Conflict transformation implies multiple changes at different levels of society in order to deepen and sustain peace, and can be the result of individual or collective efforts. Since all conflicts reflect highly contextual dynamics, they require a thorough analysis of local conditions. Such an understanding increases the possibility of producing strategies that make the most […]
Essays
Essays present critical analysis and debate on a pressing issue in African peacebuilding.
Conflict
Insecurity, Conflict, and Militancy in the Maghreb and Sahel Regions
by Jocelyn Perry
Throughout the Maghreb and Sahel regions of Africa, many communities are struggling under the strain of new patterns of violence that emerged after the Arab Spring as well as episodic cycles of violence that have resurfaced every few years for several decades. The following piece offers key takeaways from a series of recent events—a forum […]
Conflict
Whither Peacebuilding Initiatives? The Escalation of Herder-Farmer Conflicts in Nigeria
by Akachi Odoemene
There is a growing trend towards episodic, low-intensity conflicts across Nigeria, particularly in its north-central and southern zones. These conflicts often involve nomadic Fulani herdsmen and sedentary agricultural communities, and result in the unmitigated decimation and sacking of rural communities. Herder-farmer conflicts have escalated in the last decade and assumed a deadly dimension over the […]
Democracy, Development and Governance
New Wealth, New Security Challenges: The Impact of Energy and Mega-Infrastructure Projects in the Greater Horn of Africa
by Kennedy Mkutu
The Greater Horn of Africa is one of the most complex and challenging regions in the world in terms of conflict and instability. Currently, there are internal conflicts in South Sudan, southern Somalia, Sudan (Darfur), and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), while armed inter-communal clashes are common throughout. Areas where conflict is concentrated are […]
Conflict
Combattants: Activists or Criminals? A Reflection on Ethnoregionalism and Political Violence among Congolese Immigrants in South Africa
by Rosette Sifa Vuninga
Most studies on African immigrants in South Africa focus on xenophobia, illegal immigration, and corruption within the South African Department of Home Affairs, while leaving unexamined some aspects of immigrants’ everyday life in the country. Saint José Inaka highlights “ethno-regionalism and political conflicts among immigrants” as one issue that existing studies have glossed over. Inaka’s […]
Essays
Ignored Heroine? Maimuna Siraj, Social Media Activist, Strives for Peace and Women’s Empowerment in Mombasa, Kenya
by Joyce Omwoha
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
Intimate Partner Violence: The Hidden Threat to Women’s Security
by Peace A. Medie
When 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 […]
Essays
Morocco and the African Union: Back into the Fold
by Anouar Boukhars
Morocco’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 […]
Essays
Silence and Denial as Impediments to Peace in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe, 1980-2016
by Terence M. Mashingaidze
Introduction 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, […]
Africa
Challenges to Food Security in Nigeria’s Oil-Rich Niger Delta Region
by Abosede Omowumi Babatunde
Introduction 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, […]