As a result, Cape Verde’s main agenda has been to solve that crisis. Nowadays, Cape Verde enjoys a per capita income that is higher than that of many continental African nations (Ibid., par. 5). It has sought closer economic ties with the US, EU and Portugal (Ibid.). Also, it has sought involved with international military organizations (Ibid.). Tourism is on the rise, but there are concerns that it poses a threat to the Cape Verde’s rich marine life and it is an important nesting site for loggerhead turtles and humpback whales feed in the islands’ waters (Ibid.).During the 20th century severe droughts caused the deaths of 200,000 people and prompted heavy emigration. Today, more people with origins in Cape Verde live outside the country than inside it. The money that they send home brings in much-needed foreign currency. From the mid-1990s, droughts cut the islands' grain crop by 80%, and in 2002 the government appealed for international food aid after the harvest failed. (Ibid., par. 3)
With regards to Cape Verde’s involvement with international military organizations, in April 2005 NATO announced that it had chosen Cape Verde as the location for its first large-scale military exercise in Africa in 2006 (EIU 2006i, 9).
Initial variables of the data collection process:
UN/UN peacekeeping policy reform
No record.
Perception of peacekeeping
No record.
Domestic political environment
Cape Verde is a multiparty democracy in which power has changed hands regularly and peacefully through elections since 1991 (EIU 2006i, 4). The Partido Africano da Independência de Cabo Verde (PAICV), the historic independence party, regained power in January 2001, having been defeated in the first democratic elections in 1991 and the second democratic elections in 1995 (Ibid.). Nevertheless, peacekeeping is not part of their agenda.
The PAICV is expected to remain firmly in power, after convincingly winning the legislative and presidential elections that were held in early 2006 (EIU 2006bf, 1).
The main opposition party, Movimento para a Democracia (MPD), having failed to repeat its strong showing in the 2004 local elections, will undergo a painful period of self-examination under a new leader in order to win back the electorate’s support. The government’s main economic policy objectives in 2007-08 will be to maintain fiscal restraint while boosting donor-supported poverty-reduction programs and implementing its privatization policy. (Ibid.)
Despite its past problems with droughts and little arable land, the country has a high level of development relative to most Sub-Saharan African countries and there are close economic, political and personal ties with Portugal, the EU and the US, owing in part to a large emigrant population (EIU 2006i, 4).
Military affairs
Cape Verde’s small armed forces play a negligible role in the country (Ibid., 9). The IISS states that in 2005 the armed forces numbered about 1,200, of whom 1,000 served in the army with the remainder in the air force and coast guard (Ibid., quoting IISS 2005). The air force has only one (transport) aircraft (Ibid.). National service is by selective conscription (Ibid.). Although defence expenditure has increased, it remains at less than 1% of GDP, at an estimated US$6.8m in 2005 (Ibid.).
Cape Verde is involved in NATO activities, but Cape Verde does not provide troops:
In April 2005 NATO announced that it had chosen Cape Verde as the location for its first large-scale military exercise in Africa in 2006. NATO will be funding the full cost of the exercise, and although Cape Verde will not be paid for providing its territory, it can expect to benefit from better relations with NATO. The exercise is conceived as a final test for the 24,000-strong NATO response force, which is intended to be deployed to distant trouble spots at five days notice for peacekeeping and security operations. The government is keen to forge closer ties with NATO, in order to help it protect its many miles of coastline from drug trafficking and illegal fishing. (EIU 2006i, 9)
On foreign policy, Cape Verde is focusing on strengthen its ties with western countries. Cape Verde has traditionally courted aid and investment from a variety of countries, including Angola, China, Cuba, the Gulf States, Israel, Luxembourg and South Africa (Ibid.). The MPD significantly strengthened the country’s economic and political ties with Portugal as well as with the rest of the EU, relations that are now underpinned by the currency peg to the Euro (Ibid.). It is possible that Portugal could become Cape Verde’s guide into UN peacekeeping.
The PAICV puts some symbolic emphasis on ties with other Lusophone African countries, but the government has acknowledged the importance of relations with key Western countries, in particular the EU, in which it is lobbying hard to attain associate status (with the support of Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands) (Ibid.).
In 2005 the Cape Verdean government stated that its efforts would be focused on securing some form of associate status with the EU, which could take the form of an extension to its existing partnership with the EU through the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group, or could be data collection process led on the EU’s bilateral relations with neighboring countries in Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. (Ibid.)
Additional variables found after the preliminary analysis:
Climate changes
No record.
Independent negotiations taken by DPKO to seek troops
No record.
Independent negotiations taken by contributor countries to engage non-contributor countries
No record.
Meetings organized by other international organizations to engage in dialogue about. peacekeeping
In April 2005 NATO announced that it had chosen Cape Verde as the location for its first large-scale military exercise in Africa in 2006 (Ibid., 10).
NATO will be funding the full cost of the exercise, and although Cape Verde will not be paid for providing its territory, it can expect to benefit from better relations with NATO. The exercise is conceived as a final test for the 24,000-strong NATO response force, which is intended to be deployed to distant trouble spots at five days notice for peacekeeping and security operations. The government is keen to forge closer ties with NATO, in order to help it protect its many miles of coastline from drug trafficking and illegal fishing. (Ibid.)
