Thursday 21 October 2010

The Other War: Inter-Arab Conflict in Darfur

For almost four years, the largest single cause of violent death in Darfur, Sudan’s western region, has not been the government–rebel war that erupted in 2003, but fighting among Arab tribes armed by the government to fight the insurgency. Although the inter-Arab conflict claimed about 1,000 lives in the first ten months of 2010, displaced thousands of civilians, and left tens of thousands unprotected, very little is understood about it, or its protagonists, despite a large international presence spearheaded by the 30,000-person African Union/ UN Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID). Like the insurgency in its early years, the killing of Arab by Arab is unfolding almost completely unremarked outside Sudan. Unlike the insurgency, the deaths are at least partially recorded, including by UNAMID, and well reported by some Sudanese journalists. This Working Paper examines the background to and the development of the fighting between camel-herding Abbala and cattle-herding Baggara, the main players, and some of the possible repercussions.
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Wednesday 20 October 2010

Human rights concerns in southern and central Somalia

mnesty International is concerned at the widespread violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including war crimes, and the dire humanitarian situation that civilians face in southern and central Somalia. Civilians are at high risk of being killed and injured in indiscriminate attacks by all parties to the internal armed conflict, and as a result of a situation of generalized violence and collapse of the rule of law. In addition, certain categories of persons also face targeted attacks, including unlawful killings, torture and otherill treatment, abductions, death threats and harassment. In areas where there is currently no fighting, civilians bear the brunt of arbitrary and repressive rules, violating their human rights, enforced by armed Islamist groups. Conflict and associated human rights abuses continue to cause massive displacement in Somalia. According to UNHCR, over 200,000 civilians were estimated to have fled their homes in Somalia between January and early September 2010, some 1.4 million are currently displaced within the country and 68,000 have been registered as newly arrived refugees in neighbouring countries in 2010. Given the difficulties of access to southern and central Somalia by independent observers, Amnesty International relies on information provided by local sources to document the situation, as well as accounts from Somali refugees who flee Somalia. Amnesty International interviewed hundreds of Somali refugees who had recently fled their country in March and June 2010 in Kenya.
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An Analysis of Humanitarian and Protection Operations for the Internally Displaced in Darfur

In 1951, the international community made a significant step with the introduction of United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which was an international law that aimed to protect those who had become stateless and therefore faced a unique set of vulnerabilities and difficulties. As the nature of conflict has changed over the years, so have the types of humanitarian and human rights challenges that the international community face. The number of refugees has decreased to roughly 9.2 million people, the lowest figure in 25 years; while a new category, internally displaced persons (IDPs) has arisen. An IDP often flees his/her home for the same reasons as a refugee - national disaster, terrorism, persecution and violence. Yet they do not enjoy the same legal protection as refugees because they remain within their country of origin and do not cross the borders of their country. Currently, these is an estimated 25 million IDPs in over 52 countries.
The East African state of Sudan hosts more than a quarter of IDPs population in the world. The protracted conflicts that have engulfed the state since its independence in 1956 are a major cause of the increase in the IDP population in Sudan. That are about 6 million IDPs in the country and this is incomparable with situations in other countries.
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Sunday 5 September 2010

Resource Details [ back ] RSS Feeds Sudan Return and Reintegration Operations Annual Report 2009

In 2009 approximately 445,561 IDPs and refugees returned to southern Sudan and the Three Areas, a number similar to 2008 levels. Of this total, around 85 percent returned spontaneously, 11 percent returned in joint organized movements and 4 percent returned with state-organized returns. The statistic also showed a significant decrease in joint UN-IOM/GNU/GoSS-organized returns of IDPs, from over 28,000 in 2008 to about 11,000 in 2009, or almost sixty percent. This resulted largely from a change in UN policy to shift emphasis away from organized north-south IDP movements toward an accentuation of the need to focus on sustainable reintegration. The organized returned of refugees also decreased by 50 percent, from over 62,000 in 2008 to 32,000 this year. Similarly, the state-organized returns decreased dramatically by 70 percent, from 39,887 in 2008 to 11,884 this year. The statistics also revealed that, despite the lack of joint organized north-south returns and significant decrease in other organized movements, people were still returning to southern Sudan and the Three Areas. As anticipated, this year spontaneous returns even increased slightly from over 325,000 returnees last year to over 390,000 in 2009.Read more

Thursday 12 August 2010

Somaliland Holds Credible Presidential Election – IRI

HARGEISA (Somalilandpress) — IRI found that Somaliland’s election was peaceful, without major incident and generally met international standards. Hundreds of thousands of Somalilanders turned out to vote in their fourth election, and although wanting international recognition, did not wait to continue to build their nascent democracy. The international community should credit such democratic progress and the example it sets for others.
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Doubts Rise in Rwanda as Election Is Held

KIGALI, Rwanda — President Paul Kagame uses Twitter. He has lunched at Google. He started out as a skinny rebel fighter in the bush, marched into Rwanda’s capital in the midst of a genocide and then rose to make his country one of the developing world’s most orderly and crime-free societies.
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Friday 9 July 2010

Istanbul declaration (Istanbul, Turkey - 22 may 2010)

Istanbul declaration (Istanbul, Turkey - 22 may 2010)

The Istanbul Conference on Somalia took place in Istanbul from 21-23 May, 2010 reflecting the strong determination of the United Nations, the Government of Turkey and the International Community to work with the Transitional Federal Institutions and the people of Somalia to defeat the cycle of lawlessness, violence and despair in the country and to build in its place a peaceful and prosperous future for the Somali people. The Conference reaffirmed the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of Somalia.
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Wednesday 16 June 2010

The Somali Conflict: The Role of External Actors

Somalia has been without a functioning state ever since 1991, when the former dictator, Siyad Barre, was overthrown. None of the competing factions were strong enough to take his place as ruler of the country, producing first chaos, but gradually a form of stateless order. The international interventions have ever since the failed, and counter-productive intervention by the United Nations and the United States in the early 1990 exacerbated rather than mitigated the problems, let alone solved them. This was especially the case for the Ethiopia invasion (December 2006-January 2009), which produced utter chaos and a severe humanitarian crisis. Since the withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces, Islamist extremist militias have been establishing control of Somalia, and they may or may not be able to maintain this control. If they pursue their radical programme of Islamisation, their reign is likely to be short, but if
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Tuesday 1 June 2010

Beyond Regional Circularity: The Emergence of an Ethiopian Diaspora

By Aaron Matteo Terrazas
In March 2007, Foreign Affairs magazine described the Horn of Africa — the area comprising the east African states of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan — as the "hottest conflict zone in the world."

Over the past half century, the Horn of Africa has played host to some of the world's deadliest conflicts. Caught in the crossfire, the region's population has shifted back and forth across international borders seeking refuge not only from violence, but also from poverty, famine, natural disasters, failed states, and repressive governments. Landlocked Ethiopia, which shares a border with every other state in the Horn, is at the intersection of a complex system of multidirectional regional and international flows of humanity.

The movement of people within the Horn of Africa is hardly a new phenomenon. However, migration from Ethiopia to countries beyond the Horn can be linked to the 1974 revolution that overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie and installed a Marxist military regime, the Derg. Before 1974, the few Ethiopians who went abroad were elites who did so to study and then returned
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Wednesday 26 May 2010

The Leading Factions behind the Somali Insurgency

By Andrew McGregor


The U.S.-supported Ethiopian invasion that expelled Somalia's Islamist government last December is rapidly deteriorating into a multi-layered conflict that will prove resistant to resolution. Resistance to Ethiopian troops and the Ethiopian-installed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is inspired by nationalism, religion, economic factors and clan loyalties, yet all of these motivations are part of a constantly shifting pattern of allegiances in which the only common characteristic is a desire to expel foreign troops from Somalia. Local warlords and clan leaders who were deprived of power by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) are now scrambling to reassert control over their small fiefdoms in Mogadishu, while many former ICU gunmen have transferred their allegiance to clan militias.

Fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu has created over 300,000 civilian refugees. Thousands more (nearly all from the Hawiye clan that dominates the capital) have been killed as residential areas become battlegrounds. Only one overwhelmed hospital is open as Ethiopian troops are using other hospitals as barracks. The Somali TFG is exacerbating the situation by imposing bureaucratic delays on the delivery of relief aid arriving in Mogadishu. Unable to resist the Ethiopian incursion, the ICU dissolved December 27, 2006, returning its stockpiles of weapons and vehicles to the clans and militias who had donated them. Since then, a number of leading elements in the resistance have emerged.
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Saturday 15 May 2010

Preventing and Reducing Armed Violence

Armed violence reduction and prevention1 (AVR) is driven by the humanitarian and development imperative to accelerate global development by reducing the global burden of armed violence. The AVR approach responds to contemporary challenges of violence by addressing the risk factors for crime, interpersonal violence and conflict. Local and national governments experience armed violence most directly and have pioneered a range of preventive responses, often with the support of local communities. The donor community and UN system are also increasingly aware of the potential of targeted preventive measures. They have begun to adapt their strategies and instruments to better assist countries in their struggle to prevent and reduce all forms of
violence. This report provides an overview of some of the emerging lessons learned about how AVR priorities can be integrated into local, national and donor development plans and assistance strategies.
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Victims and Survivors of Armed Violence: Responding to Rights and Needs

This paper reviews key areas of policy and service provision relevant to the rights of victims and survivors of armed violence. It notes the broad humanitarian and development impact of armed violence in both conflict and non-conflict settings, and introduces a rights-based approach to victims and survivors of violence that has been developed over recent decades. It then summarizes key issues in areas of health, justice and social and economic inclusion and considers the implications for national level planning. It concludes with broad recommendations to strengthen international responses to the impact of armed violence. An international response to the problem of armed violence should have as its starting point “the people that are affected by armed violence – both the first-order victims and the wider communities and societies that also suffer consequences.” Data on the impact of armed violence are limited internationally, but recent research suggests that every year, conservatively at least 740,000 people are killed, directly or indirectly, by armed violence. Hundreds of thousands more are injured or suffer psychological trauma; and millions of others live in families and communities that bear the social and economic burden of this violence
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Humanitarian Action in the New Security Environment: Policy and Operational Implications in Somalia and Somaliland

The objective of this case study is to assess to what extent the humanitarian community in Somalia has faced an increase or decrease in insecurity during the last decade (1997 to 2006), and in either case: a) what were the reasons and circumstances; b) what were the policy responses; c) and what was the relationship between the real or perceived security environment and the applied security response systems/approaches. The report identifies changes in, and perceptions of, security and threat levels, and maps the individual security practices of key humanitarian actors and their collective security arrangements, in order to draw conclusions as to how the security environment has impacted on humanitarian delivery, including shifts towards localisation of response.
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A War Without Limits: Somalia's Humanitarian Catastrophe

For years, Somalia has been a byword for anarchic violence, famine, and drought. It is depicted as an inhospitable, ungovernable country ripped apart by long-standing internal feuds and, more recently, as a harbor for terrorism and piracy. Yet not only is this portrayal superficial, but paradoxically it has served to obscure both the nature and severity of the current crisis. The unmitigated disaster that Somalis have experienced in the past two years is not just another episode of the country's troubled history; it is the result of a particularly brutal and escalating war spawned by the clash of national, regional, and international political agendas.
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Monday 10 May 2010

The African Union, the United Nations and Civilian Protection Challenges in Darfur

This paper1 examines the nature of the relationship between the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) in the field of protection of civilians in armed conflicts. The topic is significant because the development that has seen the UN and regional organisations take on and try to implement protection responsibilities means that the civilian protection regime is evolving in terms of its political purposes, main formal institutions and coordination mechanisms, as well as legal frameworks. The AU and the UN have come to operationalise the still contested notion of protection of civilians in armed conflicts through adding this as a dimension of peace operations. Yet, performing such a role is among the most contested and inherently difficult for the UN itself as well as for non-UN actors. In part, states are divided over this emerging norm because it raises difficult questions of sovereignty. It challenges the prevailing interpretations in international society of core norms such as non-intervention and domestic jurisdiction. Additionally, peace operations with civilian protection mandates tend to be short-term, have often entailed high levels of use of force and have had quite ambiguous humanitarian consequences, in combination with unclear lines of accountability between non-UN actors and the UN Security Council (UNSC). The paper proposes that we can best understand the AU-UN collaboration for civilian protection from a perspective that takes seriously the value of legitimacy for state actors. The benefits of such an approach are illustrated by reference to the AU’s lead role in the Darfur conflict and its African Mission in Sudan (AMIS). It concludes that since the AUUN relationship for civilian protection currently seems to be ‘the only game in town’, and since this state of affairs is becoming more institutionalised and legitimated, it is necessary that scholars critically comment on the political effects of this in terms of the quality of the actual protection provided. Fundamentally, the paper draws on a particular understanding of international legitimacy to increase our understanding of how the UNSC has executed its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in relation to Africa.
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Thursday 29 April 2010

Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa

In recent years, analysts and U.S. policymakers have noted Africa’s growing strategic importance to U.S. interests. Among those interests are the increasing importance of Africa’s natural resources, particularly energy resources, and mounting concern over violent extremist activities and other potential threats posed by uncontrolled spaces, such as piracy and illicit trafficking. In addition, there is ongoing concern for Africa’s many humanitarian crises, armed conflicts, and
more general challenges, such as the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS. In 2006, Congress authorized a feasibility study on the creation of a new command for Africa to consolidate current operations and activities on the continent under one commander. Congress has closely monitored the command since its establishment.
On February 6, 2007, the Bush Administration announced the creation of a new unified
combatant command, U.S. Africa Command or AFRICOM, to promote U.S. national security
objectives in Africa and its surrounding waters. Prior to AFRICOM’s establishment, U.S. military involvement on the continent was divided among three commands: U.S. European Command (EUCOM), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM). The command’s area of responsibility (AOR) includes all African countries except Egypt. AFRICOM was officially launched as a sub-unified command under EUCOM on October 1, 2007, and became a stand-alone command on October 1, 2008.

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Tuesday 27 April 2010

Security Sector Reform: Southern Sudan [April 2010]

Human security has remained under threat in many parts of Southern Sudan despite
the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on January 9, 2005. The
militarization of civilians during the civil war, the emergence of resource conflicts, the spillover effects of regional conflicts and the wide circulation of small arms have contributed to insecurity in Southern Sudan. In 2009 alone, more than 2,500 people were killed and 350,000 displaced due to fighting, a toll higher than the much more publicized conflict in neighbouring Darfur (Joint NGO Briefing Paper, 2010: 2). Although there are functional governments (the central Government of Southern Sudan as well as state and county administration) in the territory, economic, political and social instability dominate.
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Gender and Transitional Justice in Africa: Progress and Prospects

Abstract

During the past few decades, different models of transitional justice (TJ) have
developed throughout Africa to try to address the mass human rights abuses
that have occurred during conflicts. These mechanisms, both judicial and nonjudicial,
have often failed to adequately tackle the extensive gender-based violence
that has been prevalent on the continent. This article examines the ways truth
commissions, legal mechanisms, reparations, security sector reform efforts,
and traditional mechanisms in Africa have dealt with gender-based human
rights violations. While recent African TJ mechanisms have been innovative in
developing means to address crimes against women, these mechanisms continue
to fail victims. This is in large part because the current discourse on gender and
transitional justice needs to be broadened to better address women’s experiences
of conflict. Future TJ initiatives need to re-examine the types of violations
prioritised, and recognise the continuum of violence that exists in pre-conflict
and post-conflict societies. It is also important to challenge the transitional justice field to stop reducing sexual-based violence to ‘women’s problems’, and explore how men are affected by the gendered dynamics of conflict.
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Friday 23 April 2010

President Hosni Mubarak: Why is Egypt Murdering Refugees?!

President Hosni Mubarak: Why is Egypt Murdering Refugees?!

By Kidane Alemayehu

Open Letter to H.E. the Egyptian President, Mr. Hosni Mubarak,

April 20, 2010.

Your Excellency,

I wish to submit this open letter to Your Excellency with the hope and belief that you would give the important issue of international human rights an urgent and positive consideration. Specifically, my appeal to you is concerned with Egypt’s shoot-to-kill policy applied on poor Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees crossing over from Egypt to Israel.

THE EVIDENCE

Here is what was reported by Reuters only last February, 2010:

“Egypt Police Kill Migrant At Israel Border

EL-ARISH, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian police shot and killed an Ethiopian migrant Tuesday, injured two others and arrested 10 as they tried to cross the Egyptian-Israeli border, medical and security sources said.”

Here is another similar report by AFP on March 27, 2010:


“Egypt police kill two Eritrean migrants at Israel border"

AFP - Egyptian police shot dead two Eritreans on Saturday as the would-be migrants tried to cross the border illegally into Israel, a security official told AFP. Four people were also wounded during the shooting, including one who was in a critical condition, and another person was arrested. “

Mr. President:

The above murders are only examples of the inhumanity perpetrated by your government at the Israeli/Egyptian border. It should be noted that according to reliable sources, the refugees were shot in the back as they were fleeing from the Egyptian soldiers. What does this indicate about the humanity, let alone the bravery, of the soldiers?

It is time, Mr. President, that you put an immediate and a complete stop to your soldiers’ travesty, an international crime by any standards.


2 THE IRONY

There are a number of tragic and, at the same time, ironic aspects to the situation occurring at the Egyptian side of the border with Israel. An amazing one is the fact that Egyptians who are members of the African Union are killing other Africans from entering, of all places, Israel! The Israeli government, on the other hand, applies civilized and humane standards that avoid mistreating, let alone killing refugees. The other irony is that Egypt thrives on the water (86%) cascading from Ethiopia free of charge. The soil that produces food in Egypt came from Ethiopia. But Egypt murders Ethiopian refugees at the Israeli border with impunity. A further irony is the fact that Egypt claims to be in compliance with international human rights declarations but its soldiers commit murders in open day light! In addition, the Egyptian government mercilessly loads refugees on airplanes and drops them back to Eritrea, for example, and only the Almighty knows what may have happened to the unfortunate human beings.

EGYPT’S AND ETHIOPIA’S GLORIOUS DAYS

There was a time when Egypt was considered a place of refuge for people beleaguered in their respective countries. The most famous of these were, of course, Mary, the mother of Lord Jesus Christ, the child Jesus himself, and their escort, Joseph. I would not like to believe, Mr. President, that you are taking on the role of King Herod!

Ethiopia was and continues to be a place of refuge. I am sure you will remember, Mr. President, the historic fact that Prophet Mohammed sent his daughter, Rockeya with her husband as well as some 100 Arabs to Ethiopia where he knew that they would be treated with respect and the utmost care. They had stayed in Ethiopia for 15 years before they returned to Mecca.

I also remember in the 1950’s and 1960’s many Arabs, especially from the Ymen, who had migrated to Ethiopia and were working freely in rural and urban areas. The term “Arab Souq” was quite prevalent in Harer, an Ethiopian province, referring to shops operated by Arabs.

Do you think, Mr. President, that your soldiers should murder Ethiopian refugees?

APPEAL

I appeal to you, Mr. President, in the name of the Almighty whom we all worship, to stop your soldiers from murdering Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees. We do not expect you to sympathize with the causes that force people to flee from their beloved countries but request you to treat them in a humane and a civilized manner.


3 I also fervently request the international community in general and all the honourable individuals and organizations to whom this open letter is copied to extend their support in putting a stop to the Egyptian government’s murder of Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees at the Israeli/Egyptian border.

With thanks for your attention and expeditious action,

Yours respectfully,

Kidane Alemayehu

CC: Mr. Barack Obama, President of USA
CC: President of the African Union
CC: Secretary General, United Nations
CC: Secretary General, the Arab League
CC: President, European Union
CC: Executive Director, UNHCR
CC: Executive Director, UNHRO
CC: US Department of State
CC: Ethiopian Human Rights Organization
CC: Eritrean Human Rights Organization
CC: Amnesty International
CC: Human Rights Watch

Horn of Africa: Conflict and Consequences

The Horn of Africa- Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti-, located in the strategic Northeastern part of the continent, has a combined area of more than 1.9 million square kilometers; a coastline of over 4000 kilometers, the longest in Africa; and a combined population of approximately 93 million. One of the primary obstacles to development in the region has been perennial conflict within and between countries. The consequences of these perennial conflicts have been very costly for the region in both human and economic terms. Even though endowed with great natural resources, the region is one of the poorest in the world. Where does the region go from here? The region needs a complete paradigm shift; for the people of the region to have a realistic shot at a prosperous future, the countries of the region must commit themselves to a few basic tenets in their relationship: mutual respect for one another; renunciation of war as a tool to resolve disputes; and acceptance of arbitration decisions on disputed boundaries as demarcated and/or recognized by the United Nations. This would create a stable environment that would open up opportunities for economic cooperation- and ultimately economic integration- that the region desperately needs. A Horn of Africa at Peace with itself and its neighbors will be able to exploit its rich natural and complimentary resources for the benefit of its entire people and lift all boats from the abject poverty, disease and despair that currently characterize the region.
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Tuesday 13 April 2010

The Darfur Peace Process a Hollow Exercise

The destructive armed conflict in Darfur continues unabated despite regional and international
efforts to put an end to it. At present, there is no negotiated political resolution of the conflict in
sight. This happens despite the political negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the conflict
under the banner of the Inter-Sudanese Peace Talks on Darfur, which are currently taking place
in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. For the third consecutive month, representatives of the
government of Sudan and the main Darfur insurgent groups i.e. the Sudan Liberation
Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), are meeting at the
seventh round of talks to reach a negotiated political agreement that puts an end to the armed
conflict in the region. The ongoing process is substantially flawed and fruitless. The previous six
rounds of political negotiations that started in Addis Ababa in July 2004 under the auspices of the
African Union (AU) have made very limited progress on some minor issues. The adoption of the
Declaration of Principles on the Resolution of the Sudanese Conflict in Darfur in July 2005 is yet
to be followed by a real break-through in its implementation. By all accounts, the progress made
at the negotiations is marginal and disproportionate with the extent and magnitude of the
humanitarian crisis in the region and its devastating effects on millions of civilians who are being
held hostage by political bargaining.
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Lessons Learned from Peace Operations in Africa

There have been 40 peace operations deployed to 14 African states since 2000.
◆◆ To be successful, peace operations must be part of an effective political strategy and peace process, not
a substitute for them.
◆◆ Policymakers need to move beyond a preoccupation with the number of personnel deployed for
each mission and focus on what capabilities are needed to generate the desired political effects.
◆◆Maintaining legitimacy is a crucial part of achieving success.
H i g h l i g h t s
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Friday 9 April 2010

Sudan Issue Brief: Symptoms and Causes: Insecurity and Underdevelopment in Eastern Equatoria

Eastern Equatoria state (EES) is one of the most volatile and conflict-prone states in Southern Sudan. An epicentre of the civil war (1983–2005), EES saw intense fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), as well numerous armed groups supported by both sides, leaving behind a legacy of landmines and unexploded ordnance, high numbers of weapons in civilian hands, and shattered social and community relations. EES has also experienced chronic food insecurity, a lack of basic services, and few economic opportunities. Cattle rustling, armed robbery, and banditry are endemic. With little or no official security presence in many areas of the state, protracted cycles of revenge attacks over natural resources, and land in particular, are common. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the civil war, did not result in a tangible peace dividend for most EES communities; in fact, the return of war-era refugees to ancestral villages and the recent arrival of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from other parts of Sudan have exacerbated tensions over land and resources.
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Sudan – No Easy Ways Ahead

Towards the end of the six-year interim period defined in the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA), Sudan is potentially sliding into yet another crisis. The
general elections in April – the first in 24 years – represent a rare test of confidence for the country’s incumbent elites. For many observers, however, the
elections are merely a prelude to the referendum on the future status of South
Sudan scheduled for early 2011. Both the general elections and the referendum come at the end of a transitional period that has, in many ways, been more about stagnation than about transition.
The implementation of the CPA has often been delayed and was marred by a lack
of trust between its signatories: the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement (SPLM). As a consequence, the agreement has largely failed
to realize democratic transformation and to make the unity of the country attractive.
Instead, political tensions in the run-up to the elections indicate that older
conflicts still persist, and that the referendum will only reconfigure challenges.
The already fragile situation could easily trigger a new outbreak of violence

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Saturday 27 March 2010

Beyond the Fragile Peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea: Averting new war

The Ethiopia-Eritrea impasse carries serious risk of a new war and is a major source of instability in the Horn of Africa, most critically for Somalia. Following
Ethiopia’s refusal to accept virtual demarcation of the border by the now disbanded Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission (EEBC), Asmara unilaterally implemented it and forced out the UN peacekeepers (UNMEE), significantly raising the stakes and shattering the status quo. Its insistence on recovering territory the Commission awarded it – Badme in particular – could lead to unilateral military action by either side but is only one of several war scenarios. The Security Council and key individual states (the U.S., in particular) must recognise the dangers of their inaction and advance a reconfigured political process with new determination if there is to be a change in the calculations of the parties, who appear to be dangerously content with trying to maintain a level of simmering but unpredictable hostility.
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Approaching Reciprocity: The border issue as a symptom

Worldwide, there are approximately 100 boundary disputes between countries. Vast areas of land, sea and maritime coasts push countries into quarrel for territorial claims or possessions. Some areas are even claimed by more than two countries. There can be wide divergence between de facto boundaries, whether by right or not, and de jure, rightfully, boundaries. Most countries reinforce sovereignty claims for different reasons: Colonial inherited conflicts, the exploitation of minerals, agricultural usage, geopolitical attractions such as access to waters, and other significant benefits.

Few countries exercised arm conflicts, but soon sought legal resolution. Countries solve their territorial claims bilaterally, or at the international hearings, or through other means of mediations. For example: Germany and Denmark successfully resolved an age-old boarder dispute (1815 – 2001) of 68 kilometres. Russia and the United States of America agreed on fishing claims in the central Bering Sea, and Botswana was rewarded the disputed islands with Namibia.

For clarity, here are some of the on-going disputes which may impress us with their experiences: Russia and Japan have had their modern border dispute since 1945 over the Kurile Islands. They are four small islands along 1200 km. of coast line under Russian administration that have been without a conclusive peace treaty between Japan and Russia. Norway and Russia negotiate on the delimitation of maritime boundaries. China and Japan dispute concerning the Senkaku Islands. India and Pakistan still dispute over Kashmir. Afghanistan - Pakistan on their boarder. The Spanish and Moroccan claims over Ceuta and Melilla. Bolivia – Chile – Peru dispute in the Atacama Desert. Mexico and USA dispute in their boarder lands. Canada disputes with USA and Denmark over maritime boundaries. Cambodia – Laos, Cambodia – Vietnam claim in Ratanakiri Province in Cambodia. Iraq and Turkey dispute in the Northern of Kurdistan region. Bahrain and Qatar dispute over maritime delimitation. Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan dispute in the Caspian. Spanish with Britain dispute in Gibraltar for territorial waters. Ireland and Britain dispute over their border. Bulgaria and Greece dispute over their boarder lands. It is possible that some of these disputes may have been currently resolved.
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Friday 26 March 2010

Challenges to Peace and Stability in the Horn of Africa

The Most Conflicted Corner of the World


In the post-World War II era, the Horn of Africa has consistently been the most conflicted corner of the world. That is a bold assertion, but hear me out and then tell me if there is another region of the world that has consistently been more conflicted.

Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea recovered from wartime Italian military occupation only to confront soon thereafter a series of internal and inter-state conflicts. In the case of Ethiopia, this included a rebellion in Eritrea province, the violent overthrow of the Haile Selassie government by a military junta followed by an expanded internal war that in 1991 removed the military government that had deposed Haile Selassie. This event coincided with the hard fought independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia.

A bloody border war then broke out between Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1998. Although it ended two years later, it did not resolve the border disagreement and the leadership in the two countries remain implacably at odds. The government of Ethiopia faces opposition from elements of several armed ethnic groups clamoring for more political power or even independence. There is also a growing Eritrean exile community opposed to the government in Asmara.
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Friday 19 March 2010

Ethiopians, Eritreans desirous of renewal of relations

Speaking at the Ethiopian and Eritrean Friendship Conference in San Jose, California, which was held from March 12-14, panellists and members of the public emphasized the need to start a process of healing, renewal and normalisation of people to people relations as the feeling of enmity were created and fuelled by succeeding rulers and elites that never represent the interests and desires of their people.
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Friday 19 February 2010

Policies Acted: The Effect of Pluralism and Policies on Eritrean Refugees

Eritrean refugees have been migrating to Ethiopia for approximately 7 years. By registering with UNHCR, they hope to have the opportunity for resettlement in a Western country. The process of time-case resettlement has been slow, leaving many Eritreans stranded in Ethiopia for up to six years; UNHCR policies are further confounded by US polices on terrorism and immigration quotas. UNCHR and the US government have just announced that a group resettlement to the US has been approved for the majority of residents of Shimelba refugee camp. In presenting a case study of the experiences and attitudes of encamped and urban Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia, I will illustrate the "front-end" of refugee resettlement and forced migration. The intersection of US policies on immigration, international institutions that monitor these processes, local political opposition groups that insert themselves into the resettlement process, and the experiences of individuals seeking resettlement to a third country must be explored to understand the effects these processes have on the overall Eritrean diaspora community, and on Eritrean identity and consciousness. I suggest that the upcoming group-resettlement of Shimelba residents to the US has triggered a shift in subjectivity among the camp members towards that of rights-bearing citizenship. By noting patterned articulations of human rights and an emergent rights consciousness, we see where UNHCR humanitarian policy fails by defining protection narrowly, even while engendering refugees' human rights awareness. I reexamine US policies that leave some refugees stranded, and Ethiopian government policies that short-circuit the human rights regime for refugees.
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Rethinking Household Headship among Eritrean Refugees and Returnees

One of the most common generalizations concerning refugee populations is that they are dominated by female heads of households and children. It is claimed that men are either killed in the wars that prompt displacement or are left behind to fight. This assumption has continued to determine the policies of relief and development agencies, as well as governments in countries of asylum and return. On the basis of empirical data from UNHCR and household data from Eritrea, this article questions the validity of such a dominant assumption. The article also problematizes the concept of household headship by showing that it is a cultural construction whose meaning varies from one cultural context to another. There is, thus, no definition of headship that can apply cross-culturally. It also argues that since female heads of households (FHHs) are not socially and economically homogeneous, household headship is not an appropriate method of identifying the poorest of the poor for targeting or provision of emergency relief or for productive inputs in development programmes.

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Trends and Perspectives on the Eritrean Refugees and Human Rights Crisis

This paper discusses trends and perspectives on the Eritrean refugee and human rights crisis
from the viewpoint of the Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR). It
complements the objectives of the Eritrean Diaspora Working Group (London Meeting). As
discussed over teleconference of the prospective participants of the London Meeting, on 10
January 2008, the paraphrased objectives of the meeting are:2
· To introduce a selected group of Eritrean human rights defenders from
different regions of the world, including their advocacy work on human
rights and refugee protection, specifically in Africa and Europe;
· To define concrete strategies with regard to the attainment of the above
objectives, especially in relation to advocacy towards the European Union
(EU) – because the EU is seen as a very important actor, both in relation to
the refugee problem and in relation to human rights and the general political
situation in the region.
According to the same document, the participants3 of the London Meeting were consciously
chosen by the organiser (EEPA), taking into consideration the variety of political views
amongst the Eritrean diaspora. At a later stage, however, a broader platform of Eritrean
diaspora will be considered.4 The Working Group is expected to explore possibilities on the
optimisation of effective information sharing and dissemination of Eritrean news to key EU
officials, European NGO’s and other relevant stakeholders.
As a preparation for the London Meeting, members of the Working Group were given specific
tasks to be accomplished before the meeting. The EMDHR representative was asked to prepare
a briefing on the Eritrean human rights and refugee crisis and the response towards such crisis
in Africa and Europe. The briefing is based on past, current and future advocacy programmes
of the EMDHR in the area of human rights and refugee protection, including some discussion
on the political stand of major European players. To provide context, this document presents a
brief contextual background of Eritrea, focusing mainly on the increasing tendencies of
authoritarianism of the government that finally led to the post-2001 agonising political crisis
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The Case of Eritrean Refugees in the UK

This study will highlight what is often neglected in the immigration debate – the
experience of the very people whose lives are destroyed by the UK immigration law,
the asylum seekers themselves. The study is based on the transcripts of interviews
with more than 400 Eritrean Refused Asylum Seekers; interviews that were carried
out by the Home Office as part of their initial application for asylum*. Of those 400,
30 people were interviewed once again so that insight could be gained into their
experiences of living in the UK once their claim for asylum is rejected.
* Names have been altered in order to protect the identities of asylum seekers whose
stories are being told.
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Sudan: Influx of Eritrean Refugees

On Thursday 18 May refugees from Eritrea began crossing the border into eastern Sudan, several
kilometres from Kassala town. The influx continued over the following days and around 30,000
people are thought to have arrived already, with more expected imminently. The authorities are
anticipating up to 80,000 people could eventually arrive at a number of crossing points. The
Sudanese Red Crescent (SRCS) has been extremely active from the first day, and this appeal is to
supply urgent relief items and to enable the SRCS to continue their assistance to the refugees, in
close cooperation with other agencies.
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Emergency Education and Psychosocial Support Programming for Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia

This case study examines an Emergency Education Program implemented by the
International Rescue Committee (IRC) for Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia. Exposure to
armed conflict contributes to a child’s internalization of a culture of violence. Education,
with the necessary psychosocial care, can help break the cycle of conflict. Started as a
pilot project between June and December 2001, IRC’s education program provided
education services and psychosocial support to refugee children and youth who were
badly affected by the Ethiopian/Eritrean conflict in order to engage them in constructive
activities and build the skills and capacities needed for rebuilding their community in the
long-term.1. In addition, IRC aimed to address the lack of education that the Kunama
youth had received during the conflict. The program attained its overall goal of helping
children cope with the trauma and loss associated with conflict and displacement and
created some stability and sense of normality. While not specifically the focus of IRC’s
program, emergency education also provided a means to engage youth who would
otherwise be vulnerable and susceptible to recruitment by combatants
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On the Refugee Problem in Eritrea

Introduction
By the end of 2000, at least 34.5 million people—refugees and internally displaced—had
fled their homes because of war, persecution, and human rights abuses.1 Combined, the
number of people that have been uprooted roughly equals the sum of the populations of
Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, and Greece.2
Of these, an estimated 25 million people are internally displaced
in at least 40 countries.3 These people live in Kosovo,
Sierra Leone, the Sudan,Afghanistan,Colombia, and many other
countries. Afghanistan hosts the second largest community of
internally-displaced persons (IDPs), after Eritrea.4
The United States Committee on Refugees estimates that there
are over 14 million refugees worldwide5—an increase of 4 percent
from last year, with Afghanistan, Burundi, Iraq, Sudan,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia,Angola, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, and
Vietnam as the top 10 countries.6
The following analyzes the refugee crisis of Eritrea as a case
study to better understand the plight of refugees and the internally
displaced worldwide, and to identify ways that the international
community can help.
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Kunama refugees

The United States has agreed to resettle a group of Kunama refugees
who have been living in Ethiopian refugee camps since fleeing their homes
in rural Eritrea more than 6 years ago. The refugees, who live in Shimelba
Refugee Camp near the Eritrean border, are not able to return safely to
their homes in Eritrea and cannot settle permanently in Ethiopia. As a
result, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
referred more than 1,200 of them—out of a total Kunama population in
the camp of 4,000—to the United States for resettlement consideration.
The rest of the Kunama refugees in Shimelba—about 2,800 individuals—
chose not be included in the UNHCR referral.
This Backgrounder provides Reception and Placement (R&P) agency
staff and others assisting refugee newcomers with an overview of the
Kunama to help them prepare for the refugees’ arrival and resettlement
needs. The Backgrounder looks at the experiences of the Kunama in
Eritrea, their lives in Shimelba Refugee Camp, and their cultural practices
and preferences.
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Refugees and Migrants from Eritrea to the Arab World: The Cases of Sudan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia 1991-2007 By Hélène Thiollet

Since the early 1960s, exiles have been fleeing from Eritrea to neighbouring Sudan, the Arab world, and more recently to the West. The independence war that saw Eritreans rise against the Ethiopian state after the annexation of the former Italian colony in 1962, raged until 1991 and caused massive population displacement. Ongoing violence and poverty created over one million refugees in the 1980s and continuous flows of emigrants until the beginning of the 1990s.
Eritrean independence, established in 1993, was expected to put refugees on their way back home. With the outbreak of a new war in 1998 and the authoritarian rule of Issayas Afewerki, however, new exiles have been created and the old exiles have been prevented from returning.
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Refugees and Migrants from Eritrea to the Arab World: The Cases of Sudan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia 1991-2007 By Hélène Thiollet

Since the early 1960s, exiles have been fleeing from Eritrea to neighbouring Sudan, the Arab world, and more recently to the West. The independence war that saw Eritreans rise against the Ethiopian state after the annexation of the former Italian colony in 1962, raged until 1991 and caused massive population displacement. Ongoing violence and poverty created over one million refugees in the 1980s and continuous flows of emigrants until the beginning of the 1990s.
Eritrean independence, established in 1993, was expected to put refugees on their way back home. With the outbreak of a new war in 1998 and the authoritarian rule of Issayas Afewerki, however, new exiles have been created and the old exiles have been prevented from returning.
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Creating humanitarian space: a case study of Somalia

In the past few years, the situation in Somalia2 has repeatedly been described as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world (Menkhaus 2009, UNHCR 2009a). In early 2009 over three million people were estimated to be in need of aid, a 77% increase in less than a year (OCHA 2008, 2009).3
It has been estimated that as many as two-thirds of Mogadishu‟s population might have fled their homes (Lindley 2009). Many of these forcibly displaced persons gathered along the roads outside Mogadishu in an area known as Afgooye, with numbers ranging from 200.000 to over 400.000 (ICG 2008, UNHCR 2009b). However, the amount of aid they have received is far from the largest in the world; in fact, it is closer to none. The starting point for this paper is to ask why this is so.
A key factor relates to the lack of humanitarian space in Somalia. This is a much used term, often used to describe the level of access for humanitarian agencies and the environment which they operate in. But the actual meaning of the term remains somewhat unclear. In this paper, I will investigate both why and how humanitarian needs can be put in focus and practically addressed through a clearer understanding of „humanitarian space‟.
This paper is based on fieldwork and interviews carried out in 2009 in Europe and Nairobi (For a note on methodology, see4). It is divided in four main parts: in the first develops a conceptual understanding of ‟humanitarian space‟; the second provides a brief overview of Somalia; the third represents an exploratory study of humanitarian operations in Somalia; and in the final part I seek to draw some analytical conclusions.
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Negotiating Sudan’s Post-Referendum Arrangements

With Southern Sudan’s referendum on whether to remain part of Sudan or secede approaching,
it is vital that the international community encourage and support negotiations on postreferendum
arrangements, which include issues ranging from wealth sharing to citizenship
rights to security arrangements. Good coordination among the international community
will be essential.
• A single mediator with a clear and strong mandate should lead negotiations on postreferendum
arrangements, supported by a contact group or group of friends that can insert
targeted pressures and incentives into the process. The mediator needs to be strong enough
to prevent “forum shopping” and contain or co-opt spoilers.
• States and non-state actors that wish to play a central role in negotiations on post-referendum
arrangements should demonstrate a long term commitment to Sudan and to overseeing
implementation of any agreement.
• Negotiations on post-referendum arrangements and the ongoing negotiations on Darfur
should be kept separate.
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Democratization via Elections in an African “Narco-state”? The Case of Guinea-Bissau

Recent development cooperation with Guinea‐Bissau, focusing on good governance, statebuilding
and conflict prevention, did not contribute to democratization nor to the stabilization
of volatile political, military and economic structures. The portrayal of Guinea‐
Bissau as failed a “narco‐state”, as well as Western aid meant to stabilize this state, are
both based on dubious concepts. Certainly, the impact of drug trafficking could endanger
democratization and state‐building if continued unchecked. However, the most pressing
need is not state‐building facilitated by external aid that is poorly rooted in the social and
political fabric of the country. Rather, it is grassroots nation‐building that is a pre‐condition
for the creation of viable state institutions.
Keywords: Guinea‐Bissau, elections, democratization, informal institutions, aid, nationbuilding,
institution building, drug trafficking
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Post-War and Post-Conflict Challenges for Development Cooperation

Conflict and violence have become an important context for development
cooperation during the last decade. Donors not only have to
cope with the consequences of conflict in their day‐to‐day work on
the ground, but also need to develop strategies in the fields of early
warning and prevention, as well as instruments for conflict analysis
and conflict‐sensitive approaches for cooperation. At the same time,
external actors have been important supporters for many peace processes
aiming at the termination of armed conflicts and violence.
When wars or armed conflicts end (or at least when violence on the
ground decreases) the hope for sustainable peacebuilding grows. UN
General Secretary Ban Ki Moon pointed out the importance of the
immediate post‐conflict/post‐war period in a report to the Security
Council on June 11, 2009: “The immediate post‐conflict period offers
a window of opportunity to provide basic security, deliver peace
dividends, shore up and build confidence in the political process, and
strengthen core national capacity to lead peacebuilding efforts.” This
gives a first impression of the many challenges internal and external
actors face; at the same time experiences on the ground show that
liberal peacebuilding conceived as a profound transformation process
is a difficult endeavour.
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Africa conflict prevention programme annual report

Despite a general reduction in the number of conflicts across the continent, 2008/09 has seen areas of significant fighting and violence in Africa. Disputed elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe have generated considerable unrest, human rights abuses and politically motivated violence. In Eastern DRC and the Horn, armed conflicts have caused the displacement of many thousands of people.
In 2008/09, the Africa Conflict Prevention Programme (ACPP) has spent £68.7 million funding conflict resolution initiatives in areas affected by “hot” conflicts, supporting peace processes throughout the African continent, and developing African capability to prevent and mitigate conflict.
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A Methodology for the Calculation of the Global Economic Costs of Con‡ict by Olaf J. de Groot

There is a substantial body of research on the calculation of the costs of
con‡ict, but so far no satisfactory methodology has been proposed that is able
to combine all potential channels in one single analysis. This paper uses the
existing literature and its problems to propose a methodology for doing so.
The speci…c problems addressed in this study include the measurement of
welfare, the imputation of missing data, the validity of the econometric tech-
niques used in the estimation of con‡ict costs, the di¤erentiation of existing
con‡ict databases and the possibility of both direct and non-direct e¤ects.
These challenges are described in detail in this paper and a comprehensive
methodological roadmap is proposed to be able to estimate the Global Eco-
nomic Costs of Con‡ict. This contribution is an important continuation of our
research agenda with regards to the calculation of the Global Economic Costs
of Con‡ict.
Keywords: Con‡ict, development, costs of con‡ict, civil war
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Friday 29 January 2010

Sudan: conflict in Darfur

The situation in the western Darfur region of Sudan has
been labelled the worst humanitarian crisis in the world
today. A conflict between rebel forces on the one side,
and the Sudanese Government and the governmentbacked
Janjaweed militia on the other, has left between
10,000 and 30,000 people dead. An estimated 1.3
million civilians have been displaced from their homes.
Aid agencies and governments warn of the potential for
a humanitarian catastrophe brought on by famine and
disease, unless urgent action is taken to improve the
security of the civilian population and to provide food
and shelter.
This paper examines the background to the conflict,
and looks at the international response to the
humanitarian crisis. Maps of Sudan and Darfur are
included as appendices. The recent progress made in
resolving the decades-long Sudanese civil war between
the north and south is the subject of a separate Standard
Note, SN/IA/2155, Sudan.
Tim Youngs

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Documents Concerning the Dinka-Nuer Peace Process

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Thursday 28 January 2010

Human Stability and Conflict in the Horn of Africa

The issues addressed in this paper relate to human security or, as we would prefer to call it, human stability, at the regional, national and subregional levels in the Horn of Africa. Specific attention is paid, first, to steps taken at the level of the African continent towards promoting increased human stability and the prevention of conflict in the region; second, to the development of a conflict-prevention agenda at the subregional level; and last, to steps that must be taken in order to realize these objectives.
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Ethnic conflict in the Horn of Africa: Myth and reality

Most of the wars waged in the Horn of Africa during the past 30 years have been described in terms of ethnic conflict, both by the adversaries themselves and by external analysts. The first and second Sudan civil wars have been characterized as conflicts between the Arabized northerners and African southerners, with cleavages along religious, racial, cultural, and linguistic lines. The various civil wars in Ethiopia have been characterized as wars between the Amharas and the Tigreans, Oromos, Eritreans, and so on. The Somali conflicts have been described as conflicts between the Maraheens and the Isaaqs, or between the Darods and the Ogadenis, and so on; and the conflict in Djibouti as between the Afars and the Issas.

Although each of these wars has been termed "ethnic conflict", one encounters tremendous difficulty when trying to analyse what is meant by this term and what these conflicts have been about. In this chapter some of the problems associated with the concept of ethnicity and ethnic conflict as they apply to the Horn of Africa will be examined. A discussion will follow of various mechanisms that have been utilized or advocated in the region to remedy the problem of ethnic conflict. The chapter will conclude with remarks on some possible responses that might open ways for the transformation and hopefully the alleviation of the problem.
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Friday 22 January 2010

Economic Drivers of Conflict and Cooperation in the Horn of Africa: A Regional Perspective and Overview by Roy Love

Summary points
Among the drivers of conflict in the Horn of Africa economic motivations
have been ubiquitous and pervasive in prompting and sustaining conflict. At
other times economic drivers have exhibited a potential for peaceful
cooperation. An understanding of their role and relationship with other forces
of change is essential.
Conflict in the Horn frequently has economic impacts across national
borders. This paper identifies four major zones of borderland insecurity in
which informal trade as much as formal relationships can both sustain
conflict and offer potential for post-conflict cooperation.
Underlying the various sub-regional conflicts are a number of recurrent
economic themes, including access to sea ports, livestock as a basis for
livelihoods, energy-related issues, the wider impact of localized conflict,
drought, land rights and remittances.
The establishment of permanent peace can only be built upon a common set
of values reflecting equity, tolerance and an acknowledgment of the potential
of traditional institutions in entrenching community cohesion. Only on such a
foundation will specific programmes be assured of harnessing those
economic drivers necessary for their success.

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Saturday 16 January 2010

Drought, Famine, and Conflict: Case from the Horn of Africa

In the Horn of Africa especially, drought is part and parcel of daily life. It is so common that in many African societies, the drought season marks an important part of the annual calendar. In a recent BBC report, the UN expressed fears that ... "The world is in danger of allowing a drought in East Africa to become a humanitarian catastrophe".[1] At the same time, I came across news headline that said, "Kenya drought worsens conflict."[2] These headlines made me think more deeply about the two issues: if conflict and drought are the scourge of our modern world, it would therefore be appropriate to question their symbiotic relationship. If they are related, how do they influence each other? Is drought a cause of conflict or is conflict a cause of drought? Will drought always trigger conflict? Will conflict exacerbate drought? (Conflict cannot change weather patterns, but it can affect agricultural practices, land use, and other social factors that intensify the effects of diminished rainfall, particularly by causing famine).

This paper will show the relationship between drought, famine, and conflict. Drought is mainly a natural phenomenon that affects parts of the world. Some areas of the world with strong economies and viable political structures have successfully responded to the advent of drought in their countries by adjusting water storage, allocation, and usage patterns, while other parts of the world have dismally failed to do so. Africa is an example of an area that suffers from recurring drought and desertification. Short-lived droughts are seldom dangerous; but sequential drought years are. Though sequential droughts are common in the Horn of Africa, people there have not successfully responded to it; rather they have been devastated by it. Is this because almost all of the recent droughts and famines in the Horn of Africa region have occurred in situations of armed conflicts? A relationship seems likely.

In this paper, I argue that drought is a contributing factor to conflict and conflict exacerbates drought, making famine more likely. Therefore, drought, conflict, and famine are inextricably linked, with each acting as a catalyst to the other. The situation in the Horn of Africa will be a showcase to support the thesis.
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Pastoralism and conflict in the Horn of Africa

Violent conflicts involving pastoralists have become widespread and increasingly severe throughout much of the Horn of Africa. This report identifies and examines the factors contributing to such conflicts, and discusses issues and priorities for conflict prevention and peace-building. These are examined across the Horn of Africa in general, and in Laikipia – a district in northern Kenya – in particular. On the basis of this examination, a number of conclusions and recommendations are developed on ways in which the EU and its member states could contribute to efforts to prevent conflicts involving pastoralists in Kenya and more generally in the Horn of Africa.

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Horn of Africa: Conflict and Consequences

Yussuf Kalib, Horn of Africa Peace and Development Center, Dallas, Texas


The Horn of Africa- Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti-, located in the strategic Northeastern part of the continent, has a combined area of more than 1.9 million square kilometers; a coastline of over 4000 kilometers, the longest in Africa; and a combined population of approximately 93 million. One of the primary obstacles to development in the region has been perennial conflict within and between countries. The consequences of these perennial conflicts have been very costly for the region in both human and economic terms. Even though endowed with great natural resources, the region is one of the poorest in the world. Where does the region go from here? The region needs a complete paradigm shift; for the people of the region to have a realistic shot at a prosperous future, the countries of the region must commit themselves to a few basic tenets in their relationship: mutual respect for one another; renunciation of war as a tool to resolve disputes; and acceptance of arbitration decisions on disputed boundaries as demarcated and/or recognized by the United Nations. This would create a stable environment that would open up opportunities for economic cooperation- and ultimately economic integration- that the region desperately needs. A Horn of Africa at Peace with itself and its neighbors will be able to exploit its rich natural and complimentary resources for the benefit of its entire people and lift all boats from the abject poverty, disease and despair that currently characterize the region.
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Building Peace in the Space of Civil Society: The Case of Somali Women I

In this short presentation, I will provide discussion on women’s gained space in the civil society space, the origins of women’s organizations, their activism and their roles in peacebuilding in Somalia. I will also address some of the challenges facing them.
War affects everyone negatively but also transforms people positively, including women. In Somalia, the heroes have been Somali women who have been saving their war-ravaged nation. I would like to say that: “There are only two things going for Somalia: God and women. Both God and women have not let Somalia down. The war provided Somali women opportunity to re-examine their own identity as women (their status) and recognized their own agency and capacities.

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Unity-Based Peace Education: A New Approach To Peace Education by Tranforming World news by Havva Kök

Despite the numerous efforts to prevent, manage and/or resolve conflicts and violence, they only seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity in our life. It appears that the methods we are using are not sufficient to prevent conflicts and create a sustainable culture of peace in the inner, interpersonal, inter-group, and international life of humanity. It may be that the time has come to create global peace-based worldviews and to teach it at schools, in order to overcome this situation of fragmentation. Current approaches to peace education tend to focus rather on specific issues or themes and leave many broader questions about the nature of peace and transformative role of worldiews in peace education and vice versa. Such a transformation requires an integrative view of peace as a psychosocial, political, moral and spiritual condition, and depends not merely upon reducing conflict but on actively creating unity. Unity-Based Peace Education program offers this kind of approach and proposes the education for peace curriculum developed on integrative peace-based worldview. This paper aims to present the program called ‘Education for Peace’ (EFP) which has demonstrated transformative results in post-conflict societies of Bosnia
and Herzegovina (BiH).

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Monday 11 January 2010

Political Rights In Ethiopia

To generate ideas on how to support the strengthening of human rights protection
and good governance in Ethiopia a roundtable discussion was convened in
Ottawa on May 4, 2007, through the collaboration of the Solidarity Committee
for Ethiopian Political Prisoners-Canada (SOCEPP-Canada), Amnesty International
Canada, Partnership Africa Canada, SubSahara Centre, the Canadian Network of
NGOs in Ethiopia, and the Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee
(CPCC). In the still supercharged political atmosphere stemming from the contested 2005 legislative elections in Ethiopia the by invitation- only gathering was designed to provide a space for in-depth and candid discussion, in order to encourage
constructive dialogue. The roundtable brought together more than 30 opinion leaders from the Ethiopian diaspora in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, a senior advisor to the Government of Ethiopia, representatives of Canadian nongovernmental
organizations with ties to Ethiopia, officials of both the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Canadian International Development Agency and
others.
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Sunday 10 January 2010

Ethiopia: A Transition Without Democratization

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ETH N IC CON FLICT IN TH E HORN OF AFRICA

This paper looks at the formation of
ethnicity and ethnic conflict in the Horn
of Africa with particular attention to the
conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Firstly, conflict in the Horn of Africa at
large is mapped out. Ethnic and political
groups within Ethiopia and Eritrea are
looked at respectively so as to analyse
the outbreak of war in the two countries.
The extent of external role players'
involvement in this conflict is examined.
Finally the essay also attempts to assess
the social and economic consequences of
the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea

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SUCCESSFUL HORN AFRICAN AMERICANS FOR PEACE (HAAP) 1ST ANNUAL CONFERECE IN MINNESOTA

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“Challenges and Opportunities in the Horn of Africa” A conference on the political and humanitarian situation in the Horn and the Ogaden Region

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SOMALIA: Conflict timeline from 2000

NAIROBI, 29 June 2009 (IRIN) - Somalia has had no functioning government since January 1991, when former President Siad Barre was ousted.

Since that time, fighting between Somali warlords, government forces and various alliances of Islamist insurgents has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Somalis and the displacement of hundreds of thousands.

One of the boldest attempts to turn a new page in Somalia and end a famine was the US Restore Hope intervention in 1992, which however, ended in failure in October 1993.

In the north, the former British protectorate of Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in May 1991, and in 1998 the northeastern region of Puntland declared itself an autonomous state. Both regions have remained largely peaceful.
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Saturday 9 January 2010

Somalia: Any Chance For Peace

Somalia is home to the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Nearly half of the population, about 3.2 million people, is
in need of emergency food aid, and ongoing violent conflict
significantly impedes the efforts of aid agencies to reach those
in need.
A peace deal signed in October 2008 offers the best hope in
years for peace in Somalia but will require significant support
from the international community. The recent escalation of
violence underlines the fragility of the situation, the need for
prudent diplomatic engagement, and sustained assistance for
humanitarian relief, peacebuilding and security sector reform.
The US should avoid military approaches and focus policy
toward Somalia around several goals: reinvigorating the
peace process; supporting civil society and a capable and
accountable Somali government; and turning the tide on the
humanitarian crisis.

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DEVELOPMENT IS THE KEY TO PEACE IN DARFUR

There is consensus among the various people concerned with the Darfur issue that development of the region is an absolute necessity. Even those who believe that ending the armed rebellion is the priority, agree that such an action is only a phase that should precede development of the region to bypass the conflict status in its different forms. The concept of development, however, raises a number of questions for which there is not an agreed upon set of answers. Some of the questions posed are:

1. What would be the type of development that would help to bypass the current crisis?

2. Is there a relationship between underdevelopment and the regional and political grievances?

3. Is Darfur less developed than the other northern regions?

These were the basic questions that were posed to the Darfur Peace Think Tank and to those who prepared papers for the workshop Development is the Key to Peace in Darfur. An attempt to answer these questions without a solid theoretical background and statistical figures would lead to unfounded conclusions, and would obscure the decision makers’ vision from grasping the root causes of the problem. It leads those who are concerned into the trenches of "we" and "you", which is a situation undeserving of the Sudanese people in the Third Millennium.

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Sudan's old and new conflicts : a comparative study

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How religious is Sudan's religious war?

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THE SOURCES OF CONFLICT BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH IN SUDAN

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Sunday 3 January 2010

Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics

The report has not undergone review accorded to official World Bank publications. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/the World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data involved in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on the map do not imply any judgment on part of the World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.
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Saturday 2 January 2010

Women combatants and the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration process in Rwanda

Women, especially those who have been associated with armed groups, have essential roles to play in DDR processes, yet they are frequently excluded from the planning and implementation of these processes. Women ex-combatants, in particular, often make up very small numbers of the forces to be demobilized and are de-prioritized because they usually do not represent the same level of threat as male ex-fighters. They are frequently demobilized in countries where institutions are not only severely incapacitated by war but also have a history of excluding women. Even if there is a commitment to achieving gender equality in the peacebuilding period, countries newly emerging from armed conflict suffer from a lack of capacity in Demobilization Commissions, Ministries and other government organs, not to mention a scarcity of funds earmarked for the support of women ex-combatants as a special group. As a result, the needs of these women are inadequately addressed in the demobilization phase and sustainable support for their successful reintegration is lacking.
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Best Practices in Peace-Building and Non-Violent Conflict Resolution: Some Documented African Women's Peace Initiatives

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Friday 1 January 2010

The Role of Demobilisation in the Peace and Development Process in Sub-Saharan Africa: conditions for success1

In the past few years, several countries in sub-Saharan Africa conducted large scale demobilisation. This is a positive sign that would create opportunities for sustainable peace and human development. However, demobilisation is a complex process. It is closely linked to security issues, and the impact of demobilisation depends largely on whether former combatants are able to reintegrate into society. Demobilised soldiers and guerrilla fighters usually have great difficulties to re-establish themselves in civilian life. Frustrated former combatants may jeopardise the peace and development process. Based on recent experiences, this article identifies some of the risks involved in demobilisation and several conditions that have to be met if demobilisation is to attain a lasting and positive impact on peace and development in Africa.
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Peace Agreements in Africa

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Sudanese rebels renew promise to demobilise child soldiers

Sudan's main rebel movement on Sunday assured visiting UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Carol Bellamy that it was committed to the demobilisation
of child soldiers from its armed forces.

"We recognise that the military is no place for children and it
is the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) policy that children
under the age of 18 should not be in the army," SPLA deputy
commander Salva Kiir said.
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Violent Conflicts: Key Obstacles for Sub-Saharan Africa to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals – Where is the Evidence?i

This paper aims to stimulate a debate on how violent conflict (ranging from communal
violence to civil war or war among states) is a key obstacle for countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA) to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It briefly
examines progress with the MDGs in Africa using officially published United Nation
Reports and global MDG monitoring information. It also provides readers with a
preliminary exposition on how violent conflicts pose the greatest challenges to progress
with achieving the MDGs. It argues that violent conflict makes chronic poverty even
worse – from household to national levels – and can create a downward spiral; some
specific examples of this are given. The paper warns that many countries in SSA will fall
far behind in attaining the MDGs by the targeted date of 2015 unless African states and
regional institutions such as the African Union can put a decisive end to the current
conflicts and address the threat of new conflicts. Having presented comparative evidence from various counties (those on track to meet the MDGs and those lagging behind), the author underlines the significance of conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding in increasing the likelihood of Africa’s achieving the MDGs within the timeframe. Highlighting the critical importance of strengthening the link between durable peace and sustainable development, the author concludes that the MDGs, as a framework for policy, programs and international partnerships to reduce poverty, must explicitly articulate how to end violent conflict and support war-torn countries (and those emerging from conflict) as a matter of priority and that they must receive special consideration.
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Demobilization in the Horn of Africa

Proceedings of the IRG Workshop, Addis Ababa, 4-7 December 1994

This paper provides a summary of the proceedings of the IRG workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in December 1994, which examined the need for continued demobilization and disarmament in the Horn of Africa. The paper analyzes the past failures and successes of demobilization in East Africa, and provides suggestions for future measures to improve human security and regional development.

© 1995 Bonn International Centre for Conversion (BICC)
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