Workshop:

Context and problems

Africa is facing political, security, social and economical challenges that ignore frontiers and are extending their scale at a global level. Even though progress have been noticed in the governance domain with the relative political game pacification, especially the path toward democracy and state demilitarization, there is a need to underline genuine security challenges persistence. Conflicts and crisis and crisis are getting complex and extending their scale with political rebellion, electoral violence, social troubles, terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, etc. Globally Africa is confronted with state weakness, therefore, security peril. African continent is one of the most violently shredded continent by conflicts. These conflicts have a double dimension as internal civil war and foreign interference. Natural and mining resources instead of being sources of prosperity for the continent are fueling directly or indirectly most of conflicts. Concurrences generated by land use and sharing, aggravated by population growth and foreign powers solicitation and land fertility loss are underlying most of conflicts called ethnic or opposing community. The weak states legitimacy makes a very fragile shield against violence irruption if it is not the first cause. International community has developed a whole state reconstruction philosophy after its failure but neither utilized methods nor weak interventions duration did contribute to its success. And despite appreciated African Union and sub-regional organizations efforts, they are very rare conflicts resolved without “international community” intervention.

However, holding millenary traditions Africa has its own conflicts resolution peace building tools and they should be examined and confronted to international experience in order to develop a new doctrine. It is obvious that governance is a fundamental determinant for crisis and conflicts in the continent. Then state collapse is illustrated also in real difficulties to settle peace for all and security for each individual and his assets. This collapse is also expressing in the historical failure to conceive and set functioning rules, institutions and political, economic and social regulations modes that could guarantee stability and African societies harmony, therefore peace and prosperity. According to Archibald MacLeish, one the UNESCO Constitution founding fathers « peace is a process and a condition, not a static goal periodically obtained or lost. It is a situation mutually shared of confidence, harmony, and goals that allow free women and men to live a decent life where war is rejected in an affirmative way, with the support of a dynamic and deliberated social and human order between people of the world and war encouragements are subjugated by human and spiritual progress realized”. Also efforts made by African countries to strengthen peacekeeping capacities should be noticed. Also African Union (UA) and Economic Community of West Africa(ECOWAS), both of them have created a mechanism, respectively in 1993 and 1999 in order to get institutional means necessary to manage crisis and conflicts. With these initiatives, African intervention instruments for managing security are increasing.

Issues for discussion:

  • What are the principles and modalities for rebuilding conflicts prevention and management mechanisms in Africa?

  • What are the modes, mechanisms and conflicts prevention and management traditional tools to be revisited?

  • How to better modern conflicts prevention and management tools, modes and mechanisms by referring to traditional African heritage in this domain?

  • What are the conditions and security systems to ensure peace and stability in Africa, especially in political, social, economic and military domains etc.?

  • What kind of place and role should play different categories of actors in conflict prevention and management in Africa? (Governments, political leaders, security and defense forces, traditional, religious authorities, citizens, civil society, regional and sub regional organizations, international community etc.