From 11-12 April 2011, ACCORD’s Knowledge Production Department (KPD), in partnership with Uppsala University, hosted an authors’ workshop entitled Peace Agreements and Durable Peace in Africa in Durban, South Africa. The workshop brought together 10 authors from around Africa who are contributing chapters to a book co-edited by Dr. Grace Maina, Manager: Knowledge Production Department, ACCORD, and Erik Melander, a Professor from the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University.
The workshop provided a platform for the commissioned authors to present, review and discuss the various country chapters. Discussions focused on why some peace agreements fail while others succeed. The role of actors involved in the mediation, negotiation and implementation of these peace agreements such as civil society, political leadership, spoilers, as well as regional and international organizations was raised and explored to widen the level of understanding of whether and how these actors contribute to durable peace in Africa.
The workshop raised fruitful discussions that provided the authors with valuable feedback on their respective first draft chapters and provides opportunities for further collaboration on the edited volume. “It was a pleasure for me to meet with the other authors of this book and the workshop was a very interesting moment for sharing ideas” commented one author, Professor Germain Ngoie from the University of Lubumbashi, DRC.
The edited volume, to be published in early 2012, will focus on the successes and failures of peace agreements in countries such as Angola, Burundi, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda. This joint initiative between ACCORD and Uppsala University will contribute to existing studies on successful and failed peace agreements and studies on durable peace in Africa. The book will also contribute towards ACCORD’s intervention activities on conflict resolution and management, particularly in the area of mediation.
