African Conflicts Research Articles

AFRICANIZING REBEL INSURGENCY IN A POST-COLONIAL STATE AND RAMIFICATIONS FOR AFRICAN REGIONAL INTEGRATION: INSIGHT(S) FROM THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)

This article aims to ponder the effects of political instability and, rebel insurgency, in particular, have on Africa’s regional integration frameworks by drawing insights from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The upsurge of militias has been a norm in some African countries such as the Central African Republic, Somalia and Sudan. This article utilized a qualitative method. When one adopts this type of method, s/he anticipates gathering a robust viewpoint pertaining to human behaviour and the rationale behind it. Data retrieved was drawn from secondary sources such as books, chapters in books, journal articles, credible online sources and policy briefs that monitor African conflict (especially the DRC). Similarly, the political instability that continues to take centre stage in the DRC because of many and diverse rebel groups fighting for the country’s prestigious resources has produced a web of both internal and external instability, further crippling the country’s economy, neighbouring countries and Africa’s regional integration blueprints.

English

The perpetual search for solutions to societal conflicts, particularly those tagged intractable, that is, irresolvable, took a dramatic turn when South Africa, one of such age-long conflicts, bowed to mediation after about 48 years of fierce existence. Until now, no rigorously deep insight that is capable of accurately and adequately accounting for the dialectics of history that brought apartheid to such an abrupt end. South Africa became a new model of a democratic society in a transition that did not involve an external third-party and bloodshed. A rigorous study of the South African conflict, using critical discourse analysis and navigating through the political theory of nation-building, reveals that a set of theoretical paradoxes may have underlain the peace process as teased out in this paper.   Key words: Apartheid, de-escalation, intractable conflict, transition, sustainability, deconstruction, societal peace.

Mapping the Changing Structure of Conflict Networks in North and West Africa

ABSTRACT Contemporary conflict in North and West Africa is characterized by a high degree of social and political complexity. Hundreds of rebel groups and extremist organizations are involved in a shifting series of alliances and rivalries with regional governments and with each other. These changing relationships can be represented as a social network that provides both opportunities and constraints to violent organizations. To better address this complexity, this article models the temporal evolution of both opposition and cooperation networks using detailed information on nearly 40,000 events in North and West Africa from 1997–2020. Using a relational approach called Dynamic Social Network Analysis (DSNA), the article suggests that the increasing number of belligerents, increasing density of conflictual relationships, and polarization on powerful organizations capable of conducting extensive military operations make a peaceful resolution of the North and West African conflicts more elusive than ever.

Female Combatants in African Wars and Conflicts

In most Russian and international studies, including African ones, their authors portray African women that reside in areas affected by civil wars and conflicts as victims of violence, robbery, forced labor, etc. At the same time, it is rarely taken into account that in most national liberation movements and rebel groups the number of women fighters constituted and still constitutes 10-30% of their rank and file. Moreover, many women became field commanders, chiefs of intelligence, or were responsible for the supply of weapons and ammunition. The present authors provide a new interpretation of the participation and role of women in the confrontation between armed anti-government factions and the central government. It is noted that in recent decades, not only in Africa, but also in other parts of the world, the trend towards “feminization of the militarization process” has become extremely noticeable. Many women, along with men, participate in acts of violence, including against the civilian population, and thus contribute to the destabilization of the internal political situation. Women most actively participated in hostilities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Eritrea and Ethiopia. The present paper looks into reasons and consequences of women’s involvement in insurgencies. It is pointed out that while during the years of the national liberation struggle women were motivated by the overarching goal of achieving independence, in later conflicts many of them fought to expand their political and economic rights and opportunities, i.e., to achieve gender equality. In addition to joining “armed groups” for ideological reasons, women tried to prove that they were “no worse than men”; others joined the ranks of the insurgents to protect themselves and other women from violence or death, i.e., they followed a kind of “survival strategy”. Particular attention is paid to suicide bombers, who have been increasingly used by the Islamist organization Boko Haram in recent years. The authors also consider the conditions in which demobilized women-combatants find themselves. The authors conclude that as the level of women’s involvement in African conflicts is constantly growing, it ceases to be an anomaly and to some extent reflects the “successes” achieved by the “fair sex” in the struggle for equality, although the negative consequences of this participation prevail over the positive ones.

Symposium on Middle East and North African (MENA) conflict. Part 1: An introduction

Since their independence, countries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have witnessed subsequent waves of social and political conflicts. Armed and non-armed conflicts have almost become a defining feature of a region that has been struggling to find its own identity and a system that best represents its diverse communities and guarantees stability. Calibrated post-war power-sharing formulas of governance have produced authoritarianism, clientelism, elitism and a political post-war economy, where corruption, nepotism, injustice, and crony capitalism are rampant.

Beyond history: African development, diplomacy, and conflict resolution

Beyond history: African development, diplomacy, and conflict resolution

Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by Intervention Forces in Central African Republic

Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) continues to undermine UN operations thereby affecting the efficacy of these interventions. This study investigating the extent of “allegations of SEA by intervention force with reference to UN intervention in contemporary African conflicts: A Case of Central Africa Republic (CAR).” This was a library-based research that relied on secondary data. Data was obtained from books, e-books, journals, UN publications and websites. The collected data was analysed thematically so as to establish the extent of allegations of sea by intervention force in CAR. The findings show that UN interventions force in CAR is faced with a myriad of challenges that affect its mandate execution. Much as there has been some positive output in MINUSCA operations, these successes have been shadowed by some of these challenges. SEA has been widespread in Central African Republic, though some of the allegations date before the UN intervention, the wide perception of the populace is that the UN forces are to blame. From the study it can also be concluded that the UN has its hands tied and has not been able to effectively enforce investigations by the TCCs since this a responsibility of the T/PCCs. Given the fact that the UN always faces a challenge of raising troops for PKOs it does not want to lose this ability further by blacklisting TCCs who fail to complete such investigations and punish the offenders. The system wide measures put in place in support of the ‘Zero tolerance” policy has not been effective. Since the study has established that SEA is a real challenge facing PKOs, there should also be effort to make sure that each country takes direct responsibility for the crimes perpetuated by their contingents and failure to complete investigations and conclude such cases should be enforced by strict penalties including banning from participation in PKOs.

Civilian targeting in African conflicts: A poor actor’s game that spreads through space

Armed conflict actors frequently target civilian populations. Thus, an improved understanding of such behaviour could pave the way to reducing it. We use the Civilian Targeting Index (CTI) and a broad array of geo-referenced data to investigate the spatio-temporal and economic dynamics of civilian targeting by conflict actors in Africa. Two main insights are generated. First, the civilian targeting behaviour of African non-state conflict actors is strongly influenced by the behaviour of other proximate actors. In particular, non-state actors tend to increase their civilian targeting after nearby non-state actors have done so. Possible mechanisms to explain such spatial spillovers include emulation and retaliation. Second, a negative relationship between economic activity and civilian targeting exists and applies to both state and non-state actors. In addition, CTIs of non-state actors tend to increase with population density, the geographical spread of their conflict activity and conflict duration. State actors have higher average CTIs than non-state actors do, but the gap between the two actor types tends to close during long-duration conflicts.

Internal mechanisms as tools for conflict resolution: A case study on Share-Tsaragi, Nigeria

Share and Tsaragi are twin communities in Kwara State, Nigeria, living harmoniously for centuries before a crisis on border issues erupted between them. This study argues that internal mechanisms that originate from the people's philosophy and culture are potent tools to sustain peaceful co-existence between them. The research designs are quantitative and qualitative and data were gathered from participant observations, questionnaires, and interviews. Findings show that government interventions have not been perfectly enforced, hence recurring conflicts. The study concludes that crises are imminent where population growth is without corresponding economic empowerment and socio-cultural integration among the people. Previous research efforts confirm that African conflicts often occur due to the combination of poverty and weak States and institutions. However, data from this research confirm that collaborations and consensus are potent tools to entrench peace in Share and Tsaragi communities.

New mediation practices in African conflicts (Ulf Engel)

This volume is the result of the editor's fellowship at the Wallenberg Research Centre of the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies, which ended with an international workshop on the subject, held in September 2011. The contributions engage from different angles and perspectives with a wider range of case studies and thematic issues observing trends and ongoing shifts in African security architecture and subsequent approaches to and practices of intervention by mediation. As the editor observes: "These efforts are related to a larger process of norm change, including a new preference for non-indifference as opposed to non interference in each other's affairs and an emphasis on human security as opposed to traditional regime security" (p 2).

The African Union and Peacekeeping in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

Africa continues to suffer from outbreaks of conflict, with evidence pointing to an increasing number of violent armed incidents. The establishment of the African Union (AU) heralded (or so it was hoped) a new era in how African conflicts are managed and resolved. Since 2003, the AU has mandated a number of peace support operations including the African Union Mission in Burundi (AMIB), the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), as a means to manage conflicts on the continent. In more recent times, the organization has also authorized three operations dealing with non-state armed groups namely the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Boko Haram and the Sahel Region Jihadists. Whilst some of these peace support missions recorded successes in meeting their mandates, generally all of them faced or are facing a number of challenges including funding, and logistical inadequacies among others. At the same time, the AU’s engagement in peacekeeping in Africa has occasioned opportunities for the organization including: increasing its capacity building in the area of conflict prevention, management and resolution; adoption of initiatives like “Silencing the Guns” aimed at lessening the outbreak of conflicts; and establishing its own funding mechanisms on how to support its mandated and authorized peace support missions among others.

Making Peace or Preventing It? UN Peacekeeping, Terrorism, and Civil War Negotiations

AbstractPrevious studies have highlighted that United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations are effective at reducing violence during civil wars. But can these operations also change the incentives of the warring parties and lead them to pursue non-violent alternatives? This article provides the first direct test of UN peacekeeping troops’ effectiveness at inducing non-violent engagements, specifically negotiations during civil wars. Our analysis of disaggregated monthly data on peace operations, negotiations, and violence in African conflicts (1989–2009) reveals that sizable deployments of UN military troops, by themselves, are insufficient to foster negotiations, even when they reduce battlefield violence. Instead, the probability of negotiation instances is conditional on rebel tactics. We posit, when rebels engage in terrorism, peacekeeping troops can inadvertently alter the “power to hurt” of the belligerents in favor of rebel groups and create conditions conducive to negotiations. Our results have important implications for research on the effectiveness of both peacekeeping and terrorism and for policy-making.

Africa: Possibilities and Challenges

Africa is considered to be the richest gathering of natural resources such as: oil, copper, diamond, bauxite, lithium, gold, hardwood forests and tropical fruits. Also, Africa owns the greatest spare of precious metals in the world and two thirds of the total of the unused farmlands in the whole world. These spares of the natural resources profoundly contribute in supporting the economics of the African countries and enhancing the opportunities of growth and supporting the development indicators of the developing continent. Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent and it is characterized by the cultural ideological and religious diversity. The challenges and the obstacles that face the continent are basically presented in: the problem of economic and social deterioration, the problem of administrative corruption and immigration of the competent persons. The problem of colonization with all of its negative effects that they left in many of the African countries that lead to the spread of the ethnic wars and armed conflicts and economic liability. At the beginning of the current millennium, the African union created continent space like the conglomerates of the other continents in Europe, Asia and America. Since Egypt took over the leadership of the African union in 2019 during the president Al-Sisi, the foreign investment directed to Africa has increased, Egypt was eager to activate the technical cooperation with the African countries through the pivotal role of the Egyptian agency of partnership for development, in fields such as health and high education as scholarships were provided for the students. The universities can make use of this by making common research projects to solve many problems of the continent. I mention from these problems what is related to the field of education and childhood such as: the phenomenon of child labor in Africa, the African children literature, the common African culture among the African countries and its effect on the upbringing patterns and the phenomenon of child recruitment in the armed conflicts and the African conflicts.

Increasing ownership for intervention in ECOWAS

ABSTRACT After the Cold War, not only the United Nations (UN) but also regional organisations began to engage in the internal conflicts of their member states. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has long intervened in West African conflicts, and institutionalised its approach to interventions in 1999. Since then, member states have maintained and even increased their commitment to managing conflicts in West Africa regionally – a willingness that implies their ownership of interventions. This article argues that ECOWAS member states share ownership because they have developed a common understanding about intervention. The development of this common understanding is analysed with a focus on the origin and evolution of ECOWAS, that is, on the multi-level process of generating consensus and on the principle and practice of sharing the costs of resource mobilisation. I will show that, in practice, these processes led each state to perceive an enhanced sense of ownership in ECOWAS interventions. Case studies of ECOWAS interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Cote d’Ivoire in the 1990s and the 2000s, the period when the organisation’s interventions became institutionalised, support the argument.

Impeding fatal violence through third-party diplomacy: The effect of mediation on conflict intensity

Existing research provides no systematic insights into if and how mediation impedes battle-related deaths. Therefore, this article presents a temporally disaggregated analysis and assesses the effect of mediation on monthly fatal violence. The article predicts that adversaries evaluate opponents’ trustworthiness from both fighting and negotiation behavior. It argues that reducing fighting intensity during negotiations is a sign of cooperation, which can be negotiated by mediators to build trust. Over the course of mediation, the content of negotiations provides information about how genuinely a conflict party is interested in conflict resolution. Only if mediation achieves negotiation of core incompatibilities will conflict parties be willing to reduce fighting intensity. Under these conditions, information revealed in a mediation process can build trust and substantively reduce violence. An empirical analysis of all African conflicts between 1993 and 2007 supports this prediction and shows that on average mediation is followed by substantive and lasting reductions in fatal violence, if mediation discusses the conflict’s main incompatibility. In contrast, mediation on other topics is associated with a small, fleeting reduction in violence. Data of battle-related fatalities in Syria during negotiations as well as qualitative evidence further support the theoretical mechanism and the model prediction. The study concludes that mediation can reduce conflict intensity substantively, if it achieves exchange between conflict parties on the main conflict issues.

The role of ethnic characteristics in the effect of income shocks on African conflict

Abstract This paper disentangles the ethnic drivers of the effect of food-related income shocks on African conflict employing geo-localized information. We consider diversity and political ethnic variables and several conflict definitions. We find that differentiating between organized armed-force and non-organized conflict can be more informative than between factor and output conflict. We show evidence that conflict is driven by the opportunity cost and state capacity mechanisms. Furthermore, ethnic cleavages have a large role in the transmission process of income shocks on organized armed-force conflict; whereas their role in non-organized violence is more limited. The sensitivity to ethnic heterogeneity for producer-price and droughts shocks is much larger than for consumer-price changes.

The Usage of African Religious Symbolism, Proverbial Wisdom and Myths in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding

All civilizations continue to tackle the challenge of finding peaceful solutions to protracted violent conflicts arising from everyday economic and socio-political interactions. In African societies, traditional religious beliefs, symbolism, proverbs, myths, rituals and practices constitute valuable resources for conflict management strategies for resolving everyday conflicts among individuals and inter- and –intra ethno-political forces. Nonetheless, violent and deadly conflicts continue to erupt periodically which necessitates the intervention of authoritative third parties (such as traditional political actors and community elders) employing mediation strategies like consensus-building and reconciliation, in order mitigate or restrain violence and restore peace and stability in the society. This comes as a surprise considering the fact that the religious and philosophical bases of African conflict transformation mechanisms has been given less attention in most of the peace and conflict programmes in the leading academic institutions in Africa and overseas. Hence, this piece enhances our understanding of the role of African religious doctrines, canons and philosophy expressed as proverbs, myths and symbols underpinning conflict resolution and peace-building activities. These African expressive cultural elements conform to the universal values of peace, tolerance, love and the respect for human life embedded in the major world religions. In sum, they have the potential to contribute immensely to the existing peace education programmes and the development of moral values and ethical norms for the building of sustainable peace in Africa and beyond.

Politics lost in translation: the African concept of time as a method to understand African conflicts

Purpose This paper aims to explore John Mbiti’s concept of African time in line with the studies on the crisis of the post-independence African state. Then, how this concept offers new analytical spaces for understanding the modern nation-states inconveniences in African contexts. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyses the Mbitian African concept of time in light of the works on post-independence African state and communalism. Findings By using the Mbitian concept of time politically after explaining African communalism and African concepts of personhood and destiny, the paper reached a conclusion. This conclusion claims that due to the highly existential nature of the African concept of destiny and the past-oriented feature of the African concept of time, Africans cannot be restrained by any supernatural claim or any futuristic promises that are irrelevant to their context and cut from the communal values of ancestral past. Africans do not think supernaturally or bet for the future. However, those futuristic and supernatural claims that cannot restrain the African subjectivity – ironically – characterize the modern nation state with its “progress orientation” and “social-contract” metaphysics. Unfortunately, this radical difference in perceptions between the past-oriented African temporality and the future-oriented modern state temporality rendered the post-independence. African state dysfunctional and unable to operate as a medium for authority. This, consequently, opened the door for informal conflict and strife. Originality/value The paper is novel with regard to offering a new theory on the conceptual problems of the nation state in African contexts.

Narrating African conflict news: An intercultural analysis of Burundi’s 2015 coup

This article adopts an intercultural narrative approach to investigate how the 2015 crisis in Burundi was represented in five online news outlets: The Guardian, the United Kingdom (English); Le Monde, France (French); Le Soir, Belgium (French); The Daily Nation, Kenya (English); and Le Renouveau, Burundi (French). As the analysis demonstrates, all the outlets, including the African ones, adopt essentialised clichés of barbaric perpetrators and innocent victims, embroiled in ethnic conflict. Various configurations of these elements of the story are identified as it travels from one context to another. In general, the international outlets focus on a brutal dictator and a passive, victimised mass, but this narrative is reversed in the government-run Burundian outlet, which assigns barbarism to the protestors and legitimacy to the president. The Daily Nation is unique in framing these elements within a broader international narrative, demonstrating Burundi’s relative vulnerability to international (neoimperial) actors. In the final discussion, the article considers how Western journalism can learn from this cross-cultural analysis, drawing on Venuti’s (1995) concepts of foreignisation and domestication. It is argued that The Daily Nation’s emphasis on neoimperial influence on Burundi may be a form of domestication to Kenyan readers but would undoubtedly be considered a foreignising strategy to Western European readers, as it would alert them to the injustices of supposedly legitimate international (Western) institutions. While recognising the challenges of such a strategy in journalism, it is argued that news outlets should nonetheless consider presenting African conflict news using less stereotyped narratives, informed by a postcolonial interpretative lens.

Exploring the roles of the AU and ECOWAS in West African conflicts

ABSTRACT The working relationship between the African Union (AU), on the one hand, and the regional economic communities and regional mechanisms, on the other, is one of the key components of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). This article investigates how the AU and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have attempted to define their respective roles for intervention in West African conflicts. There are three instruments of intervention: diplomacy, mediation and peace support operations. Empirical analysis of interventions in conflicts in Guinea, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Guinea-Bissau from 2008 to 2013 shows that, after disagreeing with ECOWAS regarding appropriate approaches, the AU has gradually refrained from taking a mediation role but has continued with its diplomatic efforts. ECOWAS has continued to initiate unilateral efforts at mediation and peace support, while it attempts to coordinate its diplomatic efforts with the AU and other actors. This article outlines the differing roles of these regional entities, and analyses their developing relationship in the context of continuing conflict in West Africa.