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....

April 9, 2010
African Journal on Conflict Resolution // African Centre for for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes

Abstract:

What kind of conflict resolution approaches can effectively address intra-state wars based on identity? Liberal peace models were designed to deal with inter-state conflicts, and when applied to inter-ethnic conflicts bring limited success and often disastrous results. This article from the African Journal on Conflict Resolution argues that identities should be seen as key assets in building sustainable peace, justice and reconciliation. Regional peace and security mechanisms and traditional justice approaches should be used and international justice mechanisms approached with caution. This special issue includes: Identity and Peace: Reconfiguring Conflict Resolution in Africa, by Gerard Hagg and Peter Kagwanja; Tunnel Vision or Kaleidoscope: Competing Concepts on Sudan Identity and National Integration, by Atta El-Battahani; Identity Politics, Democratisation and State Building in Ethiopia’s Federal Arrangement, by Kidane Mengisteab; Cultural Diversity and the Somali Conflict: Myth or Reality?, by Abdulahi A. Osman; Political Management of Ethnic Perceptions: An Assessment of the African National Congress, by Mcebisi Ndletyana; Ethnic Diversity and Conflict in Nigeria: Lessons from the Niger Delta Crisis, by Wilson Akpan; Cultural Diversity in Conflict and Peace Making in Africa, by Molem C. Sama; The Political Role of the Ethnic Factor around Elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, by Hubert Kabungulu Ngoy-Kangoy; Identity and Cultural Diversity in Conflict Resolution and Democratisation for the African Renaissance: The Case of Burundi, by Philippe Ntahombaye and Gaspard Nduwayo and ‘Echoing Silences’: Ethnicity in post-colonial Zimbabwe, 1980-2007, by James Muzondidya and Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni....

January 7, 2010
MICROCON

Abstract:

The goal of this paper is to specify the nature of the Mouvement des Nigériens pour la Justice (MNJ) as a non-state armed organisation and to make sense of its shaky existence since its inception, almost three years ago, with a particular focus on the period that made the MNJ a serious political and military opponent to the government. Our argument is that circumstantial alliances and percolation of grievances provoked by local micro-political dynamics and long-standing disenfranchisement of some sections of the Tuareg youth permitted the movement to take off as a credible rebel group. Ultimately, we want to verify if existing analytical tools made available by the theoretical literature on non-state armed groups are adequate to make sense of the MNJ’s organisational trajectory, particularly considering Jeremy Weinstein’s seminal book “Inside Rebellion” (Weinstein, 2006). By putting too much emphasis on “initial conditions”, Weinstein’s model, we argue, fails to properly acknowledge the micro-social dynamics that shape armed groups and their erratic trajectory, and we stress the need to investigate what armed organizations are sociologically made of rather than bluntly postulating their existence....

March 2, 2009
Feminist Africa // African Gender Institute

Abstract:

This paper will discuss the ways in which the women of the Niger Delta have responded to acts of violence by the Nigerian State and its allies, the multinational oil companies. I first briefly outline the background to the crises in the Niger Delta and then discuss the responses and resistance of the women.

March 26, 2008
Annual Convention of the International Studies Association

Abstract:

According to an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) 2007 report, Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer with a 2,248,400 barrels per day capacity, while the continent itself emerged as the third highest crude oil exporter continent in the world with a 6,556,300 barrels per day capacity (cited, Salau 2007). It is important to note that most of the oil produced by Nigeria comes from the Niger Delta and the surrounding coastal waters, which places the region at the intersection of local, national, regional and global forces and processes linked to the relations of power and dispossession spawned by the international political economy of oil....

February 24, 2006
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Abstract:

"Today it is very clear that each Nigerien must stand up and recognise that slavery has to end." The words of Prince Moustapha Kadi, a descendant of the noble elite that has ruled Niger for centuries, are significant. In 2003 following the official abolition of slavery in his country he publicly freed his family's slaves who had been born into lifetime bondage. But in this report Eric Campbell reveals that although evidence of slavery is now kept from view, it's still very real. In this impoverished nation of 11 million people slavery as an institution exists in the form of a caste system. There are no longer slave markets, nor people shackled and traded for money, but in today's Niger the dark skinned members of certain tribes work in unpaid servitude for their lighter-skinned masters. Trying to overturn slavery in Niger is Ilguilas Weila, leader of the anti-slavery group Timidria, which means xe2x80x98Brotherhood'. "[What] the type of slavery we experience shares with the former slave trade", he told Eric Campbell, "is humiliation, stigmas, the labelling of persons as sub-human". Despite persecution and jailing, the members of Timidria continue to insist that the practice must be stopped. The Niger Government denies that there are any slaves at all and accuse activists like Weila of simply manufacturing evidence of the practice. But Campbell found as he journeyed through Niger, there are many thousands of people who do live as human baggage, who do work for masters they cannot leave, and who do see their children grow up to also live in servitude....

December 1, 2010
International Crisis Group

Abstract:

Nine actual or potential conflict situations around the world deteriorated and one improved in November 2010, according to the latest issue of the International Crisis Group’s monthly bulletin CrisisWatch released today. Tensions surged on the Korean peninsula as two South Korean civilians and two marines were killed when North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells at Yeonpyeong Island, where South Korea was conducting military drills. Haiti ’s late month presidential elections ended in confusion, as several opposition candidates called for the vote to be annulled amid reports of fraud, and thousands of people took to the streets in protest. International observers from the OAS called the vote valid despite “serious irregularities”, but tensions remain high. Ivory Coast saw deadly pre-election clashes on the streets of the capital Abidjan between rival supporters of the two presidential candidates, incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara. The tightly contested 28 November run-off and delays in announcing the preliminary results has led to heightened tensions between the two camps and fears of further violence. In Guinea, preliminary results declaring opposition leader Alpha Condé winner of the 7 November second round presidential election sparked three days of violence resulting in at least four deaths and dozens injured. CrisisWatch also noted deteriorated situations in Burundi, Central African Republic, Madagascar, Egypt and Western Sahara. In Niger, the situation improved as results from the 31 October referendum showed 90 per cent of voters in favour of the new constitution, paving the way for January 2011 elections and a return to civilian rule. Once again this month CrisisWatch describes violence against civilians in North and South Kivu provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo....

February 23, 2010
Center for Strategic and International Studies

Abstract:

The president of Niger, Mamadou Tandja, was toppled in a military coup d’état on February 18. Soldiers led by a little-known commander, Salou Djibo, pounced as the president held a cabinet meeting and placed him under house arrest in the capital, Niamey. The military junta, which calls itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, said it had been compelled to act because of the president’s unconstitutional rule.

February 12, 2009
Foreign Policy

Abstract:

Five rebellions that somehow keep going years after the governments they antagonize declared victory.

January 4, 2007
Center for Defense Information

Abstract:

In the five years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has solidified a trend of supplying high technology weapons and millions of dollars in military assistance to allies in the "war on terror." Support for the United States - either in its quest to stamp out international terrorist networks, or for its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan - seems to take precedence over other criteria usually taken into account when the United States considers an arms transfer. According to standing tenets of U.S. arms export policy, arms transfers should not undermine long-term security and stability, weaken democratic movements, support military coups, escalate arms races, exacerbate ongoing conflicts, cause arms build-ups in unstable regions, or be used to commit human rights abuses. However, in the last five years, the Bush administration has demonstrated a willingness to provide weapons and military training to weak and failing states and countries that have been repeatedly criticized by the U.S. State Department for human rights violations, lack of democracy, and even support of terrorism. To thoroughly evaluate and analyze this trend of increased military assistance, the Challenging Conventional Threats project at CDI has, since 2001, profiled countries that have a unique role in the "war on terror," through the strategic services they have provided to the United States as it conducts anti-terror operations across the globe. The series features analysis of the current political situations in the profiled countries, taking into account other indicators of the relative stability and openness of the country, such as military expenditures, total number of armed forces, and the human rights situation as assessed by the U.S. State Department, alongside an evaluation of U.S. military assistance to these countries over the past 17 years - the post-Cold War years....

July 13, 2006
Project on International Courts and Tribunals // African International Courts and Tribunals

Abstract:

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS/CEDEAO) is well known for its military intervention in Liberia and Sierra Leone. ECOWAS was created in 1975 to replace the Customs Union of West African States originally created in 1959 to redistribute customs duties collected by the coastal states of West Africa. The Treaty on the Economic Community of West African States was revised at the Cotonou Summit of July 1993 to replace the inexistent Tribunal originally envisioned with a Community Court of Justice....

July 13, 2006
Project on International Courts and Tribunals // African International Courts and Tribunals

Abstract:

The Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA) is the court of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA), one of the most successful regional legal harmonization efforts on the Continent. Unlike the other continental regional integration groups, OHADA does not seek to conform national law to an overarching treaty and successive regulations and directives, which allow national legislature some leeway. Instead, OHADA uses the integration method of issuing binding uniform acts that automatically supercede all prior and future inconsistent national laws. With the goal of creating a secure, simple and modern legal framework for the conduct of business in Africa, OHADA has issued eight uniform acts on general commercial law, commercial companies and economic interest groups, securities, arbitration, simplified recovery procedures and measures of execution, collective insolvency and accounting....

December 23, 2008
International Herald Tribune

Abstract:

Until last year, the only trigger Amoumoun Halil had pulled was the one on his livestock vaccination gun. This spring, a battered Kalashnikov rifle rested uneasily on his shoulder. When he donned his stiff fatigues, his lopsided gait and smiling eyes stood out among his hard-faced guerrilla brethren. Halil, a 40-year-old veterinary engineer, was a reluctant soldier in a rebellion that has broken out over an improbable - and as yet unrealized - bonanza of riches in one of the world's poorest countries. A battle is unfolding on the stark mountains and scalloped dunes of northern Niger between a band of Tuareg nomads, who claim the riches beneath their homeland are being taken by a government that gives them little in return, and an army that calls the fighters drug traffickers and bandits. It is a new front of an old war to control the vast wealth locked beneath African soil. Niger's northern desert caps one of the world's largest deposits of uranium, and demand for it has surged as global warming has increased interest in nuclear power. Growing economies like China and India are scouring the globe for the crumbly ore known as yellowcake. A French mining company is building the world's largest uranium mine in northern Niger, and a Chinese state company is building another mine nearby....

December 21, 2007
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

Niger’s armed forces and the rebel Nigerien Movement for Justice should end abuses against civilians in the conflict in the northern Agadez region of Niger, Human Rights Watch said today. The rebels took up arms in February 2007 over the perceived economic marginalization of Tuaregs. The conflict threatens the livelihoods of tens of thousands in Niger’s vast northern desert areas. Human Rights Watch has documented violations of the laws of war by soldiers of the Niger armed forces, including extrajudicial killing, rape, and the destruction of livestock. Laws of war violations by the ethnic Tuareg Nigerien Movement for Justice (MNJ) include the indiscriminate use of anti-vehicular landmines and the taking of personal property from non-Tuareg civilians. In November and December, Human Rights Watch conducted interviews with victims and eyewitnesses in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, and the Senegalese capital, Dakar. Human Rights Watch called on both sides to cease deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians, to take concrete steps to minimize civilian casualties, and to hold perpetrators of violations accountable....

August 22, 2007
British Broadcasting Corporation

Abstract:

Rebels in northern Niger say they have killed 17 government soldiers.

July 19, 2007
Washington Post

Abstract:

Insurgency, conflict over natural resources, and landmines are hurting Niger's economy.

October 22, 2004


Abstract:

Website of the Africa Union.

August 11, 2011
The Middle East Institute

Abstract:

This Policy Brief examines the real and imagined influence of al-Qa‘ida in North Africa and the Sahel. Despite a perception of the transnationalization of terrorist movements in North Africa under al-Qa‘ida’s banner, robust evidence of an effective al-Qa‘ida’s expansion in the Maghreb and the Sahara/Sahel region remains elusive at best. Rather, doubts about al-Qa‘ida’s actual threat and the efficacy of international response in the context of pervasive state failure in the Sahel raise questions regarding the policy objectives of US-led counter-terrorism in the region....

July 26, 2011
International Organization for Migration

Abstract:

The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has witnessed unprecedented civil unrest since 16 February 2011. As the security situation deteriorated and casualties mounted, many countries called on their citizens to leave the country.

Before the crisis, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya reportedly hosted over 2.5 million migrant workers from neighbouring countries, as well as Africa and Asia. Thousands of these workers have fled the country since the outbreak of violence, and many governments have requested assistance from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to ensure the safe and timely return home of their nationals. As of 28 May, over 885,600 persons, including Libyans, have crossed the Libyan border, with thousands more waiting to cross the border or stranded at sea and in airports.

The purpose of this report is to provide a cumulative overview of the evacuation operations of IOM and its partners over the past three months through 28 May, supplemented with graphs and photos to provide more detail. In addition to the macro-level information, highlights of activities and caseload at the country level are also presented in subsequent sections. The report’s final section gives a human face to the crisis through the personal accounts of migrants and TCNs who benefited from IOM assistance....

July 8, 2011
Chatham House

Abstract:

I consider it a singular honour to have been invited today by Chatham House to address this august forum. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which I represent, is a regional organisation which has, over the years, gained your attention only for the unfortunate reasons of state implosion and instability caused by bad governance and marginalisation. I therefore welcome the opportunity to throw further light on its objectives, challenges, and achievements, which factors have effectively brought together fifteen West African states in the enterprise of improving upon the living standards of 230 million people as well as integrating them.

The term ‘Chatham House Rule’ is today an internationally-accepted cliché that this Institute has contributed to international diplomacy discourse, a reference norm in rigorous and policy-oriented exchanges on global peace and security. I therefore view your invitation to lead today’s discourse about ‘Democracy in the context of Regional Integration in West Africa’ as an unique honour for me personally, and a recognition of ECOWAS as a leading brand in regional integration.

Ladies and gentlemen, the evolution of ECOWAS can only be properly understood against the backdrop of the fascinating history and circumstances of West Africa since establishing contact with the world beyond its borders. The fact that slavery, colonialism, as well as racial and economic marginalisation, had left an intrinsic yearning for freedom, unity and solidarity among peoples of African descent everywhere defines its wish to integrate its states and peoples....

May 24, 2011
Security Council Report

Abstract:

This special research report provides an analysis of a set of new issues that have been emerging in the West African subregion and possible implications for the Security Council in the coming year(s). It identifies some key emerging threats to peace and security in the 16-state subregion and their linkages to existing security challenges. The report points to a key feature: the fact that some of the new threats are essentially criminal rather than political in nature. However, it explains also the growing political and security implications. The report also highlights action already taken by the Council to recognise these threats and considers options available to the Council to tackle these issues going forward.

The raw material for the study was derived from literature research; field research in a number of countries in the West African subregion (including Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria); and interviews in the region with diplomats, government officials and officials of relevant international intergovernmental bodies (e.g. UN Office in West Africa or UNOWA, UN Office for Drugs and Crime or UNODC, the Economic Community of West African States or ECOWAS and the AU), NGOs and academics....

May 13, 2011
University of Oxford // Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity

Abstract:

This paper reviews the recent literature on processes of violent mobilisation. It highlights the need to distinguish between conflict and violence, arguing that violence deserves specific attention, separate from an analysis of the macro-cleavages which lead to social conflict. It goes on to detail those circumstances which result in political violence. Political violence is generally initiated by ‘specialists’, people with the specific skills and desire to trigger such conflict, and we analyse what makes non-specialists follow them. We question the validity of a dichotomy between greed and grievances as drivers of violent engagement. Instead we show that participation in violence could be seen, from an individual perspective, as a constantly changing process of ‘navigation’. However, this makes establishing motivations for violence difficult, both analytically and empirically. We therefore suggest an alternative way of studying the causes of the worst forms of collective violence, shifting attention from the individual to armed organisations. Indeed, these armed organisations are where the external constraints on insurgency (logistical, political, military) and the internal imperatives of military cohesion and efficiency are dealt with. The forms of collective violence (of high intensity or not, targeted or indiscriminate etc.) stem from how such organisational puzzles are solved. We detail some of the causal mechanisms that could be significant in shaping the histories and routes taken by such armed organisations. The last section discusses the policy implications of these findings....