Electoral Violence in Nigeria: Implications for Security, Peace and Development

Election violence has remained a feature on Nigeria’s political landscape, and a review of the problem suggests a number of reasons. This article identifies poverty, a culture of impunity, weak penalties, a lack of effective governance, and small arms proliferation, amongst others. It also looks at the effects of instability and violence in Nigerian society and proffers a number of solutions ranging from sustainable development, security sector and electoral reforms, and anti-corruption measures.

Food Crisis in the Republic of Niger: What needs to be done?

Food crises in the Republic of Niger have been on the rise. Much is being done to alleviate this situation, especially with food aid. Though necessary for immediate relief, this is not a long lasting solution for the country on the whole or specific regions such as northern Niger. It is therefore essential that this landlocked country looks for alternative methods of subsistence in order to improve on the current situation of about two million people on the verge of hunger.

Key words: Food insecurity, sustainable livelihood, and development

Collective peace-keeping in West Africa

Linus Malu provides the background to the prospects for collective peace-keeping in West Africa. His report appraises conflict prevention and resolution methods employed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). First, it examines the operations of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in the region and evaluates the impact of the body in conflict resolution. Second, it examines the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security established in 1999 by the ECOWAS Heads of States in Lome, Togo. In the last section Linus Malu evaluates the impact of the Mechanism on conflict prevention and resolution in West Africa.
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Mali Conflict: Causes and Effects

Journalist Lawal Tsalha traces the history and context of the Mali conflict, clarifying the motivations and relationships between various parties, and offering some insight into the present situation.

Conflict, Climate Change, and Water Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

The paper is a review of literature on conflict, climate change and water security on Sub-Saharan Africa. It identifies poverty as a threat in Sub-Saharan African countries that may have effect on its water security. It analyses in Sub-Saharan Africa region, the conflict trend of water security in correlation with climate change impacts. It advocates sustainable water management as the ameliorative and mitigation approaches to the negative effects of climate change on water security in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A Tale of Nationalism and Dissidence

Cultural disconnect is at the heart of Cameroon’s political incongruity. Split in two, the government falls in the hands of the Francophones, natural resources in the hands of the Anglophones.

Theatre of Peace: reflections

In the theatre the public gazes at a remarkable event, one based on conflict; but the audience of the theatre of war gazes at violent conflict. Is there some connection between these definitions of theatre that is more than semantic? Could there be a theatre of peace?