, the nationalinstitution primarily tasked by the constitution with the management ofviolence either in internal defence or against external aggression. It is for thesustenance of internal cohesion and stability; or for the attainment of any othernational objectives as may be determined by the appropriate legal authority.A close look at the postulation shows that unlike in the past when the mainpurpose of the military in society was essentially the employment of force toproduce successful outcomes in war, nowadays, the military have well definedpeace and war time functions. With the growing changes in the environmentin which states operate, the role of the military has been expanded to accommodatethe noble duties of managing varied and complex challenges. Suchchallenges include peacekeeping operations, humanitarian operations arisingfrom conflicts, and natural or manmade disasters like flood, earthquake, landslide,air crashes among others.Also, today the military is frequently called upon to assist in the maintenance ofinternal security, law and order. As a result, the role of the military has now becomemore central to societal good and wellbeing than it ever was. Therefore,the idea and role of the military in modern society has moved from a restrictedunderstanding as a war-fighting organisation to the broader notion of employmentof joint components for war, internal stabilisation and peace building.While the primary responsibility of the military is to fight and win wars, asecondary responsibility is to support the civil authority in humanitarian andpeace building operations. In extreme cases where internal conflicts, naturalor manmade disasters threaten national security or the established order, themilitary may be called in as a last resort where the primary agencies chargedwith such responsibilities can no longer cope. Against this consideration, themilitary should be able to generate highly trained and combat ready forces to68