Violent Conflicts in Africa: The Search for New Approaches
Violence in Africa is a heavy weight on democratic processes and economic development throughout the continent. Every scientific analysis, institutional creation and the most sophisticated resolution processes have not produced veritable solutions for the reduction of violence in Africa.
Two workshops were organised by the Gorée Institute's Programme department with the support of UNESCO and in cooperation with the University of Gaston Berger of St. Louis, the “West African Network for Peace” WANEP (Accra) and the CONGAD. These workshops brought together experts, researchers and practitioners engaged in researching the causes and dynamics of violent conflicts.
The objective of the workshops was to promote multidisciplinary exchanges on the implementation of new approaches to conflict management and to the prevention of violent conflicts. Assuming that these new approaches are better adapted to the different social and cultural contexts and take into account the dynamics of the conflict in question; it is hypothesised that these new approaches will be more efficient than those methods used up until the present.
- What do the citizens concerned by these conflicts propose, and how do they organise themselves in order to protect and create a balance in situations where their values and norms are threatened and when their social life, economy and culture is destabilised?
- How can we identify and optimise the transmission of early warning conflict indicators from the grassroots level to the intervening organisms in order to allow for preventative measures?
- How can we conceptualise research programmes and citizen actions (pedagogical and cultural actions as well as lobbying) in the domain of knowledge and practices that are inherent to the societies actually concerned by conflict?
- How can we start innovative research programmes in a interdisciplinary and international cooperation framework, particularly in the framework of future exchange programmes between African, European and American universities?
As some of our first results we can retain the action plans developed by the various workgroups of intellectuals and practitioners on the research and citizen action in the domains concerning:
(1) Women's peace initiatives in two transborder zones in West Africa; and
(2) Researching the values transmitted through oral literature as an educational tool in conflict management and prevention.
The awaited results of these studies are to be published during a second phase in order that they be used as tools for lobbying and civic education. These publications are to come in the form of manuals, expositions, radio broadcasts, theatrical forums and other cultural actions.
Our intention is to introduce and encourage the use of peace-building strategies and mechanisms accepted by African actors as being rooted in their proper culture. This approach is designed to reinforce the impact of peace actions carried out by members of civil society, particularly those carried out by youth and women's organisations.
VIOLENT CONFLICTS IN AFRICA – THE SEARCH FOR NEW APPROACHES
Workshop I: Gorée, 19 – 20 December 2005
VIOLENT CONFLICTS IN AFRICA – THE SEARCH FOR WARNING SIGNS AND PREVENTION TOOLS
Workshop II: Gorée, 12 –13 January 2006
Detailed reports on the various presentations given at the workshops will soon be available on this site.
PROGRAMME MANAGER:
DR CORNELIA GIESING
Telephone: (221) 849 48 59
Fax: (221) 822 54 76
Cell :(221) 616 82 89
Email : Cornelia.giesing@goreeinstitute.org
