The African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis: conceptual breakthrough or anti-imperialist phantom?

The creation of an African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis (ACIRC) is a sign of Africa's willingness to take its destiny into its own hands. Presented as a reaction to the slowness of the development of the African Standby Force (ASF), it is also a response to some of the ASF's conceptual weaknesses. This decision reflects a wish to establish an instrument better equipped to deal with the challenges Africa is facing. Departing from the (sub)regional logic of the ASF results from a desire to take into account the transnational nature of threats, while its enlarged mandate is meant to offer Africa the capacity to intervene in all kinds of conflicts, including by undertaking peace enforcement activities. But the obstacles on the road towards the actual creation and mobilisation of this capacity should not be underestimated. These include material difficulties, but also political tensions, between ‘small’ and ‘big’ states as well as between the African Union and subregional organisations. The risk then is high that the ACIRC, whose announcement came as a reaction to France's intervention in Mali, ends up joining the ranks of the many ‘anti-imperialist’ phantoms haunting the history of the Organization of African Unity/African Union (OAU/AU). Confronted by events considered ‘neocolonial’ initiatives, African actors have indeed traditionally reacted by launching grand projects that never got off the ground. However, by actually establishing this new instrument, they may also demonstrate that times have definitively changed.     

South Africa's threat environment: a guide for the National Planning Commission

Abstract

The mandate of South Africa's recently appointed National Planning Commission includes addressing ‘defence and security matters’. This article seeks to outline the central elements of the threat environment facing South Africa in the foreseeable future. It is argued that South Africa faces no meaningful existential threat from conventional military forces but that its security forces will need to be prepared to address possible raids and attacks by conventional military forces both on home soil and on vital interests beyond the nation's borders. Other threats highlighted include the threats posed by potential insurgencies, by terrorism, and by crime, social unrest and banditry. Also addressed is the danger of so-called hybrid threats, in which two or more of the single threat types outlined here are combined. Finally, the article challenges the National Planning Commission to rethink South Africa's policy on peace operations in the light of the need to ensure the safety and security of the nation's citizenry.     

‘Fighting for peace’

In Africa, most of the present conflicts are civil, intra-state wars where belligerent groups use guerrilla tactics to achieve various political, economic or ideological objectives. The atrocities and the effect of these on-going wars on innocent civilians, human suffering, poverty and development are beyond comprehension. Not surprisingly, the majority of current peace operations are in Africa, with more than 70 countries contributing forces to these conflict zones. On the continent, South Africa has come to assume a leading role in peace operations and is now a major troop-contributing country to UN and AU missions. In the past 11 years, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has taken part in no fewer than 14 peace missions. This article provides a brief background of the conflicts in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan, the different United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) mandates under which peacekeepers had to operate as well as their objectives, and the extent of South Africa's involvement in the various missions. In the last section, the major challenges, that these operations have posed are highlighted.     

Jihad or qatal? Examining Al Qaeda's modus operandi

There is widespread acknowledgment that the modus operandi of jihadis affiliated with Al Qaeda and associated movements (AQAM) relies on brutal terror-inducing tactics which, more often than not, target Muslim and non-Muslim non-combatants. This article comparatively analyzes the AQAM modus operandi within the traditional stipulations of Islamic precepts with respect to waging jihad al saghir. The purpose is to glean whether or not such tactics such as suicide bombings, declaring fellow Muslim apostates in order to kill them, use of IEDs and EFPs to target civilians, constitute legitimate rules of engagement in jihad al saghir.     

‘Immediate redress’: USS Potomac and the pirates of Quallah Batoo

Maritime interests in the twenty-first century are not immune to the growing number of irregular challenges and hybrid threats that have come to dominate land warfare. In order to better understand these challenges a study of naval history can help provide a vital foundation. In the early 1830s the United States Navy dispatched the frigate USS Potomac to Sumatra to investigate a pirate attack on the spice trader Friendship. Potomac's crew of sailors and Marines conducted a landing at the village Quallah Batoo and fought a pitched battle. As the navies of the world approach naval irregular warfare in the new century, studying past examples like Potomac's mission can help illuminate the principles of successful naval irregular warfare.     

网络学习模式识别移动代理因素提取方法研究

从分析网络学习因素的角度出发,提出了利用数据融合理论和使用移动代理技术解决网络学习模式识别的问题。详细分析了网络学习模式中的主要因素,针对网络学习模式识别提出了使用移动代理(MA)进行因素提取的方法。同时运用数据融合技术中分布式缠绕判决模型进行描述,从而使有效地获取网络学习者的学习状态变为可能。也对网络学习因素提取MA的执行环境进行了具体阐述。设计了因素提取MA体系结构,分析了因素提取的执行过程,采用ATP层代理传输协议作为移动代理系统的应用层协议,负责学习模式识别的因素提取。     

基于微动调制的SAR新型复合有源干扰方法

在静态虚假目标的基础上,利用有源运动调制干扰原理,提出了一种基于微动调制的SAR新型复合有源干扰方法。建立了基于微动调制的复合有源干扰信号模型,详细分析了该干扰信号对SAR的干扰效果,确定了各调制系数,最后进行了基于实测数据的仿真实验。结果表明,该方法具有距离向相干处理和方位向部分相干处理的特点,可对SAR在方位向上实现多个匀(加)速虚假运动目标的欺骗干扰效果。     

关于移动消防通信指挥系统建设的几点思考

移动消防通信指挥中心的现代化程度和高科技应用水平已经成为建设一支现代化、信息化消防队伍的重要标志之一。移动消防通信指挥系统能够将消防部队灭火救援指挥工作进行优化和程序化、规范化,实现以信息平台为载体,以可视化现场图资料采集为源泉,以信息共享为基础,以指挥协同为目标,使灭火救援指挥工作的＂业务流＂与＂信息流＂高度融合,极大地提高了灭火救援指挥工作的效率、质量和水平,推进消防工作改革向纵深发展,使网上作战指挥引导实战成为现实。     

军民融合框架下非战争军事行动应急防疫保障体系建设的思考

2020年初发生的"新冠肺炎"疫情是新中国成立以来防控难度最大的重大突发公共卫生事件,也是对军队应急防疫保障体系的实际检验。军队应立足于军民融合战略思想的大背景,着眼非战争军事行动应急防疫保障体系建设的实际,完善重大疫情防控体制机制,进一步健全公共卫生体系,以全面提升防控和救治能力。本文结合当前新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情和以往非战争军事行动应急防疫保障的实践经验,分析了非战争军事行动卫生防疫保障的特点,阐述了其经验做法和存在的不足,从防疫指挥救治、应急物资保障、卫勤保障法律、心理危机干预以及防疫研发攻关等五个方面给出了对策措施,希翼随着军民融合不断深入推进,军地救治经验的相互交流和科研技术的协助攻关,本研究能够为非战争军事行动应急防疫保障体系建设提供一些参考。     

装备保障兵力机动模型的建立

在分析未来战争中机动作战对装备保障要求的基础上,明确了建立装备保障兵力机动模型的重要性。通过分析影响装备保障部(分)队机动状况的因素,建立了装备保障部(分)队的机动模型,研究了模型的计算流程。