Issue No: 7/2022

Conflict & Resilience Monitor – 25 August 2022

The Conflict and Resilience Monitor offers monthly blog-size commentary and analysis on the latest conflict-related trends in Africa.

Photo: MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti
Photo: MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti

We begin this month’s monitor in East Africa with a piece from Yonas Berhane, Coordinator, Communications & Profile Management at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS), who writes about the ongoing conflict in Tigray.  His article touches on the possibility for negotiations to end the conflict and the prospects of peace in Ethiopia.  This is followed by a piece from Jesutimilehin O. Akamo, Coordinator, Research at IPSS who writes about the extension of the timelines of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan and argues for greater inclusion of the youth in the peace processes in South Sudan.

We then head to Southern Africa, where Dr. Yvan Yenda Ilunga, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Salve Regina University, discusses the causes of the recent protests against United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of  Congo (DRC) and the successes and failings of the UN Mission in the DRC.

The DRC recently hosted the 42nd Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Katharine Bebington, programme officer at ACCORD, has written an article reflecting on some of the key outcomes of the Summit.

Finally, Peter Fabricius, an independent foreign policy analyst, discusses the recent visits to various African countries by the United States and Russia and the implications of a new era of Cold War-type great power rivalry for Africa.

Chief Editor: Conflict & Resilience Monitor​
Managing Editor: Conflict & Resilience Monitor​
Assistant Editor: Conflict & Resilience Monitor
Negotiation

Ending the conflict in Tigray: Negotiations and key issues

  • Yonas Berhané

After several months without large-scale clashes between their respective troops, the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray regional authorities have both confirmed their desire to join efforts to end the war that began in November 2020. On 14 June 2022, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the establishment of a committee to negotiate peace talks with the Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF). The announcement is the first public confirmation of the government’s willingness to negotiate with the TPLF, and it is a critical step toward peace talks in a conflict that has displaced over 9 million people, killed thousands, and left part of the nation in famine.

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UN Photo: Isaac Billy
UN Photo: Isaac Billy
Peacebuilding, Youth

South Sudan’s Transition: Young Refugees and the 24-Month Extension

  • Jesutimilehin O. Akamo

The Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) makes a sufficient case that youth, as well as refugees, are significant stakeholders in the South Sudan transition process. Young refugees want to return home as soon as possible and they want to be more involved in the transitional process. Thus, while optimism about extending South Sudan’s transition period by 24 months grows, young refugees especially those who do not share similar enthusiasm should be accounted for in policy and programmatic interventions moving forward.

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Peacekeeping

MONUSCO’s credibility crisis: The illusion of peace through the international community?

  • Yvan Yenda Ilunga

The United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) is a victim of the deteriorating image of a weak international community and the perception of less relevant United Nations Peace Operations in Africa. In recent times, the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations have been portrayed as selling an illusion of peace rather than imposing it. This illusion of peace by the international community through MONUSCO has rendered inert Congolese local indigenous communities and forces, who, by essence and nature, are equipped with arsenals for stability and change.

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Photo: GCIS
Photo: GCIS
Peace and Security

Outcomes of SADC’s 42nd Ordinary Summit

  • Katharine Bebington

On 17 August 2022 the Southern African Development Community (SADC) held its 42nd Ordinary Summit in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  The Summit was attended by most of the heads of state and/or government from the bloc, which met under the theme “Promoting industrialisation through agro-processing, mineral beneficiation and regional value chains for inclusive and resilient economic growth.”

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Photo: GCIS
Photo: GCIS
Leadership

Africa Must Not Be A Spectator to History

  • Peter Fabricius

Africa finds itself being courted again by many ardent suitors from the West and the East and in between. In July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Republic of Congo.  French President Emmanuel Macron visited Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has also been to Africa and so has Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And then last week the United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.

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