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221. Diasporas and Conflict Resolution - Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

Author:
Eva Østergaard-Nielsen
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Diaspora and exile groups may play an important, but sometimes also controversial role in conflicts and political unrest in their countries of origin. This is by no means a new phenomenon. Yet, the growing number of intra-state conflicts, the enhanced possibilities for transnational communication, mobilization and action as well as the upsurge in domestic and international security concerns after 9/11, have heightened attention to the role of diasporas. For some, diasporas are irresponsible long distance nationalist or fundamentalists that perpetuate conflicts through economic and political support or intervention. Others have noted how diaspora and exile groups are committed to non-violent conflict resolution and may stimulate and reinforce local processes of democratization and post-conflict reconstruction in their countries of origin. This brief discusses a number of issues surrounding the complex and sometimes ambiguous role of diasporas and exiles in conflicts in their country of origin.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Migration
Political Geography:
Africa

222. African Diaspora and Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Africa

Author:
Abdullah A. Mohamoud
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Many domestic conflicts in numerous countries in Africa have not only been regionalised but they are also largely internationalised among other factors through the activities of diaspora groupings. Avail-able evidence suggests that homeland conflicts also directly affect the lives and well-being of the diaspora despite the fact that they are far away from the conflict zones. This reality therefore makes it imperative to address also the international dimension of the conflict, particularly the critical role that African diaspora groups play with regard to homeland conflicts. The connection between the African diaspora's activities and the dynamics of conflict in their homelands is a dimension that has been largely overlooked in research and policy analysis despite its critical significance.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Migration
Political Geography:
Africa

223. Morocco: Betting on a Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Author:
Pierre Hazan
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Facing the Atlantic and Mediterranean, just nine miles from the Spanish coast, Morocco is essential for stability in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and American interests in these regions. The United States and the European Union fully recognize its strategic importance. Its proximity, large diaspora, and extensive trade with Europe place it at the top of the EU's Mediterranean strategy agenda. The United States has designated Morocco a major non-NATO ally; it also was one of the first Arab countries to sign a free-trade agreement with the United States. The Kingdom of Morocco is facing four challenges: weak economic growth; a social crisis resulting from social inequalities, with 20 percent of the population in absolute poverty and 57 percent illiterate; lack of trust in the governing institutions because of the high level of corruption; and an unstable regional and international environment. These factors strengthen the appeal of various Islamist movements, from moderate to more radical groups such as the authors of the deadly bombings in Casablanca in 2003 and Madrid in 2004. Moreover, the conflict over the Western Sahara places Morocco's and Algeria's armies, the two most powerful in North Africa, toe to toe. Unlike Tunisia and Algeria, since the end of the Cold War Morocco has taken steps toward political liberalization, and its pace has accelerated since Mohammed VI came to the throne in 1999. As part of the process of liberalization, the king established a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) in January 2004. This is one of very few cases in which a TRC was created without a regime change. Thousands of victims tortured during the reign of King Mohammed's father, King Hassan II, have been given the opportunity to voice their sufferings publicly and have been promised financial compensation. Such outcomes are unprecedented in a region known for its culture of impunity. Morocco is the first Arab Islamic society to establish a TRC. Its experience shows that political factors play a primary role in the functioning of such a body, while religious and cultural factors are of secondary importance. Although the Moroccan TRC is not an exportable model, it could inspire other majority Muslim societies, such as Afghanistan and Lebanon, which are envisaging or might set up TRCs to confront crimes of past regimes. Some security experts hoped the TRC would be effective in the “soft war” against terrorism by winning the hearts and minds of the population. The actual experience in Morocco shows the limits of this approach. The tension is too strong between the perceived requirements of the antiterrorist struggle and a process to establish accountability for past crimes and advance democratization. In the final analysis, the “war against terrorism” has limited the TRC's impact in Morocco. The report of the Moroccan TRC, published in early 2006, recommended diminution of executive powers, strengthening of parliament, and real independence for the judicial branch. The king and the political parties must decide in the coming years if they will permit the transformation of the “executive monarchy” of Morocco into a parliamentary monarchy. This decision will affect the stability of the kingdom, North Africa, and, to a lesser extent, Europe and the Middle East.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Development
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Africa, United States, America, Europe, Middle East, Arabia, Algeria, Spain, North Africa, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia

224. The United Nations and Western Sahara: A Never-ending Affair

Author:
Anna Theofilopoulou
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
This study examines the efforts of the United Nations (UN) to resolve the dispute over Western Sahara from August 1988, when Secretary-general Pérez de Cuellar submitted the settlement proposals to the two parties—the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario—until June 2004, when James A. Baker III, the secretary-general's personal envoy on Western Sahara, resigned. The settlement proposals were to lead to the holding of a referendum on self-determination for the people of Western Sahara, offering a choice between integration with Morocco or independence. A crucial element in the implementation of the plan was the identification of voters for the referendum, which both sides considered the key to producing an outcome in their favor. The Polisario had a restricted view, expecting the 1974 Spanish census of the territory to be the framework for the identification, while Morocco took an expansive view by trying to include tens of thousands of applicants of Saharan origin now living in Morocco. Both parties found reasons to interrupt the identification process. Throughout the process, the UN tried to break the impasses created by the parties through technical solutions that addressed the problem at hand without addressing the underlying political problem, which was the determination by both sides to win the referendum. After six years of trying to move forward the identification process, Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked James Baker to become his personal envoy in order to steer the parties toward a political solution and away from the “winner-take-all” approach of the referendum. However, because both parties insisted that they wanted to proceed with the plan, Baker helped them negotiate the Houston Agreements, which allowed for the completion of the identification process. In September 2000, seeing that the referendum was not likely to work in its favor, Morocco offered to discuss a political solution aiming at autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. The Polisario, which until the conclusion of the identification had been interested in meeting directly with Morocco, now believed that it could win the referendum and therefore said it would talk only about the settlement plan. After two more years of trying to get the parties to agree to a political solution, Baker informed the Security Council that a consensual approach would not work and requested that the Council ask the parties to choose one of four options, none of which would require the parties' consent, to resolve the conflict. The Security Council was unable to agree on any of the four options and asked Baker to prepare another political proposal that would include self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. Baker's final attempt was the Peace Plan for Self- Determination of the People of Western Sahara, which provided for a period of autonomy followed by a referendum on self-determination. Morocco rejected the plan and refused to accept a referendum in which the independence of Western Sahara would even appear as an option. The Security Council, while having expressed support for Baker's efforts in its resolutions, proved unwilling to ask the parties to make the difficult decisions required to solve the conflict. When Morocco rejected the peace plan, the Council, despite having unanimously supported it, did nothing. The study concludes that Western Sahara will remain on the UN agenda for many years to come and offers a number of lessons learned from this failed mediation effort.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Politics, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Africa and Morocco

225. Nigeria's Paris Club Debt Problem

Publication Date:
08-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
Intense domestic pressure has convinced Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek a deal that would eliminate the country's $31 billion of debt owed to the governments of the U.K., France, and other aid-giving countries that use the Paris Club process to restructure debt that countries cannot repay. The Paris Club creditors have proposed an unprecedented operation—its first-ever buyback at a discount—that would cancel all of Nigeria's debt to them in exchange for a cash payment of roughly $12 billion.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Debt
Political Geography:
Africa, United Kingdom, Paris, France, and Nigeria

226. Resolving the Three-Headed War from Hell

Author:
John Prendergast
Publication Date:
02-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
An Introduction from Program Director Howard Wolpe: John Prendergast, Special Advisor to the President of the International Crisis Group, is one of the country's leading Africanists, with most of his twenty-year career focused on conflict resolution in Africa, American policy toward the region, human rights promotion, and humanitarian action. During the Clinton Administration, Mr. Prendergast served as a Special Advisor, Department of State and a Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. He has worked for a variety of nongovernmental organizations and think tanks in Africa and the United States, and has authored or co-authored seven books on Africa.This paper is based on an address delivered at a February 7, 2005 program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, cosponsored by the Center's Africa Program and Conflict Prevention Project. Mr. Prendergast wishes to acknowledge the contributions to this paper of Colin Thomas-Jensen of the International Crisis Group.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Politics, and War
Political Geography:
Africa

227. The Challenges and Opportunities of Security Sector Reform in Post-conflict Liberia

Author:
Adedeji Ebo
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
Liberia presents one of the most challenging contexts for post conflict reconstruction since the end of the Cold War, featuring a protracted civil war and the concomitant destruction of the state, society and economy. This Occasional Paper examines post conflict reconstruction in Liberia, with particular focus on the security sector. The paper argues that opportunities for security sector reform (SSR) are conditioned by the mutually reinforcing relationship between the state of security on the one hand, and the security of the state on the other. The prospects for stability and peacebuilding are enhanced by the extent to which SSR is predicated on the state of security broadly defined, as opposed to the narrower focus on the security of the state.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, and Development
Political Geography:
Africa and Liberia

228. Unifying Darfur's Rebels: A Prerequisite for Peace

Publication Date:
10-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Insecurity in Darfur remains pervasive despite a decline in direct, large-scale fighting between the government and the two main rebel movements, the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). Maintaining the present uneasy status quo is not the answer. The Khartoum government continues to flout its numerous commitments to neutralise its allied proxy militia, the Janjaweed, and more than two million civilians displaced by the conflict will not return home without a comprehensive political settlement including security guarantees. But the problem is not just on the government side: discord within and between the rebel movements also needs to be resolved if there is to be a chance for sting peace.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Africa and Sudan

229. The Military Coup in Mauritania: Domestic and International Implications

Author:
Daniel Zisenwine
Publication Date:
08-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
The August 3 bloodless military coup in Mauritania that removed president Maaouiya Ould Taya from power took place in one of the world's most impoverished nations, situated on Africa's northwest coast between Arab North Africa and black sub-Saharan Africa. The coup had all the familiar trappings of an African military overthrow of a corrupt and detested civilian regime. Mauritania has supported the American-led war on terror and actively supports Washington's counterterrorist and training operations in the trans-Sahara region. It is also among only three Arab League members (along with Egypt and Jordan) that maintain full diplomatic relations with Israel. As Mauritania's new leaders seek to stabilize their authority, they are likely to come under considerable pressure from local opposition forces opposed to existing pro-American policies and its links with Israel.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, Government, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Africa, Washington, and North Africa

230. Beyond the Notion of Security Community: What Role for the African Regional Organizations in Peace and Security?

Author:
Liisa Laakso
Publication Date:
08-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
African regional organizations' increasing activity in security policy is usually approached through the concept of a 'security community', which can only partially clarify their difficult situation. A multilevel governance model is suggested as a more useful approach in a situation where economic cooperation is weak, member states' principles of governance diverge, and they themselves might be part of security problems. Security community is not a necessary condition for a regional organization to play a role in the field of security. By new intra-regional and cross-level relationships with the international community and civil society, regional organizations can become important security actors in Africa.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, National Security, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Africa