Peace is costly, but it’s worth the expense. – Kenyan Proverb Kenya is currently in a volatile period heading towards its general elections. Election periods in Kenya and around the world are often characterized by very active social media participation discussing a wide range of topics, including politics, religion, economy, tribal profiling, and geopolitical marginalization. […]
Essays
Essays present critical analysis and debate on a pressing issue in African peacebuilding.
Intimate Partner Violence: The Hidden Threat to Women’s Security
by Peace A. MedieWhen the problem of violence against women during and after conflict is discussed, it is often in reference to non-partner-perpetrated sexual violence. Intimate partner violence is, however, another form of violence that plagues the lives of women in conflict-affected settings with harmful physical, psychological, and social consequences. The World Health Organization describes this violence as […]
Morocco and the African Union: Back into the Fold
by Anouar BoukharsMorocco’s triumphant return to the African Union after a thirty-three-year break marked the culmination of a lengthy and intense diplomatic offensive designed to expand its circle of African allies to key nations in regions far from its historic sphere of influence in the Sahel, as well as in West and Central Africa. Now that the […]
Silence and Denial as Impediments to Peace in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe, 1980-2016
by Terence M. MashingaidzeIntroduction This appraisal is an interlocution of the twin cultures of silence and denial inherent in Zimbabwe’s post-colonial peacebuilding praxis. It evokes the exigency of placing victimhood, rather than political expediency, at the center of the country’s post-conflict architecture. Zimbabwe’s episodic cycles of violence are customarily resolved through state-mediated reconciliation pronouncements (1980), amnesty ordinances (1979, […]
Challenges to Food Security in Nigeria’s Oil-Rich Niger Delta Region
by Abosede Omowumi BabatundeIntroduction Although narratives of environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region are increasingly shifting attention to the human security challenges affecting the area,[1] one significant component of human security—food security—has received limited scholarly attention. It is important to analyze food security in the context of livelihood security because food security is crucial to the sensitivity, […]
Peaceful Negotiations: Implications for the Release of Twenty-One Chibok Girls from Boko Haram Captivity
by Sogo Angel OlofinbiyiIn April 2014, militant Islamist group Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok—a town in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria—making global news [1]. Widespread concern generated by the incident soon culminated in a global social media campaign, “Bring Back Our Girls,” with an accompanying Twitter hashtag, #BringBackOurGirls, that featured Tweets from notable world leaders and international […]
Writing on African Peacebuilding: Reflection on Personal Experiences
by Ismail RashidSince everyone writes differently, formulating a standard set of advice on how best to pull together your research into an effective book, book chapter, article, or policy paper or brief is very difficult. In offering my personal experiences as a guide, I want to highlight choices and challenges I have faced, decisions I have made, […]
Fees Must Fall: Lessons from Student Struggles in South Africa
by Everisto Benyera and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-GatsheniSouth Africa is currently undergoing a resurgence in student protests, with students agitating for free, decolonized education. The most prominent of these movements are Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall. What, exactly, are RMF and FMF? In a nutshell, they are an expression of a deep problem haunting “post-colonial” Africa in general and South […]
South Africa’s Withdrawal from the Rome Statute: A Commentary on Moral Equivalence in International Relations
by Amy NiangAlthough not entirely unexpected, South Africa’s announcement that it had taken steps to withdraw from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has baffled many observers. South Africa is generally seen as a champion of human rights, given its liberal constitution, the existence of a strong civil society advocacy for […]
“Africanizing” Media Coverage of Threats to Peace and Security on the Continent
by Fredrick OgengaA recent surge of terrorism has compounded preexisting threats to Africa’s peace and security, manifesting in complex forms of conflicts that are undermining the continent’s developmental ambitions. Creative solutions are needed to mitigate conflict and address the new threats, which include religious fundamentalism and extreme forms of violence. Of particular note is terrorism, now mutated […]