Mapping out the Historical Role of Food in Conflict Resolution: An AfricanPerspective 1994-2000

Abstract

Historically, man has always existed as food gatherer, tilling the soil to produce what he could eat. With the advancement in civilization, man turned to agriculturalist cultivating crops to feed himself and his family. Population explosion and the changes in technological development gave rise to mechanized agricultural system where crops and food items are produced in large quantity thereby creating land scarcity which often leads to violent confrontation. Conflict has become a re-occurring decimal that touches all facets of human life. It is a phenomenon that adversely retards development. But despite the fact that conflict appears to be destructive in nature, however, there are constructive conflicts that fosters societal development. These kind of conflicts mostly end in win-win outcome, a situation where parties to conflict embark on constructive peace processes that could lead to social harmony. In doing so, they begin to offer helping hands to the victims, the help could come in form of food or other relief materials to enable victims regain some of their loses. It is against this backdrop therefore, that this paper takes a historical examination of the role of food in conflict resolution, using the Nsobo/Ikwo communal dispute as a case study. The paper argues that disputes resolved with the round table breaking of fast approach are highly unlikely to degenerate into violent conflict.