The Compendium of Key Documents Relating to Peace and Security in Africa is part of the evolving Series on Peace and Security in Africa published by the Africa Programme of the United Nations-affiliated University for Peace (UPEACE). The objective of the Compendium is to make available the main documents on, and act as a reference for, issues relating to peace and security in Africa. It will be of use to practitioners, academics and policy makers in the field of conflict prevention, transformation and resolution. It contains key documents on peace and security in Africa covering the period between 1963 and 2005.
Reflecting the historical evolution of the peace and security agenda in Africa, is organised into five sections:
- Section one comprises documents generated between the launching of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 and the collapse of the Berlin Wall, associated with the end of the Cold War era, in 1989.
- Section two looks at the transitional period on the continent – characterised by an upsurge of conflicts and wars – that some analysts have described as the pangs of rebirth or the wave of the second liberation, identified with the expansion of democratic space.
- Section three turns to the new African vision embodied in the spirit of African Renaissance, the creation of NEPAD and the transformation of the OAU into the African Union (AU).
- Section four focuses on Africa’s regional economic communities (RECs), conceived as the building blocks of the African peace and security agenda.
- Finally, section five lays out key documents resulting from various international partnerships, such as Africa’s relationship with the United Nations, the European Union and the Group of major industrialised nations (G8), among others.
Each of these sections begins with an introduction that contextualises the documents and events of the period. The basic documents are reproduced but, in most cases, only relevant sections have been extracted. In addition, website citations have been provided where further references and texts can be found, especially decisions of the various African peace and security organs.
This Compendium can be used on its own but also in conjunction with the forthcoming Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution in Africa: A Reader. This publication has been developed by UPEACE as a package of study material in courses dealing with conflict and peace in Africa. The Reader contains reprints and extracts of seminal writings on the topic, and as such complements the texts in the Compendium of Key Human Rights Documents of the African Union, which has already been published by UPEACE.
The Compendium is a joint publication of the United Nations-affiliated University for Peace (www.upeace.org) and the Peace and Security Programme at SaferAfrica (www.saferafrica.org).