A General Overview on Peace and Security Challenges in Africa
Bishop’s University
Du : 2008-10-30 16:00:00 , Au : 2008-10-30 17:00:00.

Since they regained independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, African countries have been faced with a number of security challenges, ranging from inter-sate wars to internal armed conflicts, with both of these types of conflicts taking different shapes and presenting various dynamics. At the end of the Cold War, many armed conflicts broke out and/or took on new dimensions. While many of these conflicts have successfully been resolved, some still persist (e.g. Western Sahara, Darfur and the Great Lakes region), and some countries are living in fragile peace. The speaker will try to provide a general overview of Africa’s peace and security challenges in light of the three chronological phases of armed conflicts – pre-conflict, actual phase of conflict and post-conflict phases.

About the speaker/lecturer

 
Issaka K. Souaré is a Senior Researcher in the African Security Analysis Programme at the Pretoria office of the Institute for Security Studies, South Africa. He is also a PhD candidate in political science at the Université du Québec à Montréal and Contributing Editor to the London-based journal, African Renaissance. He has written and talked extensively on issues of peace and security in Africa and intervened on these issues to the Pan-African Parliament on a number of occasions. His latest publications include Africa in the United Nations System, 1945-2005 (London, 2006); Civil Wars and Coups d’État in West Africa (Lanham, 2006 – also in French, Paris, 2007), and co-editor of Somalia at the Crossroads (London, 2007).