Conflict Trends - Volume 2008, Issue 2, January 2008

Two current macro global developments place Africa at a crossroads today : the global oil crisis and the global food crisis. These two major crises have the potential to accelerate the development of Africa or reverse the continent's development altogether, with catastrophic consequences.

Contrary to a popular but misleading view, the prevalence of group rights in Africa is not due to any cultural or traditional peculiarity, but derives from the manner in which the state originated and has been reproduced since colonial times. It has more to do with the foundations of the state, the nature of state building, and the manner of citizen construction and definition. It is this largely uninterrogated trajectory of human rights in Africa that is explored in this article.

Once seen as one of the most stable democracies in Africa, Kenya recently experienced violence of an unprecedented magnitude following the parliamentary and presidential elections of 27 December 2007. According to election results, the majority of the parliamentary seats were won by the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party, led by Raila Odinga, who also was in the lead during the presidential elections. However, in a sudden turnaround, the Electoral Commission of Kenya announced that incumbent president Mwai Kibaki had won the election. While the dispute between the government and the opposition parties reached some form of resolution through international mediation, the consequences of the turmoil were, unfortunately, far-reaching and severe.

Too often, governments and their international partners have not placed strategic communication at the centre of post-conflict reconstruction and reform processes. This can account for the slow pace of implementation and doubtful results that have plagued post-conflict reform processes in many places.

A key difference between modern intrastate conflict and interstate war is the relative unimportance of national borders. Modern conflicts are not contained by political boundaries, and even 'local' conflicts are no longer strictly internal. Neighbouring countries may face heightened instability due to economic, political, population, military and other spill-overs. Parties are organised around identities (religious, cultural, ethnic and tribal), including parties comprising factions of the army or civilians.

The Union of the Comoros consists of a group of four main islands in an archipelago. It is situated off the coast of southern Africa at the northern mouth of the Mozambique Channel, between northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique. Prior to 2002, it was known officially as the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros.

Liberia is a country in West Africa, with Monrovia as its capital city. Liberia's neighbouring countries are Sierra Leone, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire. The country's natural resources include iron ore, timber, diamonds, gold and hydropower. The climate is on average tropical, with dry winters and cloudy summers.

This article examines the issues of participatory democracy and pluralistic governance in Africa's postcolonial democracies, using Kenya as an example. Poor leadership capacity and political under-development are found to be the main hindrances to effective political performance and the ability of elected representatives to deliver on their promises. This article proposes the development of peace education programmes for leaders, as an attempt to improve the situation.

Africa is again at another critical crossroads. Previous crossroads in Africa's chequered history include the historic struggles against colonialism and the high promise and hopes of independence which, disappointingly, were squandered by the post-independence elite class and power holders.

Much has been researched and written about the cost of conflict in Africa - the financial cost of waging war, the human cost and the loss to economic growth. This focus has likely been driven by the fact that 31 African nations have experienced violent conflict since the early 1990s. These wars have shattered the lives of million of Africans, but have also exacted a heavy economic toll. Moss and Patrick's analysis of World Bank data shows the extent of that loss.

Gilbert M. Khadiagala's well-researched book sheds light on the vagary of conflict mediation through citizen-led (elder statesmen), state-centric and regionally-driven initiatives. Meddlers or Mediators focuses on five civil war case studies within the eastern region of Africa but, beyond this, is also a profile of those involved or who intend to be involved in the complex and cumbersome search for peace in conflict-prone Africa.