Conflict In Sudan Research Articles

The Horn of Africa in the shadow of the cold war: understanding the partition of Sudan from a regional perspective

On 9 July 2011, following over four decades of intermittent civil conflict, Southern Sudan officially declared independence from the North. The historic secession of the Southern provinces was a culmination of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed by the ruling National Congress Party and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement in 2005. While conventional analysis has depicted the roots of the Sudanese conflict as a result of enduring conflicts over its national identity, and power and resource sharing, this article argues that the seemingly inevitable march towards the emergence of two new nation-states has been a result of a complex dynamic of external as well as local political developments in the greater Horn of Africa. More specifically, I argue that domestic-level factors having to do with regional conflicts in the Horn have greatly influenced the region's external relations in ways that are often obscured by international relations theories that privilege geo-strategic interests over the role of domestic politics. The article highlights the role of the cold war in influencing political developments in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia in ways that shaped the relationship of the Middle East and the Horn region, and the trajectory of the civil conflict in Sudan in particular. I maintain that while security and strategic interests have provided the context for the relationship of the Horn and external actors, the role of domestic politics has played a crucial role in the shifting alliances between Middle Eastern states and the regimes and insurgent groups in the region. I conclude by highlighting the continuing importance of the role of local-level politics in these external relations following the end of the cold war by examining the advent of Islamism in the region in Sudan, arguing that the dynamic relationship between regional and domestic factors has played an important, albeit often neglected, role in the historic partition of the country.

UN peacekeeping in Africa: from the Suez crisis to the Sudan conflicts

Nearly half of all UN peacekeeping missions in the post-Cold War era have been in Africa, and the continent currently hosts the greatest number (and also the largest) of such missions in the world. Uniquely assessing five decades of UN peacekeeping in Africa, Adekeye Adebajo focuses on a series of questions: What accounts for the resurgence of UN peacekeeping efforts in Africa after the Cold War? What are the factors that have determined the success, or contributed to the failure, of the missions? Does the mandating of so many peacekeeping missions signify the failure of Africa's regional security organizations? And, crucially, how can a new division of labor be established between the UN and Africa's security organizations to more effectively manage conflicts on the continent? Adebajo's historically informed approach provides an in-depth analysis of the key domestic, regional, and external factors that shaped the outcomes of fifteen UN missions, offering critical lessons for future peacekeeping efforts in Africa and beyond.

English

This paper studies intractable conflict in Africa using the Darfur experience as case illustration with the primary goal of evaluating the place of exogenous factor(s) in the persistence of such conflict. With the aid of alternative dispute resolution theory, the paper discovered that there is a strong relationship between the dynamic interests of external forces and the intractability of the Darfur conflict. The use of power, threat and deadline diplomacy to impose an alien peace agreement on the factions in the conflict was instrumental to the continual nature of the conflict after the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA). Consequently, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) characterized by democratized negotiations and agreement is recommended as a solution to the crisis.   Keys words: Darfur, conflict, conflict resolution, exogenous, supra-national, alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

Book Review: The Geopolitics of Representation in Foreign News: Explaining Darfur

The Geopolitics of Representation in Foreign News: Explaining Darfur. Bella Mody. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010. 478 pp. $100 hbk. $44.95 pbk.Bella Mody's cross-national study of news media reporting of the Darfur crisis is among the most extensive and complex of its kind. Mody is James de Castro Chair in Global Media Studies in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The book is the collaborative outcome of an endeavor spearheaded by Mody that also involved several of her graduate students.The study investigated coverage of the Darfur crisis by ten news organizations over twenty-six months. The organizations were the New York Times, the Washington Post, Le Monde, the Guardian, Al-Ahram, People's Daily, China Daily, BBC.co.uk, English. AlJazeera.Net, and Mail & Guardian Online. The range includes some that are based in the global North, some in the South, a mixture of privately owned and state owned, some oriented to national audiences and others aimed at foreign audiences. Some are print, some online. The organizations differ in the extent to which their countries of location had historical geopolitical affiliation with Sudan or current national interests.The study draws on a total sample of 1,198 articles from the ten media, published during the first twenty-six months of the crisis (January 2003 to February 2005). Among other variables, each article was analyzed for its focal frame or dominant focus. Frames included causes (historical and contemporary), conduct (nature, status, process, and conduct of the crisis), and remedies. Headlines and text were also analyzed for the presence of three keywords: ethnic-race terms, genocide, and oil/ petroleum. Coders rated the emotional intensity of articles as high, medium, or low. Following extensive literature review and background on the Darfur crisis, the book is organized by a series of comparative analyses of different pairs of news organizations representing China's state-owned English- and Chinese-Language newspapers (China Daily and People's Daily); South Africa's Mail and Guardian Online with the Egyptian Al-Ahram; UK's Guardian with France's Le Monde; the New York Times with the Washington Post; and the websites of the BBC and Al Jazeera.The study confirms many long-standing criticisms of the performance of news media. While news representations of cross-national foreign events were most noticeable for their diversity of lenses and foci, one noticeable similarity was the relative neglect of the causes of the crisis. Otherwise, coverage was influenced by the national locations and characteristics of news organizations. Perhaps disappointingly for those who hoped for convincing evidence of improvement in North-South performance since the 1970s' NWICO debates, coverage by media of the global North proved strongest in several respects. This was surely related to the superior resources available to those organizations, but many other factors were at play. Locational standpoint matters, says Mody. Each news organization was embedded in a distinct geopolitical context that shaped its news representations.The study constructed a multilevel measure for level of press attention. Le Monde, BBC.co.uk, and the New York Times gave most attention to Darfur. News organizations located in China and Egypt, with a high national interest in Sudan's oil, trade, and water, produced mostly news articles of low emotional intensity. …

Climate Change as a Cause of Intra-State Conflicts: Darfur Case Study

Climate change presents a serious threat to the security and prosperity of all countries. The effects of climate change and its security implications have now been at the forefront of international attention. Academic researches on environmental change and security gained popularity in political science and security studies in the 1990s. With Cold War-related security issues on the decline, policymakers began looking more closely at non-traditional security concerns such as environmental change, poverty and diseases. In so doing, the idea of what constituted state security expanded beyond the risk of direct military aggression from hostile states to concerns about the regional instability that could affect economic security and draw governments into regional conflicts. Many quantitative and qualitative studies conclude that, climate change in itself is unlikely to produce violent conflict, but rather, it could serve as a “threat multiplier” whereby environmental degradation caused by climate change may exacerbate many of the underlining causes linked to violent conflict. However this conclusion is widely generalized, since it has put all countries in one basket despite the numerous differences and variation between countries as far as adaptive capacities and mitigation mechanism are concerned. Using Darfur as a case study, this dissertation examines the effects of climate change in poor or less developed countries, and critically analyzing the concept of climate change as a security threat that has ignited the conflict in Darfur, critically analyzing the role of drought, desertification, decreased rainfall, land degradation and migration in the conflict in Darfur. This study seeks to answer one question: whether the root causes of this crisis related to climate change? While acknowledging the prominent role of the International community in solving this crisis, this work intends to prove that, the absence of a common view on the nature and causes of the conflict has hampered international convergence about how to act on the Darfur crisis. This has delayed a coherent response and has contributed to the escalation of the conflict. Also the mischaracterization of the causes and nature of the conflict in Darfur has contributed to oversimplified views, which allowed the conflict to be politicized in a way that has complicated the search for solutions. This has hampered progress toward defining a political settlement, and toward finding a formula for allowing the various population groups to pursue compatible and sustainable livelihoods.

Remarks by Olivia Swaak-Goldman

INTRODUCTION International criminal justice and its components were put to the test during the latest African Union summits. Past African Union decisions, such as the refusal to cooperate with the ICC in the arrest and surrender of Sudanese President A1 Bashir and the rejection of the establishment of an International Criminal Court liaison office for the AU in Addis Ababa, are examples of the unrest regarding the ICC activities. Anti-ICC elements in Africa have been at work to discredit the Court by lobbying for non-support and non-cooperation with complete disregard for legal arguments. What is often understated, however, is that the practice clearly indicates that the engagement and cooperation of individual African states with the ICC has not diminished over time and remains excellent. Over the last nine years, African states have consistently assisted the ICC at each step of its activities, such as opening investigations, conducting investigations, pursuing and arresting individuals sought by the Court, and protecting witnesses. African states receive more than 50 percent of the Office of the Prosecutor's requests for cooperation, and some 80 percent of these requests are met with a positive response. EXAMPLES OF AFRICAN COOPERATION Some concrete examples of cooperation can help to illustrate this point. Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic have all referred the situations within their territory to the Court, requesting its intervention. Similarly, almost all segments of Kenyan society have welcomed the Court's investigation into the post-election violence. Recent polls indicate that a majority of the Kenyan population (over 60 percent) favors the Court's activities into the matter. African states have also lent support to the intervention of the ICC into the situations in Darfur and Libya through their representatives in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). UNSC Resolution 1593,1 which referred the situation in Darfur to the Court, included positive votes from Benin and Tanzania, as well as an abstention from Algeria. Similarly, UNSC Resolution 1970,2 which unanimously referred the situation of Libya to the Court, included positive votes from Gabon, Nigeria, and South Africa. Additionally, in May 2011, President Ouattara of Cote d'Ivoire confirmed his wish for the Office of the Prosecutor to conduct independent and impartial investigations into the most serious crimes committed since November 28, 2010, in the territory of Cote d'Ivoire by confirming the acceptance of jurisdiction of the Court under Article 12(3) of the Statute. (3) Moreover, at last December's Assembly of States Parties, Prime Minister Soro reiterated the previous statement and indicated Cote d'Ivoire's commitment to ratify the Rome Statute very soon. (4) Finally, Libyan authorities cooperated with Court officials during their mission to Tripoli at the end of 2011. As stated before, these examples clearly illustrate the high level of support the Court receives from African states. African states have also often worked closely with the Court through the AU. Regarding the situation in Kenya, for example, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, on behalf of the AU and in liaison with the OTP, maintained at all times that post-election violence had to be prosecuted either by national mechanisms or by the ICC in order to prevent a recurrence of violence in the 2012 elections. (5) Similarly, in the Darfur case the OTP collaborated closely with the Arab League as well as the AU High-Level Panel on Darfur, chaired by the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, to ensure accountability for the crimes in Darfur at all levels. (6) AFRICAN PRINCIPLES AND THE ICC The role played by African institutions and African people have been indispensible during the formation process of the system of international justice designed by the Rome Statute. …

The politicisation of the Beijing Olympics

The politicisation of the Beijing Olympics

The fallacy of the autonomous celebrity activist in international politics: George Clooney and Mia Farrow in Darfur

Celebrities have been accused of oversimplifying the conflict in Darfur, of exaggerating the number of people killed and of cursorily labelling it the ‘first genocide of the 21st century’. Celebrity activists have also been criticized for advocating drastic measures like military intervention, and for aggressively pursuing the fulfilment of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court at the expense of quiet diplomacy and reconciliation, ultimately making matters worse. This article examines the role of two Hollywood celebrities—Mia Farrow and George Clooney—in Sudan's ‘messy war’. It claims that most proponents and critics of celebrity activism overestimate the role that these two individuals played. Clooney and Farrow did not act alone but were latecomer adherents to a transnational advocacy network (the Save Darfur Coalition) and their role was more in strengthening than in altering messages.

<em>UN Peacekeeping in Africa: From the Suez Crisis to the Sudan Conflicts</em>, Adekeye Adebajo

Reviewed by: UN Peacekeeping in Africa: From the Suez Crisis to the Sudan Conflicts Agber Dimah Adebajo, Adekeye. 2011. UN Peacekeeping in Africa: From the Suez Crisis to the Sudan Conflicts. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers. 270 pp. Adebajo’s book is an historical narrative and an excellent delineation of the key issues and actors involved in United Nations peacekeeping efforts in Africa during the last half century. In the first chapter, the author repeatedly states the key problem as lack of cooperation among the three principal actors whose collaboration and cooperation are indispensable. These actors are the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, regional African organizations, and African nations involved directly or indirectly in violent conflicts. Adebajo defines success as restoring peace and stability after ceasefire, disarmament, demobilization, and rehabilitation. He cites examples where such cooperation led to success (the Suez crises) and where the lack of it led to failure (Congo). Chapter two is a detailed historical account of the birth of the U.N. peacekeeping missions that emerged out of the necessity to deal with the Suez crisis. It is a good example of how the alignment of the interests of the most influential nations (the United States and the Soviet Union) led to a peaceful resolution. The focus of the chapter is on the games that the great powers play and the domestic or regional sociopolitical dynamics and how they influence the outcomes of U.N. peacekeeping missions. It is clear from the author’s assertions that the primary goal of collaborative action was not peace and stability in the region, but the protection of the interests of the big powers. The interest of the United States was to keep the Suez Canal open, and more importantly, to secure for itself and its Western allies the oil that is vital to industry. By contrast, the interest of the Soviet Union was to threaten that access by sowing seeds of discord among Western allies and aligning itself with leftist regimes in the region. Like chapter two, chapter three begins with a detailed historical account of the conflict in the so-called Great Lakes Region of Africa. The author correctly points out that successful resolution of conflict is contingent upon the convergence of interests of the actors before the introduction of armed U.N. peacekeepers; however, while he repeatedly refers to Western interests, he does not clearly identify them. These interests were, and still are, Western access to the enormous natural resources of the region, especially those of the Congo. The author indicates that the United States wanted to stem the spread of communism; however, it is not the spread of communism per se that was important, but the threat that such a spread poses to these natural resources and markets. Similarly, the interests of [End Page 91] African nations are not clearly delineated. Undoubtedly, Egypt cooperated during the Suez Crisis because the solution ensured its control of the canal coveted by England, France, and Israel. An important question is why did the United States and the Soviet Union cooperate during the Suez crisis, but not during the Congo crisis? The author does not provide an answer, except to mention in passing that it was a “marriage of convenience.” A possible explanation is that they found it helpful to divide the region into respective satellite states to each other’s satisfaction and thus avoid violence. Southern Africa (Angola, Namibia, Mozambique) is the subject of chapter four. Here again, reference is made to the interests of Western powers. It is implied that for Western powers and their regional ally, apart-heid South Africa, the goal is the containment of communism and, for the African nations involved, political independence; however, by that time, the Soviet Union had collapsed. Why, then, did the United States insist on linking the independence of Namibia to the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola? The answer appears to be that Angola was already by this time a potentially big oil producer, sharing a border with the Congo. The author does not appear to realize that Western interests are almost invariably economic, even when described as strategic or stemming the influence of communism. In...

On the Original Understanding of the Crime of Genocide

This article is an extended exercise in 'genocide originalism.' To wit, some leading genocide scholars have propounded a supposedly “legal” definition that is unduly narrow. Purportedly based on the drafting history of the Genocide Convention, this narrow definition actually rests upon incomplete and selective references to legal sources. This narrow definition also has important effects on debates concerning whether partial genocides, such as by 'ethnic cleansing' may constitute the crime of genocide. In this article, I survey evidence that the drafters and ratifiers of the Genocide Convention did not adopt a requirement of genocidal intent that would be nearly impossible to satisfy, namely an intent to totally destroy a race. Efforts to equate genocidal intent with total racial destruction have been disturbingly common within the United Nations system over the past decade, including in the findings of International Court of Justice (ICJ) on genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (ICID) on genocide in western Sudan and eastern Chad, and of the trial chamber of the U.N.-backed International Criminal Court (ICC) on genocide in Darfur. At the root of this misunderstanding is the equation of the intent to destroy a group required by Article II of the Genocide Convention with a deliberate plan or policy of a state to exterminate the members of an entire racial group, or a total genocide. Contrary to this distortion of the Convention, its drafters rejected efforts to limit genocide to total destruction, a plan or policy of destruction, or a motive of racial hatred. This article contends that the original understanding of the crime of genocide did not require a total genocide, and that this original understanding is reflected in the text of the Genocide Convention, the 'travaux preparatoires', and the course of performance of the treaty by the United Nations and its member states.

Impact of Darfur Conflict on Livestock Population in West Darfur State

Impact of Darfur Conflict on Livestock Population in West Darfur State

An algorithm to assess methodological quality of nutrition and mortality cross-sectional surveys: development and application to surveys conducted in Darfur, Sudan.

BackgroundNutrition and mortality surveys are the main tools whereby evidence on the health status of populations affected by disasters and armed conflict is quantified and monitored over time. Several reviews have consistently revealed a lack of rigor in many surveys. We describe an algorithm for analyzing nutritional and mortality survey reports to identify a comprehensive range of errors that may result in sampling, response, or measurement biases and score quality. We apply the algorithm to surveys conducted in Darfur, Sudan.MethodsWe developed an algorithm based on internationally agreed upon methods and best practices. Penalties are attributed for a list of errors, and an overall score is built from the summation of penalties accrued by the survey as a whole. To test the algorithm reproducibility, it was independently applied by three raters on 30 randomly selected survey reports. The algorithm was further applied to more than 100 surveys conducted in Darfur, Sudan.ResultsThe Intra Class Correlation coefficient was 0.79 for mortality surveys and 0.78 for nutrition surveys. The overall median quality score and range of about 100 surveys conducted in Darfur were 0.60 (0.12-0.93) and 0.675 (0.23-0.86) for mortality and nutrition surveys, respectively. They varied between the organizations conducting the surveys, with no major trend over time.ConclusionOur study suggests that it is possible to systematically assess quality of surveys and reveals considerable problems with the quality of nutritional and particularly mortality surveys conducted in the Darfur crisis.

The special adviser on the prevention of genocide: adding value to the UN's mechanisms for preventing intra-state crises?

In July 2004, the UN created a new post—the special adviser on the prevention of genocide. This office was established in the midst of the conflict in Darfur and heralded as a means by which the UN could respond more expeditiously and appropriately to mass atrocity crimes. This article first examines the nature of this new office and analyzes its competencies in order to identify whether it does constitute a significant development. Second, the article assesses the record of this office since its establishment, and particularly the nature of its recommendations to the Security Council and the council's response. It will be argued that while the special adviser on the prevention of genocide comprises certain novel features, it is not sufficiently empowered to overcome the primary obstacle to the prevention and cessation of genocide, namely the lack of political will amongst the permanent five members on the Security Council.

Posttraumatic idioms of distress among Darfur refugees: Hozun and Majnun

Although psychosocial programming is seen as essential to the humanitarian response to the Darfur conflict, aid groups lack culturally-appropriate assessment instruments for monitoring and evaluation. The current study used an emic-etic integrated approach to: (i) create a culturally-appropriate measure of distress (Study 1), and (ii) test the measure in structured interviews of 848 Darfuris living in two refugee camps in Chad (Study 2). Traditional healers identified two trauma-related idioms, hozun and majnun, which shared features with but were not identical to posttraumatic stress disorder and depression. Measures of these constructs were reliable and correlated with trauma, loss, and functional impairment. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in empirical symptom clusters conceptually parallel to general Western psychiatric constructs. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for psychosocial programming.

Political Instability, Threat Displacement and Civil War: Darfur as a Theory Building Case

This paper revisits the link between political instability and civil war. It focuses on the elite dynamics endogenous to political instability — namely the commitment problem, in which elites have no guarantees that any distribution of power they agree upon today will be maintained in the future when each actor possesses the capabilities to lock in a much larger share by permanently eliminating others from the regime. It argues political instability, such as coups d’etat, regime splits, and purges, often reflect rival elites’ attempts to resolve the commitment problem by destroying or otherwise neutralizing their rivals’ first and second-strike capabilities. The consequence of this political strategy, however, is it divides the regime, destroying the patron-client networks on which the government depends for maintaining societal control and support, increasing the risk of civil war. I explore this argument through an in-depth case study of the outbreak of the Darfur civil war. Based on hundreds of interviews with key members of Sudan’s Islamic Movement, leaders of the Darfurian rebel movements, and other Darfurians, including politicians, tribal sheikhs, and members of civil society, I systematically analyze the effect of the split in the Islamic Movement in 1999 and 2000 on the onset of civil war in Darfur in 2002.

Does Corporate Social Responsibility Make a Difference?

We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals. We know now it is bad business. --Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1937) Lundin Petroleum's First Steps in Corporate Social Responsibility The introduction of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a company is often linked to a crisis. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in US waters and the proposed sinking of the Brent Spar platform in the North Sea represented seminal events leading to a higher awareness of environmental issues within the sector. The recent Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico will no doubt have a similar impact. Likewise, allegations of complicity in human rights violations in Burma, Nigeria, and Sudan brought sociopolitical issues onto oil companies' agendas. In each case, traditional business models that focused on technical and financial parameters proved inadequate to deal with the crises and criticisms regarding the companies' possible role in them. The conflict in Sudan led Lundin Petroleum to review its business model and integrate CSR in its business strategy. (1) In 1997, it had acquired a license to explore for and produce oil and gas in South Sudan (Block 5A). Although the government of Sudan was embroiled in a civil war and not perceived well internationally, there were no legal impediments (sanctions) to the company doing business there. Peace prevailed in the concession area and the prospects of finding oil seemed significant. A couple of years after the company acquired its license, however, certain tribal factions, who claimed the government was violating the local peace agreement, started to join the rebels engaged in the civil war. Concerned about the security of its staff and operations and about mounting allegations of human rights violations in an adjacent oil field, the company hired a consultant to review the sociopolitical implications of its presence in the area and advise on steps to be taken. If at the time the company was not linked to the problems on the ground, management felt that ties with the local communities should be reinforced to preserve the company's social license to operate. Community development projects were thus initiated locally. (2) This first step, albeit necessary and beneficial to the recipients, proved to be insufficient to make up for the deteriorating relationship between local tribal leaders and the government. The working environment became unsafe, as rebels declared oil fields and staff legitimate military targets, and certain nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) began to criticize the company for its alleged role in that conflict. The company ceased all field operations, except for its community development projects, and hired a corporate responsibility (CR) manager to develop its CSR framework. The adoption of the CSR framework represented a strategic shift in the way the company operated. Until then, the company had considered geology and its commercial prospectivity as the overriding business drivers, but the situation in Sudan led it to review its business model and integrate sociopolitical considerations to preserve its legal and social license to operate, and to ensure the sustainability of the company and its operations. Lundin Petroleum's values and business principles were rendered explicit in a Code of Conduct, which was adopted further to discussions with management and the board of directors. The CR manager also elaborated health, safety, environment (HSE) and community relations policies; developed a Human Rights Primer; launched a community development and humanitarian assistance program; and initiated a process of stakeholder consultations. There were multiple stakeholders with divergent views about the situation in Sudan. If all the stakeholders wanted to see a sustainable peace, they each envisioned a different way of reaching this outcome; certain NGOs and media contended that oil was the cause of the conflict and that oil activities should be suspended until a peace agreement was reached. …

The Darfur Conflict – Geography or Institutions?

The Darfur Conflict – Geography or Institutions?

The Sudanese Conflict: War Crimes and International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was created to facilitate the prosecution of perpetrators of international humanitarian law something not within the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. As an international court, it was not restricted by head of state or diplomatic immunity. In March 2005, the United Nations Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter adopted resolution 1593 which referred the situation in Darfur, Sudan to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor, effectively giving the ICC jurisdiction over Sudan even though Sudan is not part to the Rome Statute. The Resolution is binding on all UN member states, including Sudan. On March 4 2009, ICC judges issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al- Bashir. The warrant holds that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Bashir is criminally responsible for five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes, referring to alleged attacks by Sudanese security forces and pro- government militia in the Darfur region of Sudan during the government's seven year counter insurgency campaign. This ability to indict a head of state in office raised debates and animosity between the court and African leaders as well as Arab leaders after it indicted Hassan Omar Al-Bashir, the Sudanese head of state. The paper seeks to analyse the extent to which the Sudanese conflict gave rise to situation that constitute war crimes and examine the extent to which the laws have been applied worldwide. In essence, the paper makes an exposition about the law's applicability in the contemporary world. The paper espouse that the Sudanese sets as a test case were a sitting head of state could be brought before the ICC

The Darfur conflict: geography or institutions?

The Darfur conflict: geography or institutions?

Nigeria and conflict resolution in Africa: The Darfur experience

Conflicts in Africa have over the years led to loss of lives, displacement of persons and misery in many parts of the continent. The need to resolve, manage and prevent these conflicts, and equally deal with the socio-economicchallenges arising from these conflicts has become a source of worry to African nations including Nigeria, the giant of Africa. It is in the light of the foregoing therefore, that this paper attempts to analyze Nigeria’s role in conflict resolution in Africa using the Darfur crisis in Sudan as a case study. The paper examines the historical background of the Darfur conflict and efforts made by Nigeria to resolve the crisis through peace initiatives. Since the restoration of peace in Darfur is a big challenge facing the African continent, the paper looks at the problems and prospects of peace in that part of the continent.The paper concludes by positing that even though Nigeria has demonstrated its commitment in resolving the conflict in Darfur, there still is a lot to do in concert with the African Union, especially now that Southern Sudan is a sovereign state.