Issue No: 13/2021

COVID-19 Conflict & Resilience Monitor – 12 May 2021

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

Photo: FAO/David Kujabi
Photo: FAO/David Kujabi

As we continue to reflect on the impact of COVID-19 in Africa over a year later, we feature a piece from His Excellency Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former President (2010-2015) , Federal Republic of Nigeria. In this article, he reflects on the management of the pandemic and how it has affected areas of governance and economic livelihoods in Africa. Within this context, he calls for a new African renaissance to promote peace and economic development.

Also included in this issue, is a contribution from Professor Youssef Mahmoud, author of the recently published book, Whose Peace Are We Building?: Leadership for Peace in Africa (I.B. Tauris, 2021). In his piece, Prof Mahmoud appraises the use of collective system leadership in responding to COVID-19 and looks at how this approach could be used to build sustainable peace.

Ambassador Said Djinnit also tackles the issue of sustainable peace in his article by emphasising the value of conflict prevention and specifically, the role of dialogue. In drawing on his many years of experience in the field, Ambassador Djinnit explains that “there is hardly a problem without solution and that everything should be done to create the conditions for dialogue”.

Finally, ACCORD’s Katharine Bebington and Paidamwoyo Mudzimuirema reflect on the high level emergency meeting of African ministers convened by the African Union (AU) and the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) which took place on 8 May 2021 to review the impact of the pandemic on the continent and evaluate the implementation of the Joint Continental Strategy to combat COVID-19.

Chief Editor: Conflict & Resilience Monitor​
Managing Editor: Conflict & Resilience Monitor
IMF Photo/Saiyna Bashir
IMF Photo/Saiyna Bashir
COVID-19, Trust between Citizens & Institutions

COVID-19 in Africa: One Year later

  • Katharine Bebington
  • Paidamwoyo Mudzimuirema

On the 8th of May 2021 the African Union (AU) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) convened a high level emergency meeting of African ministers.  The purpose of the meeting was to review and reflect on the impact that COVID-19 has had on Africa and evaluate the implementation of the Joint Continental Strategy to combat the virus.

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UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
COVID-19, Trust between Citizens & Institutions

Reviving conflict prevention

  • Ambassador Said Djinnit

From the start of its engagement in internal conflicts in the early 90’s, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) focused on conflict prevention. This was based on the assumption that prevention is better than a cure and that the United Nations (UN) was better equipped to deal with costly peacekeeping operations. 

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Photo by GONZALO FUENTES/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Photo by GONZALO FUENTES/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
COVID-19, Trust between Citizens & Institutions

What does collective leadership have to do with COVID-19 and peace?

  • Youssef Mahmoud

Collective system leadership has enabled some countries to successfully manage the onslaught and debilitating consequences of COVID-19. This approach could also be usefully applied to situations where attempts to build and sustain peace have failed.

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© European Union, 2021/Olympia de Maismont
© European Union, 2021/Olympia de Maismont
COVID-19, Trust between Citizens & Institutions

Rebuilding Trust in a World of Crisis

  • Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting negatively on the structure of governance around the world. As it shatters the lives and economies of many nations around the world, the virus has   become a devastating and deadly behemoth of sort, collapsing systems and initiating more crises in our nations.

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ACCORD recognizes its longstanding partnerships with the European Union, and the Governments of Canada, Finland, Ireland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, UK, and USA.

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