This is the first volume of the AJCR in 2025. In this first volume, we wish to inform our readers that the AJCR is now indexed in the prestigious Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and joins thousands of other international journals in the pursuit to provide knowledge that is easily accessible and free of charge (for both the authors and readers). This volume consists of five articles and a book review. It covers farmer–herder conflicts, land conflicts, transitional justice and post-apartheid reparations in cases that include areas in Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania.
Samwel Alananga and Christoncia Joyness from Ardhi University in Tanzania write about the evolving nature of land conflicts, the effectiveness of conflict-resolution mechanisms and the impacts on both farmers and pastoralists, in the Mvomero District of Tanzania. This paper argues that there is no single resolution strategy suitable for all conflicts, as each setting is unique, even within the same village. Nonetheless, coercive methods remain common, and since this approach offers only short-term relief, land conflicts tend to recur repeatedly. The paper recommends that initial coercive interventions should be complemented with negotiated approaches to ensure long-term stability.
Ntokozo Sibanyoni, a legal researcher who focuses on human rights, humanitarian law and transitional justice issues in Africa, writes about the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and its domestic impact on prosecuting apartheid in South Africa, including especially Article 6, which obliges states to provide reparations to victims of discrimination.
Yohannes Haile Getahun from Mekelle University in Ethiopia deals with the peacebuilding impact of the Transitional Justice Policy of Ethiopia. The article identifies both prospects and limitations, including political capture, the politics of striking mutual innocence pacts, predicaments of political legitimacy, harmonising reconciliation and justice and ongoing conflicts.
Joshua O. Zachariah from the Federal University Wukari and Elias C. Ngwu from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, examine Nozickian distributive justice vis-à-vis land-related conflicts in the Panda Development Area of Nasarawa state, in Nigeria. They focus on perennial delays and other forms of unfavourable rectifications of land conflicts and their impact on conflict in the area. The study recommends fundamental reform of Nigeria’s justice system, including the introduction of special courts, as well as the mainstreaming of traditional institutions, local and ad-hoc arbitrators into the dispute resolution mechanisms of land-related cases.
David Villah Dan-Azumi from the University of the West of Scotland examines farmer–Fulani herdsmen clashes and their impact on the socio-economic development of southern Kaduna state in north-western Nigeria. Findings from the research show an intricate interplay of socio-political, economic and ethno-religious factors in the violent clashes, a lack of feasible and realistic grazing policies and a lack of strong political will to address the conflict.
In the book review, Jesutimilehin O. Akamo of the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University, reviews Steven C. Roach, Derrick K. Hudson and Kaleb Demerew’s book about Nile Basin Politics (Edward Elgar, 2025). The book makes a case for long-term peaceful cooperation between the three primary riparian states (Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan) of the Nile River, and how that can be achieved. Akamo is critical of some aspects of the argument, but overall, he finds the book an essential resource for deepening our understanding of the intersections of water and geopolitics, and the natural resources–foreign policy nexus.