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2381. Responding to Crisis in Nigeria

Author:
Paul Wee
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Nigeria currently faces a three-pronged crisis involving Muslim-Christian relations, the Niger Delta region, and presidential term limits. The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) held a public workshop in March 2006 for the purpose of assessing the situation in Nigeria and considering ways in which the international community might respond.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Religion
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, and Nigeria

2382. Overcoming Obstacles to Humanitarian Assistance in Darfur

Author:
Dorina Bekoe and Kelly Campbell
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Civilians and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur, western Sudan, are increasingly being attacked by militia groups. At the same time, it is progressively more difficult to deliver humanitarian assistance to Darfur as aid agencies are hampered by increased banditry and continued obstruction by the government of Sudan (GOS). Moreover, the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) does not offer adequate protection as it continues to operate with severe budgetary constraints, inadequate amounts of military officers and equipment, and a limited mandate that does not allow it to prevent incidents or respond sufficiently to attacks. On December 14, 2005, the Sudan Peace Forum of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) convened to address the continuing challenges facing the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Darfur. Firsthand accounts of the humanitarian crisis were presented by Sloan Mann of the United States Agency for International Development; Michael Heller Chu of the United Nations Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance; and Jonathan Morgenstein of USIP. Ambassadors Chester Crocker and Francis Deng co-chaired the meeting. This USIPeace Briefing summarizes the discussion on the rising insecurity faced by civilians in Darfur, the challenges facing AMIS, the response by the GOS, and the opportunities for the international community to facilitate humanitarian assistance in Darfur.
Topic:
Civil Society, Government, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, and Sudan

2383. Creating a More Inclusive Peace in Côte d'Ivoire

Author:
Kelly Campbell and Adams Fusheini
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
On June 19-20, 2006, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), in partnership with the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), hosted a workshop entitled "Challenges to Peace and Reconstruction in Côte d'Ivoire" in Accra, Ghana. Fourteen representatives of diverse Ivoirian civil society organizations (CSOs) attended the conference, as well as representatives from the United Nations Mission in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and other nongovernmental organizations.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

2384. Human security and peacebuilding through a gender lens. Challenges of implementation in Africa

Author:
Heidi Hudson
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Empirical evidence shows that while both women's near absence at the formal level as peace negotiators and political decision-makers and their informal peacebuilding contributions at the grassroots level have been routinely recognised, it remains difficult to translate gender awareness into workable plans for implementation. The paper argues for a hybrid position between cultural relativism and 'one size fits all' solutions. Four areas of attention are highlighted, namely women's ambivalent roles in peace and conflict, the challenges of a truly inclusive post-conflict transformation process, the need for an organised women's movement, and connecting the international legislative framework with the national context.
Topic:
Security, Gender Issues, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Africa

2385. State recognition of traditional authority in Mozambique: the legible space between state and community

Author:
Helene Maria Kyed and Lars Buur
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In 2000 the Mozambican government initiated a process of formally recognizing traditional leaders both as representatives of local community interests and as assistants of local state organs. Twenty-five years after the FRELIMO government abolished the formal power of traditional leaders, the Decree 15/2000 provided for their re-inclusion in the performance of a long list of state administrative tasks and re-named chiefs or régulos as 'community authorities'. In line with post-war commitments to democratic decentralization, the Decree promises to enhance community participation in local administration and rural development. The role of traditional authority as intermediary between rural populations and the state is not a new problematique, but has been part of the ongoing process of state formation from Portuguese colonial rule, through post-colonial FRELIMO nation-state building, to today's liberal democratic governance. This article addresses some fundamental questions pertaining to the official recognition of traditional leaders as community authorities. It argues that the double role that they are expected to fulfil as both community-representatives and state-assistants is not equally balanced either in the Decree 15/2000 or in its implementation: the scale tips heavily towards the state-assistance role. After a brief history of traditional authority as a basis for understanding the recent official recognition, the article outlines the main techniques through which traditional leaders have been made legible as 'true' community representatives capable of working as state assistants. Based on analysis of the processes of legibility, the article scrutinizes the reified notions underpinning the Decree, such as the understanding of 'traditional rules' and the definition of 'community'. It concludes by pointing out some consequences of these reified notions for kin-based forms of community authority.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Africa

2386. Better (RED)â„¢ than Dead: 'Brand Aid', Celebrities and the New Frontier of Development Assistance

Author:
Stefano Ponte and Lisa Ann Richey
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Bono's launch of Product (RED)™ at Davos in 2006 marks the opening of a new frontier for development aid. The advent of 'Brand Aid' explicitly linked to commerce, not philanthropy, reconfigures the modalities of international development assistance. American Express, Gap, Converse and Armani represent the faces of ethical intervention in the world, as customers are encouraged to do good by dressing well. Consumption, trade and aid wed dying Africans with designer goods, as a new social contract is created to generate a sustainable flow of money to support The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Aid celebrities – the bard, the teacher and the healer – guarantee the 'cool quotient,' the management and the target of this new modality. Bono is the rock-star who led his fans to believe that they could solve Africa's problems of AIDS and poverty. Jeffrey Sachs is the recently-radicalized economist who masterminded The Global Fund. And Paul Farmer is the physician who convinced the world that treatment of AIDS was possible in even the poorest communities. The consumer's signification of status through designer RED products does not represent the exploitation of the most downtrodden – it actually helps them. 'Brand Aid' creates a world where it is possible to have as much as you want without depriving anyone else. Promoted as new leftist development chic, compassionate consumption effectively de-links the relations of capitalist production from AIDS and poverty.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
Africa and America

2387. The Rise and Fall of Mass Taxation in Uganda

Author:
Ole Therkildsen
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Although Graduated Personal Tax (GPT) paid to local government in Uganda has caused numerous tax riots throughout the past century, it is only since the mid-1990s that competitive presidential elections have provided people with an effective way to express their dissatisfaction with it. Thus, greater political competition was instrumental in almost dismantling the GPT in 2001 and abolished in 2005. Positive governance effects will follow from this. As shown by the comparison of taxpayer rights and enforcement practices (in particular the use of imprisonment) for GPT and income tax paid to central government, the former has been collected with the use of much more coercion than the latter. Coercive approaches to taxation become more difficult to sustain with greater political competition.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

2388. The Role of Militias and Other Paramilitaries in African (un)Civil Wars

Author:
Bjørn Moller
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Recent violent conflicts in Africa have seen extensive use of very irregular armed forces by governments. Examples include the use of Kamajors in Sierra Leone, Janjaweed and other militias in Sudan and Interahamwe militias in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The paper, originally written for a seminar on Threatened Trust. The transformation of the state and fading civil security at the Centre for African Studies, Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Basel, Basel, 9-10 January 2006, analyses the historical background of such phenomena, the strategic benefits and drawbacks of the resort to such forces, the consequences for the conduct of armed conflicts and the implications thereof for the civilian populations. Finally, it points to a number of complications caused by the presence of such forces for peace settlements and post-conflict peacebuilding, including DDR (disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration) of former combatants and security sector reform.
Topic:
Civil War and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa and Sudan

2389. Political Islam in Kenya

Author:
Bjørn Moller
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In the paper, commissioned by Hussein Solomon and Akeem Fadare for their forthcoming anthology on Political Islam and the State in Africa, the focus placed on the political role of Islam in Kenyan politics. Prevalent fears (e.g. in the United States) of the country becoming a hotbed of Islamist radicalism and terrorism are critically examined against the background of the various categories of Kenyan Muslims, their general position in Kenyan society, their grievances, organisation and occasional role in various conflicts. This is all set against a background of Kenyan history, where the role of other religions (Christianity and traditional religion) is also highlighted. The paper concludes with some tentative recommendations for how the (mainly latent) conflicts might be defused.
Topic:
Civil Society, Politics, and Religion
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, and United States

2390. Poor People in Environmental Management in Uganda and Tanzania

Author:
Kim Raben, Michael Kidoido, Dositeus Lopa, Zarupa Akello, and Jannik Boesen
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This is a paper on analysing the Participatory Environmental Management (PEMA) programme's impact on poverty, livelihoods, and the knowledge-attitudes-practices syndrome in the Kasyoha- Kitomi forest landscape in Uganda and the South Nguru forest landscape in Tanzania. The objectives of the Participatory Environmental Management (PEMA) programme are to improve the livelihood security of poor, natural resource dependent households [...] and enhance the capacity of civil society and government institutions to design and implement effective ICD programmes The principal purpose is to analyse the poverty situation in each landscape in terms of the level and composition of poverty and the factors causing the poverty of different groups of the population. A secondary purpose is, during the first phase, to be able to indicate the effects of forest management on poor people's livelihoods, to register their relationships with the forest, and not least to analyse the involvement of the poor and marginalised in new initiatives of landscape planning and environmental management. DIIS has developed a methodology for monitoring the poverty impacts of agricultural interventions at household level, which is now being used for this purpose.
Topic:
Development, Environment, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, and Tanzania