REUTERS/Siphiwe SibekoPhoto by Dursun
COVID-19 & Conflict
ACCORD has rapidly adapted to the new COVID-19 reality and has refocused and restructured a significant proportion of its staff and effort on identifying & monitoring, tracking & analysing, and preparing & responding to COVID-19 related social unrest and violent conflict in Africa.
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ACCORD’s focus on COVID-19
ACCORD has adapted to the new COVID-19 reality, refocusing and restructuring a significant proportion of its staff and its effort on identifying & monitoring, tracking &, analysing, and preparing & responding to COVID-19 related social-unrest and violent conflict in Africa.
Through our networks across Africa, and supported by available online data, ACCORD identifies COVID-19 related incidents and trends that may provide early warning of rising tensions that could develop into social unrest and violent conflict. Once the incidents are captured in the dataset, ACCORD analyses the trends and publishes a weekly COVID-19 Africa Conflict and Resilience Monitor, in order to share the information and analysis with all stakeholders.
ACCORD then works with its in-country networks and other local, regional, continental and international partners and stakeholders, to encourage and support interventions aimed at mitigating, and where possible preventing, COVID-19 related social unrest and violent conflict.
ACCORD COVID-19 Conflict & Resilience Monitor
5 August 2020
This week’s Monitor features El-Ghassim Wane, professor of international affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, former chief of staff and chief advisor to the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and former assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations at the United Nations, who reflects on the way African diplomacy has adapted to the COVID-19 situation and how it reveals a deep-seated conviction that multilateral action is the best way to address Africa’s challenges effectively.
Martin Rupiya considers the initiatives taken by African governments aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19 in Africa’s overcrowded prisons. He calls for an urgent focus on finding workable solutions, due to the serious threat posed by the spread of COVID-19 in prisons.
In a number of African countries, the measures introduced to contain the spread of COVID-19 appear to be linked to a rise in organised crime and illegal migration, among others. Marisha Ramdeen assesses the connection and its impact.
Lastly, Claude Bizimana considers the impact that COVID-19 has had on the effective implementation of peace support operations (PSOs) in Africa.
Feature Articles
Africa’s COVID-19 diplomacy reflects its commitment to multilateralism and collective action
Africa’s diplomatic system has adjusted swiftly to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) realities of conducting business. This is visible in the flurry of virtual consultations among decision-makers to chart common ways forward. The high number of African Union (AU)-led consultations over the past few months reflect a deep-seated conviction that collective action is the best way to address Africa’s challenges effectively.
5 Aug 2020
African mediation in the shadow of COVID-19
The lockdown-type measures adopted by governments to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has deprived mediators and facilitators of the opportunity to use these important tools to resolve African conflicts and consolidate the implementation of peace agreements. However, we hope for a successful fight against COVID-19 in Africa that will reopen opportunities for mediation in Africa.
29 Jul 2020
Implications of COVID-19 for a new Africa–Europe Strategic Partnership
There is now an unprecedented opportunity for Europe to begin its journey towards a new contemporary and future shared ethical relationship, and do so not only as good regionalism, but also as an exercise in multilateralism, forging a new approach in its relationship with Africa, this time based on solidarity, one that will include a fundamental re-examination of how unfair trade and existing debt structures are impeding, not only the capacity to respond to COVID-19, but also the necessary transformations which a continent is getting underway, with an African agency that seeks a new form of partnership with its most proximate neighbour, the European Union.
22 Jul 2020
COVID-19 News
An introduction to Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)
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ACCORD is an African based global conflict management institution and think tank with 28 years of experience.
The COVID-19 crisis had disrupted ACCORD’s usual work, but the Institution has rapidly adapted and it has now refocused and restructured a significant proportion of its staff and effort on identifying & monitoring, tracking &, analysing and responding to the COVID-19 related social-unrest and violent conflict in Africa.
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