UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
AFRICA: US conference on conflict in Africa 1998.12.30

AFRICA: US conference on conflict in Africa 1998.12.30

Conference on "Conflict in Africa."

On February 5-6, the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, cosponsored by the University Center for International Studies (UNC-Chapel Hill) and the electronic journal American Diplomacy, will hold a conference at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (USA) on conflict in Africa. Our purpose is to gather a distinguished group of scholars from the United States and overseas to investigate the roots of internal and inter-state group violence, describe its recent history, and explore a variety of ideas for ameliorating or avoiding such conflict in the near and long term future. Our goal is not only to understand the violence, but to offer some suggestions and recommendations that might prove useful to people on the continent, and to the international community, in forging a more peaceful future. The conference will be open to all interested persons.

Professor Ali Mazrui (NY SUNY Binghamton) will open the meeting on Friday morning with an hour-long address highlighting the diversity of the continent and outlining broadly the history of recent and current conflicts. Our four panelists on Friday afternoon will offer their insights into the roots of conflict in Africa. Julius Nyang'oro (UNC-Chapel Hill) and René Lemarchand (University of Florida at Gainesville) will focus on the economic and ethnic roots of conflict respectively, while Anthony Clayton (Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, U.K.) talk on frontiersmen and violence since 1945. Pearl Robinson (Tufts) will give a talk entitled "Democratization and Violence: War, Peace Movements, and State-Building." On Saturday morning, the theories advanced by these panelists will be more fully explored in six break out sessions which will focus on particular conflicts; Nigeria; Coastal West Africa, the Great Lakes region, the Horn of Africa, Senegal/Guinea-Bissau, and Angola. At the end of the morning a rapporteur from each panel will address the conference as a whole and engage in a discussion with the audience. The theme of Saturday afternoon will be conflict resolution. We are delighted to have on the panel Claude Emerson Welch (SUNY-Buffalo) who will look at the role of NGO's in Africa; Pauline Baker (President of U.S. Fund for Peace) who will reflect on early warning and policy assessment for failing states; Bona Malwal (St. Antony's College, Oxford, UK) who will share with us his extensive experience as a negotiator in the Sudan, and Richard Joseph (Emory), who will moderate the final discussion.

For further details on the conference and the conference participants, please check out our website Triangle Institute for Security Studies [http://www.unc.edu/depts/tiss/Africa.htm (click on Program) or contact Carolyn Pumphrey Tel.(919) 962 8601 (Voice mail); Email pumphrey@email.unc.edu; Fax number (919) 962-2603.

Address: The Triangle Institute for Security Studies

Attn: Carolyn Pumphrey CB # 3200, 403 Hamilton Hall University of North Carolina 27599-3200

Registration Deadline January 8th. Fee: [Includes cost of luncheon on Friday and Saturday] $20 (Students) $35 (Others)

To Register please send the following to the mailing address above: A check in the amount of $20 or $35 made out to the Triangle Institute for Security Studies. Your name, address, phone number and, if you have one, an email address. A list indicating, in order of preference, the case-study sessions you would like to attend.

There are currently places for 100 persons besides the thirty participants. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. If demand is sufficient, we will attempt to expand the conference to meet the demand.

Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 11:55:18 +0300 (EAT) From: IRIN - Central and Eastern Africa <irin@ocha.unon.org> To: irin-extra@ocha.unon.org Subject: AFRICA: US conference on conflict in Africa 1998.12.30

Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D

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