COVID-19 & Conflict

This edition of the Monitor begins with an article written by Fiifi Edu-Afful and Emmanuel Kotia. Their article discusses the ongoing border disputes in the Mano River Basin between Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. While the disputes have their origins in colonial demarcations, weak governance within the states and poor communication amongst them has exacerbated tensions. However, there are examples of successful de-escalation and the article offers options on how to deal with these tensions going forward.

Staying in West Africa, Portia Danlugu discusses meaningful youth participation in the region. Youth are often used for political mobilisation at election time, or invited to participate only once decisions have been made, making their involvement tokenistic in nature. Youth in West Africa face a number of challenges such as high unemployment and economic exclusion and their skills and knowledge, especially of the digital space, are often overlooked or ignored. However, institutions, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), can play an active role in ensuring a more coordinated approach to youth, peace and security amongst states of the region and ensuring meaningful youth participation in processes.

In South Africa, Boikanyo Nkwatle has written a follow-up to his article earlier in the year, in light of the collapse of the United for Change (UFC) election alliance. The UFC was unable to translate its alliance into any campaign momentum. Rather than an exception to the rule, the UFC shares a similar outcome to previous electoral alliances in South Africa, which often collapse. With the increasing number of political parties, electoral alliances help consolidate voters and decrease the potential number of parties in a coalition. However, parties also run the risk of losing their identities in the alliance, which can further confuse voters. These factors are discussed ahead of South Africa’s local government elections in 2026.

Shaun Kinnes has contributed an article about the changing global landscape and the role that Africa needs to forge for itself. Africa needs to ensure its own peace and security, and its militaries should become self-reliant and adaptive to the changing security threats that the continent faces.

Finally, Ramesh Thakur and Reginald M.J. Oduor have contributed an article about access to healthcare in the global south. While access to healthcare is an established human right, it goes beyond just trying to eliminate pathogens, with the extension of life expectancy coming from better access to sanitation, nutrition, antibiotics and primary care. Their article further discusses the concept of health sovereignty of both individuals and states that is both responsible and not isolationist.