The role of civil society in conflict management: a case study of the Catholic Church in the 1994 Rwanda genocide

Abstract

The Third World In general and Africa have witnessed some of the most violent conflicts SInce their independence. In Africa, these conflicts have claimed the lives of millions leaving many others as displaced people and refugees in neighbouring countries. From Liberia to Somalia, and from Angola to Burundi, there has been death, outright carnage, the destruction of property and institutions, and environmental decay as a result of conflict and instability. That conflicts constitute one of the greatest challenges currently facing the African continent is not debatable.While more internal conflicts have occurred in Africa in the post-Cold War era than in any other major world region, the continent is becoming increasingly marginalized in US and European foreign policy, Declining resources for engagement, including development aid, coupled with a fatigue borne of the complexity and intractability of conflicts in Africa has lead to a situation where it is difficult for policy makers to engage in preventing or ending armed conflicts.In the US, the "Mogadishu Syndrome", where 18 American soldiers on a humanitarian mission in Somalia in 1992 were dragged by irate mobs on the streets of Mogadishu, continues to affect its political will for engagement in Africa. This has seriously limited many countries' ability to make credible policy commitments in this area. At the same time, peace enforcement and humanitarian intervention have drawn resources and attention away from assisting countries in Afriea that have a chance to develop in benign direction. Although armed conflicts have been brought to an end in Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola and Ethiopia, the perception of conflict in - and the record of the international response to them is grim. This perception of "Afro-pessimism" on the part of the international community borne out of widespread disenchantment with the mixed record of conflict management achievement in Africa means that Africa must look within itself for the resolve and the commitment to settle its conflicts.