Attachments
Editorial
This edition of ACCORD’s Conflict Trends begins with an article by Abraham Ename Minko about one of the emerging challenges in Africa, which is cyber security. This article discusses how cyber conflicts such as cyber espionage and surveillance can affect various aspects of life in Africa. As discussed in the article, cyber activity, such as the spreading of misinformation and disinformation, can affect the outcome of elections, while cyber-attacks on banking infrastructure can affect economies. African countries thus need to develop strategies to confront these threats at the national, regional and continental levels.
The second article focuses on South Africa’s new government of national unity that was formed following the national and provincial elections that took place earlier in 2024. Nthabiseng Gratitude Khoza and Mahlatse Ragolane discuss the formation of the government of national unity by political parties with a variety of political ideologies. Their article further discusses the role that governments of national unity play in peacebuilding and political stability. Coalition governments, and in South Africa’s case, a government of national unity, underscores the importance of political compromise and the need for political parties to work together for the good of the country.
The third article, by Tosin Osasona, is about the use of sexual violence by bandits in northwest Nigeria. Banditry remains an issue in northwest Nigeria, driving internal displacements and disrupting access to services such as education. In addition, women and girls, especially those in rural areas, are subjected to abductions and sexual violence, which bandits use as a weapon against communities to extract compliance, while also forcing women and girls into marriages. The article discusses these aspects of sexual violence, while also contextualising it in international humanitarian law and the protections that it might afford to survivors of sexual violence.
The next article discusses the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF). Nufaisa Garba Ahmed looks at the evolution of the MNJTF and its mandate to secure the LCB and the need for the Lake Chad countries to co-operate in order to confront the challenges that groups such as Boko Haram pose to the region. The article also goes on to discuss the impact of the MNJTF on stabilising the LCB as well as its effectiveness in downgrading the threat of Boko Haram.
The security challenges in the LCB feed into the broader challenges that the Sahel region faces, and the next article from Kellian Mbianda is about political transitions and democratic challenges that the central Sahel region faces. Recently, many countries in the Sahel have faced the challenges of coups d’état and the subsequent political transitions. This article looks at the factors that lead to coups in the central Sahel and how failures in democracy have left the populations of these countries disillusioned with the concept of democracy.
Our final article in this edition is on Eswatini. Sizwebanzi Mngomezulu writes about the events that took place in the Kingdom in 2021 and how the death of a student in police custody led to some of the most widespread unrest in Eswatini in modern times. The article further evaluates the response of the government to citizens’ calls for the right to elect the prime minister and other democratic reforms. Finally, the article ends with recommendations on how the challenges in Eswatini might be resolve