Domestic Peacekeeping Practices in the Tamale Metropolis

Abstract

This article contributes to understanding local security practices in urban Africa by examining links between international peacekeeping and local policing in Tamale, the capital of Ghana’s Northern Region. It uses the concept of assemblage to suggest that while experiences, skills and lessons gained from consistent engagement in United Nations peacekeeping may be detected in local policing in Tamale, their effects on everyday policing are in practice limited. This is due to the central role of traditional authorities in local security and general political interference in police matters. Local policing in Tamale is an assemblage of formal (police and military) and informal (chiefs and community leaders) security arrangements, with the latter, especially, dictating how crimes should be dealt with. This makes it next to impossible for the police to do their job without interference. The article examines how non-state or traditional actors shape policing and security provision in Tamale, and what space is available for police officers to use the skills they believe they have learned in peacekeeping missions. The paper shows through empirical analysis how local policing is shaped more by kinship and politics than international principles of human rights and democracy.

Introduction: Assembling Peacekeeping and Policing in Ghana

“…Tankebe argues along similar lines that "a specialized group of people [...] vested with the responsibility of day-to-day maintenance of law and order" was alien to the Ghanaian context prior to the colonial era (2008:68-69; see also Tankebe, 2009aTankebe, , 2009b. When the police force was formed, it sought to usurp "traditional socio-political systems" centring on collective responsibility, including family, lineage, and community at large, as well as ancestral spirits and other divinities (ibid; see also, Abdallah & Aning, 2022). While Tankebe may romanticise social order in Ghana prior to colonisation, the police as it emerged certainly constituted "a specific kind of order" (2008:69, italics in original), that is, one that supported the worldview and financial interests of the British administration, as was the case across the British empire (Cooper, 2002).…”

“…These dynamics are not only directed from the national government, but also from a wide range of non-state authorities, such as chiefs, members of local assemblies, civil servants, businesspeople, gangs and vigilante groups. In short, the liberal-democratic and inclusive discourse propounded by peacekeeping, and more mundane practices appropriated through in-mission experiences, intertwine with, and are fundamentally shaped by, existing national and local structures of authority as well as perceptions of what security means (Tsikata & Seini, 2004; see also Abdallah & Aning, 2022;Atobrah et al, 2022).…”

Assembling UN Peacekeeping and Counterterrorism in Ghana

“…In proposing that peacekeeping experiences may have a positive influence on preventive counterterrorism measures, the article contributes to this handful of studies (Dwyer, 2015;Harig, 2015;Levine, 2016;Saati & Wimelius, 2017) which have illuminated how operational tasks from various multinational missions inform internal security operations at home. Focusing on the unanticipated impacts of peacekeeping participation on domestic security dynamics they -together with the other articles in this special issue -address an empirical gap in the literature (see Albrecht, 2022aAlbrecht, , 2022bAbdallah & Aning, 2022;Edu-Afful, 2022;Aubyn, 2022;Alhassan & Asante, 2022).…”

“…At the operational level, anti-terrorism units have been established in security agencies such as the CTU, the SWAT unit of the GPS, the special forces within the 64th Infantry Regiment of the GAF, and a counterterrorism unit of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). Furthermore, close cooperation with civil society such as traditional and religious leaders is considered an essential part of building a resilient society capable of tackling terrorism (see Abdallah & Aning, 2022). Given their influential positions in Ghana, these leaders have a responsibility to employ local mechanisms and religious teachings to educate the youth about the dangers associated with extremism and how to counter extremist narratives.…”

Variations in Police Performance in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and Domestic Policing in Ghana

“…The provision of security and justice therefore does not rest exclusively with the state, which in most instances has not penetrated local communities and is perceived as an imposition. The traditional authorities play key arbitration and mediation roles in dispensing justice and resolving conflicts within their communities (Boafo-Arthur, 2006; see also Abdallah & Aning, 2022).…”