Legal Advisors Hold Court in Zambia

ADF STAFF

Whether serving in a complex multinational peacekeeping mission or rebuilding a military legal framework from the vestiges of outdated colonial and Cold War doctrines, military legal officers can benefit from their peers’ experiences.

That exchange of knowledge was the goal of the seventh iteration of the African Military Law Forum (AMLF), which convened August 27 through 29 in Lusaka, Zambia. The forum brought together about 50 participants from 30 African countries. The Zambia Defence Force co-hosted the event along with U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), U.S. Army Europe and Africa, and the North Carolina National Guard.

Zambia Army legal advisor Col. Mwizukanji Namwawa, director-general of Army Legal Services, was elected to serve as president of the AMLF for the next two years. She credited her country’s strong relations with neighboring countries and the U.S. for Zambia being chosen to host the event. “We have really, really good relationships with our partners, so we’re very happy to have been part of this,” she told ADF.

The AMLF serves as a sort of “bar association” gathering for African military advisors. In it, military legal officers from across the continent share best practices with their peers. They also learn from each other and build relationships.

The 2024 theme was “The Role of the Legal Advisor During Deployments.” African military legal professionals spent the conference discussing issues such as resolving legal issues while deployed, counseling commanders effectively, best practices for investigations, command accountability during deployments, training and mentoring, and women, peace and security issues.

Col. Marguerite Meffand-Loaw of the Cameroon Armed Forces knows first-hand the importance of having military legal advisors on deployments. She served in the long-running United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as MONUSCO.

Meffand-Loaw advised Congolese prosecutors who brought cases against militia members. “The court that was in charge of prosecuting those militias was the military operational court,” she told ADF through an interpreter. “And for me it was not good because there were a lot of international laws … that were not being properly applied. And it was against the rights of the defendant.”

The court, which did not offer opportunities to appeal, soon was dismantled, she said.

In Somalia, authorities want to expand the military advisor program so that it’s not just one office at the top. They also hope to throw off elements of Italian and British colonial practices and old Soviet influences. “Now we have a transition plan to get other frameworks, which are now trying to focus on the legal issues and the legal doctrines and also military doctrine,” Col. Ahmed Jinow Hassan, Somalia’s legal advisor for military justice, told ADF.

Hassan said Somalia is trying to recruit new military lawyers and justice officers so that legal advisors can be installed at the battalion and brigade levels. Having such advisors at lower levels will help Soldiers with one of the most common issues on any battlefield: avoiding civilian harm, one of Somalia’s biggest challenges.

Somalia is preparing to assume full control of its security as an African Union transition mission there winds down at the end of the year. He believes having a strong legal system is vital to this security transition. “Without legal issues, all the transition and all the planning will not be helpful to Somalia,” Hassan said.

Capt. Letsiwe Portia Rodah Magongo, judge advocate and legal advisor in Eswatini’s Ministry of National Defence and Security, told ADF that the AMLF’s strength is in how it brings together legal advisors from across the continent to share experiences. “Out of this meeting, I discovered that we all share similar challenges, so what we have to do is to build up our partnerships and work together and see how we can bridge those gaps as a continent.”

Legal advisors often are left out of mission planning and only are called in after a problem has occurred. “Whereas when we are involved in the planning stage, that can be avoided,” she said.

Working together, sharing knowledge among nations and effectively advising commanders on legal issues is necessary to bring stability and peace to a continent facing various conflicts, Magongo said. “I think it’s time whereby as a continent we need peace, we need to work together. We can’t work in isolation.”