August 4, 2011
Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa

Abstract:

Politics, Religion and Power in the Great Lakes Region covers the political, religious and power relations in the contemporary Great Lakes States : Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Kenya and the Sudan. The work is important because of the nexus between these countries’ shared present and past - their political, socio-economic, cultural and historical aspirations. In terms of regional cooperation, they are the countries, save for the DRC and the Sudan, which form the current East African Community.

The book reflects on the complex dynamics and strategies of the ensuing power struggle, bringing forth a unique set of fascinating revelations of patterns of primitive capital accumulation, resistance, human rights violations and the political compromises between traditional enemies when confronted by a common (foreign) enemy. A critical analysis of the political distortion the region suffered brings to light the relevance of these divisive tools on the current trends in the African countries, drawing inferences from the African Great Lakes Region (GLR).

The study highlights how the conflicts were finally resolved to avert a serious war, thus bringing about new reforms. This history is instructive to the contemporary reader because of the frequent skirmishes caused by ethnic and religious differences, political and territorial conflicts as well as resource and leadership disputes in the GLR....

July 28, 2011
Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior

Abstract:

What role do women play in statebuilding? How do statebuilding processes affect women's participation? Support for statebuilding has become the dominant model for international engagement in post-conflict contexts, yet donor approaches lack substantial gender analysis and are missing opportunities to promote gender equality. This paper presents findings from a research project on the impact of post-conflict statebuilding on women's citizenship. It argues that gender inequalities are linked to the underlying political settlement, and that donors must therefore address gender as a fundamentally political issue....

July 21, 2011
International Monetary Fund

Abstract:

This paper identifies the factors linked to cross-country differentials in growth performance in the aftermath of social conflict for 30 sub-Saharan African countries using panel data techniques. Our results show that changes in the terms of trade are the most important correlate of economic performance in post-conflict environments. This variable is typically associated with an increase in the marginal probability of positive economic performance by about 30 percent. Institutional quality emerges as the second most important factor. Foreign aid is shown to have very limited ability to explain differentials in growth performance, and other policy variables such as trade openness are not found to have a statistically significant effect. The results suggest that exogenous factors ("luck") are an important factor in post-conflict recovery. They also highlight the importance in post-conflict settings of policies to mitigate the macroeconomic impact of terms of trade volatility (including countercyclical macroeconomic policies and innovative financing instruments) and of policies to promote export diversification....

July 7, 2011
Households in Conflict Network // The Institute of Development Studies

Abstract:

The paper investigates the effect of child malnutrition on the risk of mortality in Burundi, a very poor country heavily affected by civil war. We use anthropometric data from a longitudinal survey - 1998-2007. We find that undernourished children, as measured by the height-for-age z-scores - HAZ - in 1998 had a higher probability to die during subsequent years. In order to address the problem of omitted variables correlated with both nutritional status and the risk of mortality, we use the length of exposure to civil war prior to 1998 as a source of exogenous variation in a child’s nutritional status. Children exposed to civil war in their area of residence have worse nutritional status. The paper finds that one year of exposure translates into a 0.15 decrease in the HAZ, resulting in a 10 percent increase in the probability to die for the whole sample as well as a 0.34 decrease in HAZ per year of exposure for boys only, resulting in 25 percent increase in the probability to die. We show the robustness of our results. Food and income transfer programs during civil war should be put in place to avoid the longterm effects of malnutrition....

June 27, 2011
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre // The Brookings Institution // London School of Economics Project on Internal Displacement

Abstract:

While the world’s attention often gravitates to the latest emergency situation, we are acutely aware that most of the world’s internally displaced persons (IDPs) live in protracted displacement. Displacement drags on, sometimes for years or decades, because of continuing conflict, because peace processes are stalled, or because political settlements fail to provide the necessary security and support for the displaced to find solutions.

The 2nd Expert Seminar on Protracted Internal Displacement was held in Geneva from 19-20 January 2011 on the theme of “IDPs in protracted displacement: Is local integration a solution?” Around 100 participants discussed challenges and possibilities of local integration in diverse protracted displacement situations over the course of the two days.

This publication includes the six case studies commissioned for the seminar as well as an introductory essay which explores the common themes emerging from the studies on protracted displacement and local integration. By focusing on the possibilities and challenges of local integration in protracted displacement, we hope that these six case studies lead to better understanding—and to concrete actions—which will bring an end to internal displacement which has gone on for far too long in these six countries and in many others....

August 2, 2011
Institute for Security Studies // L'Institut d'Etudes de Sécurité

Abstract:

Africa’s Great Lakes region has known conflict for a considerable period of time, and this has been met with several initiatives aimed at managing the situation in a sustainable way. One such initiative was the Multi-country Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme (MDRP), led by the World Bank, from 2002 to 2009. The initiative, which looked at selected countries in the Great Lakes, focussed on the demobilisation and reintegration of former fighters, with the main objective being to improve the livelihoods of affected communities. Despite the challenges that the MDRP encountered, the programme realised a number of successes and brought to the fore numerous lessons learned. It is these lessons that this monograph has sought to document, with the hope of contributing to the better planning of similar programmes in future. The monograph uses case studies of the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo to illustrate how the MDRP was implemented, while Liberia is included as a control case....

July 21, 2011
International Monetary Fund

Abstract:

This paper identifies the factors linked to cross-country differentials in growth performance in the aftermath of social conflict for 30 sub-Saharan African countries using panel data techniques. Our results show that changes in the terms of trade are the most important correlate of economic performance in post-conflict environments. This variable is typically associated with an increase in the marginal probability of positive economic performance by about 30 percent. Institutional quality emerges as the second most important factor. Foreign aid is shown to have very limited ability to explain differentials in growth performance, and other policy variables such as trade openness are not found to have a statistically significant effect. The results suggest that exogenous factors ("luck") are an important factor in post-conflict recovery. They also highlight the importance in post-conflict settings of policies to mitigate the macroeconomic impact of terms of trade volatility (including countercyclical macroeconomic policies and innovative financing instruments) and of policies to promote export diversification....

June 7, 2011
Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces

Abstract:

The Examples from the Ground are concrete illustrations of ways in which a gender perspective has been integrated in different security sector institutions around the world. They range from measures to counter human trafficking in Kosovo, to women’s organisations’ involvement with security institutions in Nepal, to female parliamentarians’ contribution to post-conflict reconstruction in Rwanda. These examples can help policymakers, trainers and educators better understand and demonstrate the linkages between gender and SSR.

The examples are organised around the following nine themes, for which a short introduction is provided:

• Police Reform and Gender
• Defence Reform and Gender
• Justice Reform and Gender
• Penal Reform and Gender
• Border Management and Gender
• Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector and Gender
• National Security Policy-Making and Gender
• Civil Society Oversight of the Security Sector and Gender
• SSR Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation and Gender

Individual examples can also be downloaded individually, in English or in French, at:
http://gssrtraining.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view;=article&id;=4&Itemid;=131⟨=en...

May 5, 2011
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre // The Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict

Abstract:

In order to advise policy-makers at a critical juncture after the re-election in January 2011 of President François Bozizé of the Central African Republic (CAR), the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict (Watchlist) and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) joined forces to conduct a four-week field mission to CAR to research and report on the situation of children affected by armed conflict. We found evidence that at least four of the six grave violations monitored under UN Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005) are still being committed against children in CAR: the abduction of children, recruitment or use of child soldiers, attacks against schools, and the denial of humanitarian access to children.

CAR is situated at the heart of one of the most volatile regions in the world, where it shares borders with Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Sudan. CAR also has some of the worst humanitarian indicators in the world and has been ranked the world’s fourth most under-funded and ignored humanitarian crisis. In addition, the people of CAR suffer a weak government, with minimal support from the international community, which cannot protect them from violence or meet their urgent needs for nutrition, water and sanitation, health care, and education.

Children in CAR face severe human rights abuses and violations. Numerous armed groups are active throughout the country, terrorizing communities and abducting children. Three groups in particular are guilty of egregious crimes against children and are still committing four of the six grave violations against CAR’s children.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which for years has terrorized communities and abducted children in northern Uganda, more recently has been forced into remote areas of nearby countries, including CAR, where it has attacked villages and abducted children. The Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP) is the only armed group still fighting the government, and is reportedly recruiting or using child soldiers and attacking schools in the northeast. Self-defense militias, created by communities to protect themselves from attack, recruit children as young as 12 years old and use them to fight....

April 26, 2011
United Nations Security Council

Abstract:

The report highlights the ongoing protection crisis in the country, caused by sporadic fighting between Government forces and armed groups, prevalent banditry and the extreme poverty of the population. The crisis is compounded by the lack of capacity of the defence and security forces and the judiciary, as well as by insufficient socio-economic opportunities.

In spite of the Government’s commitment to end the use and recruitment of children, their mobilization into the ranks of rebel groups and self-defence militias throughout the country continued during the reporting period. Children have been mobilized by the Armée populaire pour la restauration de la République et la démocratie, the Union des forces démocratiques pour le rassemblement, the Front démocratique du peuple centrafricain and the Mouvement des libérateurs centrafricains pour la justice, which are signatories to the 2008 Libreville Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Children were also present in the ranks of the Convention des patriotes pour la justice et la paix. Limited progress was made in the development and implementation of action plans by armed groups signatories to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The report notes other grave violations, such as the killing of children, sexual violence, attacks on health centres and the denial of humanitarian access. In the south-east of the country, the Lord’s Resistance Army continues to abduct and forcibly recruit children and use them as combatants, spies, sex slaves and porters.

The report identifies the national armed forces, armed groups, self-defence militias and road bandits as responsible for grave violations against children. It also describes the programmatic response to violations committed.

Finally, the report stresses the considerable challenges in monitoring and reporting, as well as addressing, grave violations against children, and outlines a series of recommendations with a view to securing strengthened action for the protection of children in the Central African Republic....

August 2, 2011
Institute for Security Studies // L'Institut d'Etudes de Sécurité

Abstract:

Africa’s Great Lakes region has known conflict for a considerable period of time, and this has been met with several initiatives aimed at managing the situation in a sustainable way. One such initiative was the Multi-country Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme (MDRP), led by the World Bank, from 2002 to 2009. The initiative, which looked at selected countries in the Great Lakes, focussed on the demobilisation and reintegration of former fighters, with the main objective being to improve the livelihoods of affected communities. Despite the challenges that the MDRP encountered, the programme realised a number of successes and brought to the fore numerous lessons learned. It is these lessons that this monograph has sought to document, with the hope of contributing to the better planning of similar programmes in future. The monograph uses case studies of the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo to illustrate how the MDRP was implemented, while Liberia is included as a control case....

July 21, 2011
International Monetary Fund

Abstract:

This paper identifies the factors linked to cross-country differentials in growth performance in the aftermath of social conflict for 30 sub-Saharan African countries using panel data techniques. Our results show that changes in the terms of trade are the most important correlate of economic performance in post-conflict environments. This variable is typically associated with an increase in the marginal probability of positive economic performance by about 30 percent. Institutional quality emerges as the second most important factor. Foreign aid is shown to have very limited ability to explain differentials in growth performance, and other policy variables such as trade openness are not found to have a statistically significant effect. The results suggest that exogenous factors ("luck") are an important factor in post-conflict recovery. They also highlight the importance in post-conflict settings of policies to mitigate the macroeconomic impact of terms of trade volatility (including countercyclical macroeconomic policies and innovative financing instruments) and of policies to promote export diversification....

March 3, 2011
German Institute of Global and Area Studies

Abstract:

Despite the religious diversity in sub‐Saharan Africa and the religious overtones in a number of African conflicts, social science research has inadequately addressed the question of how and to what extent religion matters for conflict in Africa. This paper presents an innovative data inventory on religion and violent conflict in all sub‐Saharan countries for the period 1990–2008 that seeks to contribute to filling the gap. The data underscore that religion has to be accounted for in conflict in Africa. Moreover, results show the multidimensionality (e.g. armed conflicts with religious incompatibilities, several forms of non‐state religious violence) and ambivalence (inter‐religious networks, religious peace initiatives) of religion vis‐à‐vis violence. In 22 of the 48 sub‐Saharan countries, religion plays a substantial role in violence, and six countries in particular—Chad, Congo‐Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda— are heavily affected by different religious aspects of violence....

September 21, 2010
Africa Files // At Issue eZine

Abstract:

The worldwide trade in small arms feeds on and prolongs Africa’s poverty and instability. This article explores the legal and illegal aspects of the trade. There are the sanction-makers and sanction-breakers. What they share are the lucrative profits from the misery of others. Arms dealers forge documents, bend national and international regulations out of all shape, bribe officials, form shell companies that change sometimes daily and are based all over the world. They resemble drug dealers except that they wreak far more death, destruction and chaos. However, there’s no billion-dollar-a-year war on arms like there is on drugs....

March 16, 2010
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Abstract:

This map shows the location by village in the Republic of Congo of 114,017 total refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Data updated 15 February 2010.

August 16, 2011
Humanitarian Policy Group // Overseas Development Institute

Abstract:

This paper examines the challenges facing the protracted crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo as they relate to the international response in eastern DRC, with a particular focus on the relationship between humanitarian assistance, early recovery and stabilisation.

It argues that supporting recovery in DRC requires flexible, risk-tolerant programming. All actors involved need to carefully consider the relationship between assistance, security and recovery, and move beyond simplistic assumptions about how peace and stability can be fostered and encouraged. For humanitarians, there is no time like the present to discuss how to pursue principled humanitarian action and advocate for the protection of civilians, amidst the complex interaction of aid, politics and security....

August 16, 2011
International Alert

Abstract:

Conducted in the framework of the European Commission program to "Support to peace and stabilization in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo", this study aims to better understand the role of civil society in peace-building. Based on the results of field research, the study identifies more than 150 organisations. The report describes the peacebuilding sector and the challenges the actors are facing, and provides a detailed and documented analysis of some local peace initiatives, focusing on key methodologies: Mediation, action-research and advocacy. Finally, the study offers recommendations for improving the peacebuilding practices of civil society actors as well as their financial and technical partners....

August 15, 2011
Global Witness

Abstract:

For decades, the trade in conflict minerals has fueled human rights abuses and promoted insecurity in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in July 2010, includes a provision that addresses the need for action to be taken to stop the national army and rebel groups in the DRC from profiting from the minerals trade. Section 1502, the Conflict Minerals provision, is a disclosure requirement that calls on companies to determine if their products contain conflict minerals and to report this to the SEC.

This legislation has the potential to make a significant impact on the ground in the DRC; however, there has been considerable misinformation and fear-mongering spread about its requirements and likely impact. This document seeks to clarify some of the most common misconceptions....

August 10, 2011
Amnesty International

Abstract:

Crimes under international law, including rape and murder, continue to be committed by the Congolese army and armed groups in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo following decades of similar crimes across the country, Amnesty International said today.

A new Amnesty International report The time for justice is now; new strategy needed in the Democratic Republic of Congo calls for the reform and strengthening of the country's national justice system to combat impunity that has been fostering a cycle of violence and human rights violations for decades.

"The people of the DRC have suffered war crimes and crimes against humanity - including torture, sexual violence and the use of child soldiers - on an enormous scale and yet only a handful of perpetrators have ever been brought to justice," said Veronique Aubert, Amnesty International's Africa deputy director....

August 8, 2011
IKV Pax Christi

Abstract:

Whereas artisanal mining has always been a key economic activity in the region, the Nia-Nia area in the Ituri territory of the oriental province of the DRC has only recently become a site of importance to the international gold mining community. As industrial mining in the DRC is often accompanied by socio-economic and political friction, this report, which is based on in-depth on-site fieldwork, explores the mining activities carried out by international mining companies and situates them in the socio-political context of the region to assess conflict potentiality and key markers for development.

In a first section, it situates the Nia-Nia area within the broader political, socio-economic and ethnic context of Ituri, to indicate that coming to grips with dynamics in Nia-Nia largely requires a unique approach as they are characterized by tendencies that differ from other places in Ituri. In a second section, it lays out ongoing mining activities. This report sums up the principal ways in which each international mining company interacts with the surrounding community, in each case paying specific attention to security dynamics related to its presence.

In a third section, it relates the mining companies’ community engagements and security dynamics to broader political, socio-economic, and especially ethnic dynamics, to assess the conflict potentiality of the presence of each of the international mining operations.

In the concluding section, the report explores some possible policy implications. First and foremost, it argues that the absence of mobile phone communication infrastructure allows for the current situation in which tribal actors politicize and instrumentalize international mining corporations for their own political, economic, and social interests, leading to amplified tensions and increased conflict potentiality. By extension, mining corporations and civil society actors should push for Congolese mobile phone networks to expand their market into the Nia-Nia area. Secondly, the report argues that information is dually important: one the one hand, mining corporations should inform themselves about the socio-political and ethnic dynamics of the area when formulating their community engagement policy, and on the other hand, they should invest more in informing different civil society stakeholders....

August 5, 2011
Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute

Abstract:

State-building is currently considered to be an indispensable process in overcoming state fragility: a condition characterized by frequent armed conflicts as well as chronic poverty. In this process, both the capacity and the legitimacy of the state are supposed to be enhanced; such balanced development of capacity and legitimacy has also been demanded in security sector reform , which is regarded as being a crucial part of post-conflict state-building. To enhance legitimacy, the importance of democratic governance is stressed in both state-building and SSR post-conflict countries. In reality, however, the balanced enhancement of capacity and legitimacy has rarely been realized. In particular, legitimacy enhancement tends to stagnate in countries in which one of multiple warring parties takes a strong grip on state power. This paper tries to understand why such unbalanced development of state-building and SSR has been observed in post-conflict countries, through a case study of Rwanda. Analyses of two policy initiatives in the security sector – Gacaca transitional justice and disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration – indicate that although these programs achieved goals set by the government, their contribution to the normative objectives promoted by the international community was quite debatable. It can be understood that this is because the country has subordinated SSR to its state-building process. After the military victory of the former rebels, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the ruling elite prioritized the establishment of political stability over the introduction of international norms such as democratic governance and the rule of law. SSR was implemented only to the extent that it contributed to, and did not threaten, Rwanda’s RPF-led state-building....

August 5, 2011
Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the historical relation between conflict and land tenure in Rwanda, a country that experienced a harsh civil war and genocide in the mid-1990s. The victory of the Tutsi-led rebel, Rwandan Patriotic Front - RPF - at that time triggered a massive return of refugees and a drastic change in land tenure policy. These were refugees who had fled the country at around the time of independence, in 1962, due to the political turmoil and persecution (the "social revolution") and who shared the background of the core RPF members. The social revolution had dismantled the existent Tutsi-led political order, compelling many Tutsi families to seek refuge outside their homeland. Under the post-independence rule of a Hutu-led government, the Tutsi refugees were not allowed to return and the lands they left behind were often arbitrarily distributed by local authorities among Hutu peasants. After victory in the mid-1990s civil war, the newly established RPF-led government ordered the current inhabitants of the lands to divide the properties in order to allocate portions to the Tutsi returnees. Different patterns of land holding and land division will be explained in the paper from data gathered through the authors' fieldworks in the southern and eastern parts of Rwanda. Although overt resistance to land division has not been observed to date, the land rights of the Tutsi returnees must be considered unstable because their legitimacy depends primarily on the strength and political stability of the RPF-led government. If the authority of RPF were to weaken, the land rights will be jeopardized. Throughout Rwandan history, in which political exclusion has often led to serious conflict, macro-level politics have repeatedly influenced land holding. Promotion of an inclusive democracy, therefore, is indispensable to escape the vicious circle between political instability and land rights....

August 4, 2011
Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa

Abstract:

Politics, Religion and Power in the Great Lakes Region covers the political, religious and power relations in the contemporary Great Lakes States : Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Kenya and the Sudan. The work is important because of the nexus between these countries’ shared present and past - their political, socio-economic, cultural and historical aspirations. In terms of regional cooperation, they are the countries, save for the DRC and the Sudan, which form the current East African Community.

The book reflects on the complex dynamics and strategies of the ensuing power struggle, bringing forth a unique set of fascinating revelations of patterns of primitive capital accumulation, resistance, human rights violations and the political compromises between traditional enemies when confronted by a common (foreign) enemy. A critical analysis of the political distortion the region suffered brings to light the relevance of these divisive tools on the current trends in the African countries, drawing inferences from the African Great Lakes Region (GLR).

The study highlights how the conflicts were finally resolved to avert a serious war, thus bringing about new reforms. This history is instructive to the contemporary reader because of the frequent skirmishes caused by ethnic and religious differences, political and territorial conflicts as well as resource and leadership disputes in the GLR....

July 21, 2011
International Monetary Fund

Abstract:

This paper identifies the factors linked to cross-country differentials in growth performance in the aftermath of social conflict for 30 sub-Saharan African countries using panel data techniques. Our results show that changes in the terms of trade are the most important correlate of economic performance in post-conflict environments. This variable is typically associated with an increase in the marginal probability of positive economic performance by about 30 percent. Institutional quality emerges as the second most important factor. Foreign aid is shown to have very limited ability to explain differentials in growth performance, and other policy variables such as trade openness are not found to have a statistically significant effect. The results suggest that exogenous factors ("luck") are an important factor in post-conflict recovery. They also highlight the importance in post-conflict settings of policies to mitigate the macroeconomic impact of terms of trade volatility (including countercyclical macroeconomic policies and innovative financing instruments) and of policies to promote export diversification....

July 8, 2011
Human Rights First

Abstract:

Mass atrocities are organized crimes. Those who commit genocide and crimes against humanity depend on third parties for the goods and services—money, matériel, political support, and a host of other resources—that sustain large-scale violence against civilians. Third parties have supplied military aircraft used by the Sudan Armed Forces against civilians, refined gold and other minerals coming out of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and ensured a steady flow of arms into Rwanda. Governments seeking to prevent atrocities cannot afford a narrow and uncoordinated focus on the perpetrators of such violence. Rather, an effective strategy must include identifying and pressuring third-party enablers— individuals, commercial entities, and countries—in order to interrupt the supply chains that fuel mass violence against civilians.

The first-ever Director of War Crimes, Atrocities, and Civilian Protection on the National Security Staff recently convened a meeting that appears to initiate an interagency structure to coordinate atrocities-prevention initiatives across the government. The Administration has an opportunity in the newly initiated structure to activate all of the U.S. government’s resources to institute an atrocities-prevention policy that goes beyond responding to individual crises. This structure should incorporate a systematic approach to disrupting enablers and should ensure that all possible tools are developed and used to counter these complex crimes. The intelligence community and the Department of the Treasury, along with the Departments of State and Defense, are key to successfully tackling third-party enablers of atrocities....