Central Africa, Non-US Legal Systems, Social Sciences, African, Comparative Politics, War & Peace, Public Affairs & Administration 

More and more African countries are falling prey to civil war and the disintegration of government authority and social order. Here, for the first time, teams of African scholars actually based in the countries principally affected examine what is happening. Their first aim has been to understand the complex and diverse roots of these conflicts. To this end, they analyse the conflicts in Angola, Burundi and Rwanda, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Somalia and Somaliland. They also reflect on the general obstacles to comprehending conflict in Africa. Possible ways of anticipating, containing and indeed preventing new conflicts are discussed, as are the experiences of successful transitions to peace in Northern Mali and post-civil war Nigeria. Proposals for mastering conflict in future range over a wide diversity of ideas like a moratorium on the importation of arms, trans-frontier development projects, political reform creating real space for participation by different social groups, and governmental decentralisation. This timely volume is a significant contribution by African intellectuals to resolving the most intractable problems confronting Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Countries in Africa continue to fall prey to civil war and the disintegration of governmental authority and social order. The contributors to this book believe that a development agenda to improve people's lives and strengthen national economies cannot be effective until Africa masters its problems of governance. They examine the complex and diverse roots of conflicts in Angola, Burundi and Rwanda, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Somalia and Somaliland, and offer historical and comparative reflections. Drawing on the experiences of Northern Mali, Nigeria, the part played by NGOs in Rwanda, and the role of regional cooperation, they explore possible ways of anticipating, containing and indeed preventing new conflicts. - from Amzon 

Part 1 Issues at Stake....................................................................P 1
1. Comprehending African Conflicts Adebayo Adedeji..............................P 3
2. Mastering African Conflicts Amadou Toumani Toure ...........................P 22
3. Obstacles to Comprehension and Barriers to the Mastery of Conflicts
Reginald Herbold Green.......................................................................P 31
4. Achieving Good Governance in Post-Conflict Situations: The Dialiectic
between Conflict and Good Governance Segun Odunuga.........................P 41
Part 2 Countries in Conflict: A Critical Stocktaking by Country
Research Teams..................................................................................P 53
5. Angola Augusto Eduardo Kambwa and Daniel Mingas Casimiro and
Ngongo Joao Pedro and Lucas Bhengui Ngonda.......................................P 55
6. Burundi Joseph Gahama and S. Makoroka and C. Nditije and O.
Ntahombaye and O. Sindayizeruka.........................................................P 80
7. Liberia Al-Hassan Conteh and Joseph S. Guannu and Hall Badio and
Klaneh W. Bruce ..................................................................................P 104
8. Rwanda Emmanuel Gassana and Butera Jean-Bosco and Byanafashe
Deo and Alice Kareikezi.........................................................................P 141
9. Sierra Leone 0 John Bobor Laggah and Joe A. D. Allie and
Roland S. V. Wright..............................................................................P 174
Part 3 Transitions from Conflict to Peace and Good Governance:
Lessons of Experience...........................................................................P 189
10. Angola: Seeking to Remedy the Limitations and Bias in Media and
Scholarly Coverage Reginald Herbold Green...........................................P 191
11. The Experience of Northern Mali.......................................................P 207
A History of the Armed Conflict Bintou Sanan Kouca and Sicave AG Ecawell
B Democracy and the Peace Process Aghatam Alhassane.....................P 215
12. Nigeria: A Victim of its Own Success Segun Odunuga........................P 221

13. Understanding Conflict in Somalia and Somaliland Ismail Ahmed........P 236
14. Towards a Macro-Economic Framework for Somaliland's Post-War
Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Reginald Herbold Green......................P 257
15. The Role of Non-African NGO's in African Conflicts: The Case of
Rwanda Ian Linda..............................................................................P 282
16. Consolidating Peace through Governance and Regional Cooperation:
The Liberian Experience Anthony Barclay..............................................P 297
Part 4 Strategizing the Way Forward......................................................P 317
17. Which Way Forward? A Panel Discussion............................................P 319
A Panel Discussions Adebayo Adedeji (ACDESS) (Chairman) and Emmanuel Gasana (Rwanda) and Al-Hassan Conteh (Liberia) and Joseph Gahama (Burundi) and Trevor Gordon-Somers (UNDP)
B. Conclusions and Recommendations on Managing African Conflicts
in their Political, Economic and Social Dimensions................................P 330
Working Group 1
C. An ongoing Research Programme Directed at Comprehending and Mastering Conflict..........................................................................................P 333
Working Group 2