Africa

This report is an overview of illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW) proliferation in West Africa, focusing on the implementation of sub-regional control instruments. In this regard, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Small Arms and Light Weapons in West Africa (ECOWAS Moratorium) stands out as the main platform on which arms control in the sub-region is based.

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This report documents the processes and outcomes of a needs assessment carried out with women in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria between the 12th and 20th of July 2002. The Niger Delta region has been subject to a three-pronged conflict between communities, oil companies and the Nigerian government, as well as facing conflict within communities.

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The West Africa Programme at International Alert (IA) has been actively working with partners from the region for many years in seeking to transform conflicts in the area through projects that contribute to bringing about social justice and peace. We are very much aware that other actors have also played a role in conflict transformation in the region. This overview is designed to provide an insight into the history of IA’s work there, particularly since the inception of the West Africa Programme in 1998.

Overview

Introduction

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This report seeks to document governmental and civil society activity in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal with regard to the control of SALW. The case studies provide an overview of the main sources of SALW proliferation. The report also aims to assess the current national legislation on SALW, the implementation of SALW control policies, as well as the role of national governmental and nongovernmental structures in addressing the issue of SALW proliferation in the three countries.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is immensely rich in natural resources but its people are among the poorest in the world. This paradox is both cause and effect of the brutal exploitation of the country’s resources that has taken place since King Leopold, and that has fuelled such violent and devastating conflict.

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The role of international companies in post-conflict reconstruction is an essential complement to the work of international aid agencies. However, if policy-makers are to secure the maximum benefits from private investment, they need to understand how different companies and sectors view opportunity and risk, and find ways to assess their overall impact in post-conflict settings.

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Combatants on all sides of the conflict in Eastern DRC have been using sexual violence purposefully asa weapon of war. Acts of sexual violence continue to be committed with unprecedented cruelty, the perpetrators inflicting the most humiliating and degrading treatment on their victims that they can devise. This report is based on interviews with 492 women and 50 soldiers in Eastern DRC. It documents the violation of women's human rights during the war and examines the socio-cultural roots of this violence and the different forms it takes.

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The five years of relative peace in Northern Uganda has enabled the majority of former Internally Displaced Persons to return to their home areas and begin rebuilding their lives. During and after the long war in Northern Uganda, women have emerged as critical economic actors, taking advantage of economic opportunities to secure their families’ livelihood, security and advancement.

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Based on a series of visits to working diamond mines, interviews with diggers, mine owners, traders, exporters, government officials and NGOs, the report describes the current state of the diamond industry in West Africa, providing both an overview of the sub-region and detailed analysis of each country.

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This conference was convened within the framework of the Diamonds for Development initiative (D4D), which focuses on the sustainable use of revenue from mineral resources for the purposes of development. It was organised by the Government of Liberia in partnership with UNDP Liberia and International Alert with the objective of identifying ways to ensure that the alluvial diamond sector contributes to sustainable peace and development in the Mano River Basin sub-region.

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Produced as part of the EU-funded Conflict Prevention Partnership, this paper analyses the context in which the European Union uses its external relations instruments to address security issues, promote legitimate and effective governance, and support economic recovery and regional integration, in the DRC. Consultations in the region and in the EU, as well as meetings held in Kinshasa in September 2006 with local officials, civil society and international diplomats have been used to develop recommendations and suggest possible avenues under each theme.

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This is a set of tools for companies concerned about improving their impact on host countries to begin thinking more creatively about understanding and minimising conflict risk, and actively contributing to peace. It consists of guidance on doing business in societies at risk of conflict for field managers working across a range of business activities, as well as headquarters staff in political risk, security, external relations and social performance departments. It provides information on understanding conflict risk through a series of practical documents.

Full English version

Foreword English

Introduction English

Operational Guidance Charts English

Screening Tool English

Flashpoint Issues English

Set up during 2006 with peacebuilding as its sole objective, the UN Peacebuilding Commission has the potential to use its intergovernmental voice to focus attention on the factors that could drive a renewal of conflict. In this light, Alert submitted recommendations in late 2006 on how the PBC could most effectively orientate its short and long-term support to the process of improving security and sustaining peace, for men and women, in Burundi. More widely, this publication also looks at the main challenges for the PBC and how it should focus its activities.

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