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11. From Conflict to Collaboration: Co-funding Environmental Peacebuilding in South-central Somalia

Author:
Kheira Tarif
Publication Date:
09-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Abstract:
Somalia is experiencing significant impacts of climate change. Its climate-related vulnerabilities are exacerbated by the enduring effects of more than three decades of violent conflict and fragmented governance. As the effects of climate change become more pronounced, their interaction with social, economic and political realities threatens to create challenges that are complex and difficult to address. There is a need for policies and programmes that tackle climate change and conflict in tandem, but gaps persist in knowledge and evidence to inform actions under such policies and programmes. This SIPRI Policy Brief explores how the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Somalia uses a co-funding mechanism for facilitating collaboration between groups in conflict on addressing shared local priorities. In south-central Somalia, IOM has applied the co-funding mechanism to projects that aim to address local climate-related vulnerabilities, build relationships between communities in conflict and strengthen the role of district councils. This policy brief finds that elements of this approach to project design can support environmental peacebuilding in contexts exposed to climate change and affected by conflict and offers recommendations for organizations and other donors with relevant mandates.
Topic:
Environment, Conflict, Peacebuilding, and International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

12. Social Inclusion and Justice for the Internally Displaced by the Herdsmen-Farmers Conflict in Benue State, Nigeria

Author:
Rita Iorbo, Sanjeev P. Sahni, and Dick Taverishma Andzenge
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on Migration and Human Security
Institution:
Center for Migration Studies of New York
Abstract:
Herdsmen-farmers conflict has displaced 1.5 million residents of Benue State, Nigeria, according to government officials. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) have lost livelihoods, farms, personal property and community infrastructure. The paper highlights the social challenges they have experienced and the response by government and international humanitarian agencies (IHAs) to their situations. Based on interviews with 12 IDPs belonging to the displaced population from Guma Local Government Area of Benue State and interviews with seven humanitarian workers, the paper finds that the IDPs: • Have lost family members, neighbors, farms, churches, health centers, and means of mobility. • Cannot safely return home or access their ancestral lands. • Cannot support themselves. • Cannot attend public school or progress to a university. • Lack access to quality health care. • Live with multiple families in insecure shelters. • Cannot reliably obtain birth registration and replace other destroyed documents. • Can register their names, family relations, and former villages, but not their losses, which might lead to compensation and help them to rebuild their lives. The paper makes the following recommendations. • Registration, Effective Remedies and Access to Justice: The Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA), Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs (FMHA) and United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) should document personal and community socio-economic losses to ascertain the extent of damage to IDPs in order to facilitate effective remedies. The Ministries of Justice, the National Human Rights Commission, and UNHCR should support the IDPs by providing them with information and procedures that allow them to secure full compensation for their losses, and with safe, permanent solutions to their situations, including full integration into their host communities, safe and voluntary return home, or resettlement in a third community. • Engage IDPs as Stakeholders: The Benue State Government should ensure that BSEMA communicates to IDPs the possibilities for voluntary and dignified safe return. If return is not immediately foreseeable, BSEMA should offer IDPs the means to relocate and resettle elsewhere. • Provision of Sustainable Social Amenities: BSEMA, the FMHA, and international humanitarian agencies (IHAs) should provide sustainable healthcare, shelter, education in IDP camps, financial assistance and the means to access services outside of IDP camps. • Peace through Establishment of Ranches: Benue State Government’s Peace Commission should resolve the herdsmen-farmer conflict and restore peace by promoting peaceful co-existence between the conflicting parties. Herdsmen should be educated on the procedures for legal land acquisition for ranching, and farmers should be able to seek legal redress when their farms are damaged by grazing cattle. BSEMA and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs should also facilitate voluntary, safe and dignified return of IDPs or their resettlement in another community. • Safeguard IDP Camps: BSEMA and the Nigeria security agencies should safeguard official and unofficial IDP camps. • Inclusive Policy Implementation: The FMHA in collaboration with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) should develop humanitarian response plans that are beneficial to all IDPs in Nigeria irrespective of the cause of their displacement.
Topic:
Conflict, Pastoralism, Internal Displacement, Farming, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

13. Gendered effects of climate and conflict shocks on food security in Sudan and the mitigating role of social protection

Author:
Aysegül Kayaoglu, Ghassan Baliki, and Tilman Brück
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Climate change and violent conflict are defining challenges of our time. However, it is not yet understood how they interact in shaping human welfare and food security, how their interaction shapes gendered outcomes, or how social protection systems can mitigate their impact. To address these knowledge gaps, we first examine how household food insecurity relates to conflict and climate shocks and whether these associations are gender-sensitive. Second, we test what mechanisms can reduce the negative impacts of these shocks. Our empirical analysis relies on novel survey data of 7,908 rural households collected across 14 states in Sudan in 2022. Sudan currently faces floods, droughts, and violent conflict affecting agricultural production and food supply. We find that climate shocks do not significantly affect food consumption scores (FCS), while exposure to violent conflict leads to a substantial decrease in FCS. Both productive and nonproductive assets increase FCS for all households, especially female-headed households. Longer distances to agricultural input and output markets correlate with lower FCS, particularly for maleheaded households. Women’s social group membership positively impacts on FCS for femaleheaded households. However, women do not receive additional benefits from other social networks during climate and conflict exposure, while male-headed households benefit from all types of social networks. Income diversification is identified as a key strategy for improving FCS, particularly for female-headed households during conflict. Informal cash transfers significantly improve FCS, especially for female-headed households. In contrast, formal cash transfers negatively correlate with FCS, although they positively impact on male-headed households during violent conflict. Overall, we recommend targeted social protection programmes that address gender disparities and enhance resilience among vulnerable populations.
Topic:
Climate Change, Food Security, Conflict, Gender, and Social Protection
Political Geography:
Africa and Sudan

14. The Potential of Paradiplomacy as a Counter-terrorism Strategy in Cabo Delgado

Author:
Ndzalama Cleopatra Mathebula and Hope Moremi
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
African Journal on Conflict Resolution
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
This paper discusses and proposes paradiplomacy and community engagement as instruments of stabilising Cabo Delgado. The paper contributes to the literature on the integration of paradiplomacy and community engagement in Africa’s counter-terrorism approaches. The study employed a qualitative explorative approach, which relied mainly on documentary sources of data in the form of existing literature, previous research outputs and media reports. The main argument is that counter-terrorism efforts in Africa have embodied a top-down approach that has achieved only little results and no sustainable peace. Thus, employing a paradiplomatic approach and engaging with the community holds significant prospects for addressing the factors that inflame terrorist-related conflict and promoting sustainable peace in the province of Cabo Delgado. In addition, the study reveals that, apart from corruption and low political participation, the key internal factors driving the Cabo Delgado conflict are the socio-economic injustices resulting from poor governance, neglect by the government, internal displacement and loss of livelihoods due to commercial mining activities. As a result, a people-centred approach is necessary to address these socio-economic challenges and thereby promote peace in the region.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Terrorism, Counter-terrorism, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Africa and Cabo Delgado

15. Violent Conflict and Resilient Urban Spaces in the Global South: Learning from Community Peacebuilding in Jos, Nigeria

Author:
Oluwole Ojewale
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
African Journal on Conflict Resolution
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
This study is conceived within a theoretical framework that seeks to rationalise the linkages between space, peacebuilding and urban resilience. The paper responds to the research question: How do city residents build urban resilience and prevent violent conflict? The study obtained primary data by fusing both qualitative and quantitative research methods through household data collection and the Geographic Information System (GIS). The study notes indigenous conflict management, the traditional justice system and community policing, civic education, non-governmental interventions, and political and economic measures as factors of urban resilience to violent conflict. The study concludes that collaboration becomes effective when initiatives are designed at the community level with ties to specific government agencies for additional support, expertise and an enabling environment.
Topic:
Global South, Conflict, Urban, Resilience, Community, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Africa and Nigeria

16. The Egyptian Financial Crisis: Implications for the region, and for Israel too

Author:
Eran Lerman
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
Abstract:
Egypt continues to play an active role in regional affairs, including the Aqaba emergency meeting on the Palestinian situation (February 26) and the ongoing effort to prevent escalation in Gaza. At the same time, Cairo is in the middle of a significant financial crisis. The effects of the war in Ukraine – specifically, grain shortages – brought the Egyptian pound to more than 30 to the dollar, up from 20 in November and 15 in early 2022, facilitated by deliberate government action in response to demands by the IMF. Inflation still soars, and so does youth unemployment. All this could destabilize a nation of 105 million on our border, with dire consequences.
Topic:
Financial Crisis, Conflict, Fiscal Policy, and Financial Stability
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, Israel, Egypt, and MENA

17. Armed groups’ modes of local engagement and post-conflict (in)stability: Insights from the Ethiopian and Somali civil wars

Author:
Marine Gassier
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
What distinguishes post-war governments that succeed in establishing a stable political order and prevent recurring conflict from those that do not? This comparative study considers the specific threats that typically lead to the collapse of the post-conflict political order to offer new hypotheses on the conditions that affect post-war governments’ ability to sustainably restore stability. The threats considered include (i) fragmentation of the main actors in the conflict, (ii) inadequate demobilization, and (iii) enduring dependence of the post-war government on local brokers. Post-war regimes are more vulnerable to such risks after wars in which the dominant armed groups have established themselves by co-opting local power structures and drawing on existing socio-political networks, as this process redistributes power from the central to the local level. Empirically, this paper uses a novel dataset documenting the practices through which rebel groups may alter local power structures to highlight the connection between this wartime process of transformation and patterns of conflict recurrence. In addition, it contrasts the transition of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front from rebellion to government in Ethiopia in the 1990s with the trajectory of the armed movements in Somalia that also overthrew the incumbent military regime but then failed to establish a viable state.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Armed Forces, Conflict, Post-Conflict, and Instability
Political Geography:
Africa, Ethiopia, and Somalia

18. Fortune and Hazard for Algeria

Author:
Zine Labidine Ghebouli
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
War in Ukraine has brought new cash flow to Algiers, but the state must walk an ever-narrowing path to maintain its non-alignment
Topic:
Security, Military Strategy, Conflict, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Africa and Algeria

19. Impact of the Church on Conflict Transformation of Political Crises at Community Level: A Case Study of two Church Denominations in Dzivarasekwa, Harare

Author:
Angela Shoko
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
African Journal on Conflict Resolution
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
This study, based on Lederach’s conflict transformation (CT) theory, analyses the participation of the local church in CT of political crises in Zimbabwe at the grassroots level – from 2005 to 2020. It compares the CT interventions of one Pentecostal church denomination and of one African Independent Church denomination in the Dzivarasekwa suburb of Harare. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used. SPSS software was used to analyse quantitative data while the NVivo application was used for qualitative data analysis. One key finding is that both denominations believe CT entails community engagement. Major challenges to local churches’ CT participation include financial constraints, repressive laws and church executives’ fear of victimisation. The study concludes that the impact of the local churches is low because their interventions are limited to congregation members and their immediate neighbours. Another conclusion is that CT is politicised in Zimbabwe, which restricts effective church participation. The study makes some recommendations to address this.
Topic:
Religion, Transitional Justice, Conflict, Christianity, and Political Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa and Zimbabwe

20. The Political Ecology of Farmer-Herder Conflict in Ghana: A Case Study of the Kwahu Afram Plains South District

Author:
Bernard Okoampah Otu and Kwasi Sarfo
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
African Journal on Conflict Resolution
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
Farmer-herder conflict is an age-old phenomenon, which is widely spread in the West African sub-region. Current studies on the Ghanaian farmer-herder conflict have emphasised the land-related conflicts between indigenous farmers and nomadic herders. It has focused especially on environmental scarcity and climate change approaches. However, this study adopts the political ecology framework to highlight land conflicts between migrant farmers and nomadic herders, two migrant groups that are considered “strangers” to the Kwahu Afram Plains District. The study contributes to the broader debates on farmer-herder conflict. It provides contrary evidence with regard to the popular notion in literature and theory about the prevalence of land insecurity among nomadic herders. The study argues that migrant farmers in the study area experience more land insecurity compared to the nomadic herders. This is because of their history of immigration, their relationship with the Kwahu landowners, which is driving the escalating cost of accessing land, and disputes between landowning groups.
Topic:
Conflict, Land, Farmers, Political Ecology, and Herders
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana