Conflict

The African Journal on Conflict Resolution is a biannual peer-reviewed journal published by the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) for the multidisciplinary subject field of conflict resolution. It appears on the list of journals accredited by the South African Department of Education. ACCORD is a non-governmental, non-aligned conflict resolution organisation based in Durban, South Africa. ACCORD is constituted as an education trust. The journal seeks to publish articles and book reviews on subjects relating to conflict, its management and resolution, as well as peace-making, peacekeeping and peace building in Africa. It aims to be a conduit between theory and practice. Views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of ACCORD. While every attempt is made to ensure that the information published here is accurate, no responsibility is accepted for any loss or damage that may arise out of the reliance of any person upon any of the information this journal contains.

The document is the result of UN-INSTRAW’s research into migration, gender and development, and the organisation’s recently launched work in a new strategic area: global care chains. UN-INSTRAW is convinced that the formation of global care chains embodies the broader process of globalisation of care and provides a valuable position from which to examine the interrelationship between migration and development.

This IDS Bulletin looks at security sector reform and the model of hybridity. In Africa, security governance is based on a complex amalgam of statutory and non-statutory actors and institutions which form the security sector. SSR processes are more often than not focused on structural and formal institutional arrangements of the state and are generally seen as a purely technico-institutional reform, based on techniques of organisational engineering and principles of institutional design. Consequently, security reform processes, most of the time promoted or supported by external donors, tend to be driven by an administrative view of the state which emphasises its legal structure whilst glossing over its political and social character. Today, there is a dire need to take a critical stance on the relationships between the various systems, actors and beneficiaries involved in the security sector on the African continent. This introductive article proposes to refer to the analytic model of ‘hybridity’ to grasp the current realities and the prospects of the security sector in African countries.

This is a collection of essays designed to provide a basis for further dialogue. It is a Partnership project of the National Treasury and the European Union. Isivivane, an ancient African custom, involves piling stones to form a cairn or beacon. These not only served as memorials and landmarks for travellers to find their way, they also represented a metaphorical collective effort of many, towards a common goal. Each passer-by engaged in the tradition of adding a stone to the pile, becoming part of the shared purpose. The stones also carry messages of the ‘conflict memory’ of South Africa and memorialize the struggle and liberation ideologies of the democratic South Africa. Similarly, the CAGE Facility hopes to build Isivivane in order to signify commitment to solidarity, peace-building through knowledge and oneness of purpose. Through Isivivane, the CAGE Facility aims to build common purpose, contribute to knowledge, create conditions for safety and greater protection and, remember those who have already fallen to conflict.

In view of the politically volatile and dynamic situation on the ground, this issue neither provides an historical account of ongoing political struggles, nor does it assess impact or seek to predict outcomes. Rather, it analyses that moment when people revolted – when the tipping point was reached. The aim of this IDS Bulletin is to bring new empirical and conceptual insights on pathways of political and social change to an audience of development, area studies and democratisation academics, policy actors and practitioners who wish to interrogate the methodological and paradigmatic nuances of that rupture with the status quo.

Recent studies by Gender Links Botswana has revealed that ovr two thirds of women in Botswana (67) experience some form of gender violence in their life time.
The study says 44% of men admit to perpetrating violence against women . Roos van Dorp , Gender Links Program Officer told Global Post that while Botswana is doing enough to eliminate gender based violence , statistics still show that violence is still high and prevalent in the country.

They make up 45% of the country’s population, but black women remain the most poorly represented group in the media. Often they are portrayed as victims of gender-based or domestic violence, villains or sex objects. At the same time black women remain the least successful professionals in the media industry. Studies show that they occupy only a mere six percent of senior managerial positions in the industry. Such representation of women workers in the country’s newsrooms has indeed had an effect on the portrayal of black women by the media. Using the SABC TV newsroom as a case study, I survey a group of ten women, three of whom, myself included, are no longer employed by the SABC. I further conduct interviews with five of the women, while five others participate in the Focus Group. Five women who represent the different black women news sources are also interviewed. The research is conducted by means of the qualitative and self-reflexive methods, supported by thematic content analysis. The study answers two questions relating to working conditions of the black women in the newsroom and the representation of black women as sources in the news bulletins. I take the argument from the first phase of my study forward, that the marginalisation of black women in the media lives on and there is an urgent need for women to stand together in the spirit of activism, to form a resistance movement aimed at fighting patriarchal practices in the industry.

This thesis explores how six commercial local newspapers based in the towns of Swellendam, Bredasdorp, Caledon and Gansbaai are reporting on gender and HIV/AIDS in ways that may help to shift specific attitudes as well as to generate appropriate community responses. The overall aim of the study is to advance theories around the location of commercial news media in the development context. It also aims to inform and empower development workers and activists on the opportunities or pitfalls in engaging with rural local media to advance their development goals. In most prior studies into the nature of gender or HIV/AIDS reporting in the media in South Africa, the focus has been exclusively on mainstream corporate and/or urbanbased media titles and very little investigation has been done into the performance of small ruralbased media. The study employs two methods of data collection namely, a quantitative content analysis of newspapers and structured interviews with the editors of the papers, and a sample group of government employees and community activists in the respective towns.

Neste mês de Outubro, Moçambique celebrou 20 anos de paz. HÁ¡ 12 anos, o mundo adoptou a Resolução 1325 do Conselho de Segurança das NaçÁµes Unidas, que encadeava a luz sobre o impacto do conflito armado sobre mulheres e raparigas.

Ainda o Mês da Paz não tinha terminado quando um acontecimento veio mostrar quão ténue é a certeza de que a paz veio para ficar: o lÁ­der da Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama, saiu de Nampula, onde havia montado a sua residência, para Gorongosa, uma das antigas bases do movimento armado.

Independente das questÁµes polÁ­tico-militares que a permanência de Dhlakama em Gorongosa encerra, um aspecto salta Á  vista. No seio dos gritos que clamam por um diÁ¡logo entre a Frelimo e Renamo, nenhuma delas é de uma mulher.

The paper starts with a survey of research trends that undermine the radical trajectories identified above. The paper focus mainly not on the details of particular approaches, but on the epistemological and political patterns thrown up by research to date, as well as the challenges they pose for future research. In the sections that follow I draw on my conclusions for a recent review essay of African women and gender studies to describe innovative emerging patterns.