African countries stockpile weapons in the face of Boko Haram, Al Shabaab insurgency

Beyond new roads, railway lines, shopping malls and skyscrapers dotting cities across the continent, Africa is now bristling with new weapons to replace its ageing inventories.

Since 2004, military spending by African countries has increased by 81 per cent and in 2013 the continent had the largest rise at 8.3 per cent in military spending in the world.

According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), African countries spent $44.9 billion on their militaries between 2012 and 2013 and in the whole of the past decade, more than $300 billion.

In East African Community (EAC), member states have spent more than $15 billion since 2004 on their militaries.

Kenya leads the pack, having spent more than $7 billion on its armed forces. Uganda is second with more than $4 billion in expenditure over the last decade, followed by Tanzania at $2.7 billion, Rwanda at $825 million and lastly Burundi with $513 million.

READ: Kenya’s defence budget grows ahead of Africa peers in 2013

Since 2001, Kenya’s military has been in the midst of a modernisation programme aimed at replacing the force’s ageing weapons to fight emerging threats in the Horn of African region, such as terrorism, arms smuggling, human trafficking and drug trafficking. 

This year’s $1.7 billion defence budget will go to acquiring 10 new military helicopters, refurbishment of three grounded Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters and installation of closed circuit (CCTV) surveillance cameras in 10 cities to secure the country following a series of terrorist attacks by Al Shabaab.

According to a recent report on Kenya’s defence industry market attractiveness, overall military spending will grow to $5.5 billion by 2018 as the country acquires helicopters, eight new warships, armoured vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and border surveillance and monitoring equipment.

Uganda has actually recorded a drop in military spending from the all-time high of $1.02 billion in 2011 to $465 million this year. The cut has been attributed to the heavy military hardware Uganda purchased between 2009 and 2013.

During this period, Uganda’s arms imports increased by 1,200 per cent, higher than between 2004 to 2008 due to the delivery of six Su-30 combat aircraft worth $744 million and 44 T-90S tanks from Russia and 4 S-125 SAM systems from Ukraine.

READ: Nairobi joins Uganda in arms shopping spree

Some of these weapons are now in use in the country’s interventions in the civil wars in South Sudan, Somalia and the Central African Republic where it is hunting down warlord Joseph Kony of the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Tanzania’s military is on a fast-tracked modernisation programme.

In September, President Jakaya Kikwete said his administration is “in the process of acquiring modern air force equipment, which includes attack helicopters, modern aircraft and other high-tech gear.”

Early this year, the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces received new hardware from China, including Type 63A amphibious tanks, A100 multiple rocket launchers (a range of 40 km and 120 km) and Type 07PA self-propelled mortars.

According to Janes Defence Weekly, Tanzania is also seeking to strengthen its air and naval defence capabilities to defend its newly discovered offshore petroleum resources and secure its territorial waters from piracy and illegal fishing.

In 2013, Tanzania threatened to go to war with Malawi over oil exploration activities in Lake Nyasa/Malawi which is disputed by the two countries.

Last year, 14 new J-7Gs fighter jets ordered in 2009 were quietly delivered from China as part of the modernisation programme of the country’s air force.

READ: Regional countries up security spending over terror and wars

Rwanda has also been quietly upgrading its air force capabilities to support its 5,000 troops deployed in peacekeeping missions around the world and protect its border with the unstable DR Congo.

Two new Mil Mi-17 helicopters were recently purchased for the Rwandan troops deployed to United Nations Mission in South Sudan. Rwanda has deployed the eight Mi-17 helicopters in South Sudan to help with search and rescue operations and emergency evacuation missions.

Rwanda has also reportedly purchased a new medium-range surface-to-air defence missile system from China.

The missile system can effectively intercept high, medium, low and ultra-low altitude aerial targets, like fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and UAVs, as well as engage and destroy incoming cruise missiles at altitudes between 30 metres and 2,000 metres.

Reflecting a peacetime budget, Burundi’s military expenditure now stands at about $50 million dollars, down from the wartime budget of $90 million during the civil war, which ended in 2005.

Faced with a shrinking budget, politicians in Burundi resorted to sending 4,000 troops to the UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia where their soldiers get trained and equipped on someone else’s tab. The country earns about $50 million a year from the UN.

At an 8.3 per cent increase, no other continent has increased defence spending by this margin. In fact, much of the world is scaling down on military expenditure.

US military spending has declined by 7.8 per cent as the Obama administration pulls out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Western Europe, austerity policies since the 2008 economic crisis have seen military spending fall, but Russia’s activities in Ukraine have forced other eastern nations to build up their defensive capabilities to deter aggression from Russia.

Asia, with an eye firmly on an assertive China, stepped up its defence spending by 3.6 per cent, while the ongoing political chaos in the Middle East saw the subcontinent increase its defence budget by four per cent.

Africa has long been seen as a backwater in the $1.75 trillion global military industrial complex, but this is now being challenged by data from SIPRI.

Collectively, the region spends about $45 billion annually on defence, ranking ninth, just below Japan ($47 billion), in global military spending.

On a continent facing rapid social, political and economic transformation, the 54 militaries of Africa have different and sometimes overlapping geo-political interests.

While in some cases increased military spending is the natural result of economic growth, or a response to emerging security threats, in other cases “it represents a squandering of natural resource revenues, the dominance of autocratic regimes, or emerging regional arms races,” according to SIPRI.

Only seven of these militaries have not increased their defence spending in the past 10 years. 

Some countries like Angola and Ghana, have funded their arms build-up from oil revenues.

Others like Kenya are facing domestic and foreign insurgency threats, and in countries such as South Sudan, the arms build-up is motivated by the regime’s desire to hold onto power.

For Algeria, with billions of dollars in its coffers, it’s all about prestige. At a time when former North African hegemons Egypt and Libya are distracted by internal political squabbles, Algiers is striving for power and influence in the sub-region.

Algeria now boasts the largest defence budget in Africa. Since 2004, its military spending has more than doubled, with an increase of 176 per cent. Last year, the country spent $10.4 billion, making it the first African nation to tip its defence budget beyond the $10 billion mark.

According to SIPRI, ongoing militarisation is fuelled by Algeria’s “desire for regional power status, the powerful role of the military, the threat of terrorism — including from armed Islamist groups in neighbouring Mali — and the availability of oil funds.”

Algeria, Africa’s largest country, is also facing serious security challenges in the Maghreb region.
The ousting of Libyan strongman Muammar Gadaffi has allowed extremists such as Al Qaeda, the Islamic Maghreb to fill the void left by the former regime and post-war chaos in Mali has made also the country a terrorist safe heaven.

More than 12,000 troops, requiring billions of dollars in combat equipment, are currently deployed to secure Algeria’s borders with Mali, Libya and Niger.

Oil wealth has also supported a serious military build up in Angola, which often sees the troubled Central Africa region as its backyard.

In 2013, the country became the second largest military spender in sub-Saharan Africa, increasing its military spending by 36 per cent to reach $6.1 billion, and by 175 per cent since 2004.

This is the first time that a country in sub-Saharan Africa has leapfrogged South Africa in military spending, which spent $4.1 billion in 2013, an increase of only 17 per cent since 2004.

Government officials say Angola’s surging defence budget aims to professionalise its 100,000 strong force, which is dominated by Soviet-backed MPLA fighters from the country’s long-running civil war.

But continuing conflict in the Great Lakes region, especially the Central African Republic, which is in a freefall, will see Angola intensify its activities in a region where it has intervened militarily in the past.

The country could also be in a silent arms race with the region’s powerhouse, South Africa, which has in the past financed wars against the MPLA regime. 

Angola and Algeria both now have military burdens of 4.8 per cent of GDP, the highest in Africa according to recent data.

Flush with petrodollars from recent oil recoveries, Ghana more than doubled its military spending from $109 million in 2012 to $306 million in 2013.

This figure looks modest compared with what other regional powers are spending. However, at this rate, Ghana’s defence budget is likely to surge to over $1.5 billion dollars by 2020.

The military is playing catch-up after years of neglect by democratically elected presidents who distrusted it for its past involvement in politics.