Accountability for Intervention: Negotiating Civilian Protection Dilemmas with Respect to Economic Community of West African States and African Union Interventions

African states have been confronted with myriad challenges, especially in the areas of peace and security. As a result of the perceived reluctance or inability of the international community, specifically the United Nations, to intervene in a timely fashion in Africa's conflicts, regional and subregional organizations in Africa have assumed a greater role in conflict prevention, management, resolution, and peacekeeping in Africa. Notably, the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union have intervened in various African conflicts with either retrospective or prior endorsement by the UN Security Council to protect civilians from the adverse effects of conflicts. However, interventions by these African institutions have sometimes had unintended consequences. In this paper we discuss some of the dilemmas and challenges that arise during the use of force as a last resort for civilian protection in Africa. We argue that the use of force as a last resort for humanitarian intervention by African regional and subregional organizations for protecting civilians from mass atrocities often results in positive as well as negative unintended consequences for both interveners and civilians. However, for multiple reasons, such as the lack of political will, loopholes in the judicial systems of troop contributing countries, and resource constraints, interveners are rarely held accountable for their actions that constitute violations against the very civilians whose protection provided the basis and rationale for such interventions in the first place.