Announcement of a new conferece

   
 


 
   
   
   
 
 


Post Conflict Peacebuilding in Africa: Assessing DDR Processes


Summary of Objectives/Content


The University of Alberta is organizing this post conflict peacebuilding conference in collaboration with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), in Accra, Ghana. The conference will bring together about 100 participants, 80% of whom will be from CIDA-funded countries. Participants will discuss, compare and assess demobilization, demilitarization, reintegration/rehabilitation (DDR) programmes that were introduced in six different African states following major violent conflicts. Those states are: Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. In three cases (Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone), the violence was ended through negotiated settlement (i.e. through the assistance of mediating third parties) and the DDR programmes were initiated primarily by external bodies. In the other three cases (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda) the civil wars were ended through military victory and the DDR programmes were essentially initiated and facilitated by victorious regimes. Comparisons and contrasts will be made across the two sets of cases to determine the successes and/or failures of DDR programmes carried out under different circumstances and at different stages in the DDR process and to draw out lessons that were learned. The overall purpose is to build capacity, through knowledge-sharing, of African participants involved in executing DDR processes and to use the conference findings to improve DDR processes in other post-conflict settings.

So far, there have been very little systematic, comparative cross-case evaluations of DDR processes. However, in cursory examinations of various DDR processes questions have been raised about the seeming ad hoc nature of some of the DDR programmes and the extent to which some vulnerable groups (particularly female ex-combatants, war affected girls, bush wives, bush babies, and the disabled) are being excluded from these programmes.

Specific programmatic goals of the conference are to: 1) document ways in which post-conflict states (both failed and failing) can improve their governance capacity and forestall any possibility of returning to a situation of violence; 2) enable community activists, practitioners, government representatives and academics to engage each other, share their observations, and build knowledge with the goal that this knowledge can be applied to improve DDR processes on the ground in affected countries and that the lessons learned can be applied to other theatres that are coming out of conflict; and 3) build an on-going network of individuals with specialization in DDR processes which can continue to share knowledge and build capacity in this issue area.

Of particular interest to the participants at this conference is the plight of children - especially girls and disabled - who have been exposed to violence. DDR programmes ought to play a role in ensuring that child soldiers are demobilized, stripped of their weapons and reintegrated into their communities. Some of the normative and practical goals of these programmes should be to bridge the gender gap, improve health and educational systems, address the issue of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and other sexually transmitted diseases, provide life-skills training, and promote job creation and entrepreneurship. The conference in Ghana will examine the extent to which these goals and sub-goals have been achieved in the six country cases.

One of the findings of recent research has been the importance attached to successful DDR processes as a condition for building lasting peace in post-conflict countries. It is becoming increasingly evident, as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan noted in his 2001 report on Prevention of Armed Conflict, that successful implementation of DDR processes is exceedingly vital for ensuring sustainable peace. [UN Doc. A/55/985-S/2001/574 (7 June 2001)] DDR processes and programmes also have the potential of contributing to sustainable development in post conflict countries. Participants in the proposed conference will thus be asked to keep first and foremost in mind ways in which DDR processes and programmes do and can contribute to those twin goals of sustainable peace and sustainable development.

Nature of the Event

This conference will be an exercise in applied research, building on preliminary studies on DDR processes such as the International Peace Academy/United Nations Development Programme workshop on "A Framework for Lasting Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration of Former Combatants in Crisis Situations" that was held on 12-13 December 2002 at German House in New York. However, this conference is a stand-alone project and will not be a recurring event.

Conference Format and Programme

The two-day conference will be broken down into two distinct sessions. On the first day the focus will be on keynote addresses and plenary presentations involving the six country cases with the morning devoted to description, analysis and assessment of DDR processes in Liberia, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone, while the afternoon will deal with those processes in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda. This first day plenary session will frame the issues and provide space for broad discussions of the successes and failures of DDR programmes. During the morning of the second day, participants will be divided into two working groups (or breakout sessions) as follows: 1) disarmament and demobilization; 2) reintegration and rehabilitation. Rapporteurs for each group will produce a report highlighting the challenges faced at each stage of the DDR process and identifying those strategies that were successful as well as those that failed. A final wrap-up plenary will allow the rapporteurs to present the outlines of their reports, synthesize outcomes, while taking into consideration criticisms and additional comments from participants.

Specific Needs/Problems/Issues to be Addressed

During the breakout sessions of knowledge sharing, we hope to address the following clusters of questions:

DDR Stages
  • What lessons can be learned about the ways in which disarmament, demobilization and reintegration/rehabilitation (DDR) programmes are implemented in post conflict situations? Is the design of DDR programmes dependent on the nature and character of the conflict (including its causes, duration, and the way in which it ended) from which actors have emerged? If conflicts are sui generis, is it even possible to develop blueprints for DDR processes?
  • Are there any examples in which DDR programmes were planned before the conflict had ceased? To what extent is peace and security a prerequisite for the implementation of DDR programmes?
  • Are DDR processes part of a broader strategy for national recovery and re-construction? To what extent is there an explicit link between DDR programmes and sustainable peacebuilding strategies?
  • Are the three steps in the DDR process necessarily sequential? Should the DDR process be conceptualized as a 'continuum' such that rehabilitation naturally follows demobilization and disarmament? Or can these phases be done simultaneously?
  • While the disarmament and demobilization stages are generally part of peacekeeping mandates, why is the reintegration/rehabilitation stage in the DDR process not included under such mandates?
  • How is the disarmament phase of DDR conducted? What incentives are used to encourage ex-combatants to give up their weapons? What are the problems/challenges associated with these schemes?
  • Are demobilization camps being used by armed groups or government forces as recruitment centres?
  • To what extent do reintegration/rehabilitation programs support both immediate and longer-term social and economic inclusion of ex-combatants (particularly child soldiers) into their communities of origin or into new communities? What are the problems inherent in doing so?
  • How can the DDR processes contribute to stimulating viable economic growth and development in post conflict countries? To what extent do they facilitate the establishment of much needed income-generating projects and educational and vocational training programmes?
  • What is being done through the reintegration phase of the DDR process to reconnect children with family members, particularly if members of their immediate family have been killed or have gone missing?
  • What are the problem/challenges associated with reintegrating and rehabilitating ex-combatants who have committed atrocities during the conflict? How willing are communities to accept such individuals back into their midst? To what extent, and how, does the DDR process assist in preparing communities for the re-integration of refugees, displaced persons and ex-combatants into their societies?
DDR Actors
  • Which bodies have been responsible for initiating and administering the various stages in the DDR process? Who are the players (national/local government authorities, community groups, regional organizations, international and multilateral institutions, financial bodies, multilateral/bilateral donors, ex-combatants, advocates for girls/women and disabled)?
  • What has been the role of the UN, the World Bank, and civil society organizations in the DDR process? What has been the role of local actors, including governments, rebel factions, community activists, etc.?
  • Do the programmes and activities of these various actors complement or conflict with each other? What process is used to ensure coordination of DDR programmes?
  • Who controls the DDR process? Is national/local ownership of the process vital for its success? Or, do governments who control the DDR process use it to consolidate their power and position vis-a-vis other national factions in a way that is detrimental to democracy (e.g. discrediting opposition groups, buying electoral support, favouring particular clans or ethnic groups within the society)?
  • Do corrupt leaders hijack the DDR process to further their own personal and/or political goals?
The Privileged, Excluded and Marginalized in the DDR process
  • Are ex-combatants given a privileged position in the DDR process over other war-affected individuals who may not have taken up arms? To what extent has this caused friction and resentment in post-conflict societies?
  • Are DDR programmes geared to re-train ex-combatants, refugees and IDPs for meaningful employment? Or do some of these programmes result in the creation of large pools of unemployed and/or underemployed?
  • Is there a difference in the way those who have committed atrocities are treated in the DDR process?
  • Is there is difference in the way war-affected girls are treated in DDR processes, and why? Are girls and women discriminated against in the DDR process? Why are girls (bush wives) and their dependents (bush babies) being excluded from DDR processes?
  • What can be done to make sure that girls/women do not fall through the cracks of the DDR process? What is being done to ensure that DDR programmes are geared to helping girls/women who do not 'fit' the usual stereotype of combatants (e.g. cooks, sex slaves, concubines of rebels)? How is gender incorporated into the national recovery plan of the DDR process? What skills-training is being offered to women and girls during the DDR process? Do training programmes provide for childcare?
  • Can female ex-combatants take advantage of DDR assistance packages in a way that protects their privacy and identity?
  • Is there an opportunity for network building among women and girls as they go through the reintegration/rehabilitation stage of the DDR process?
  • What provisions, if any, are made for rape counseling or for screening individuals who may have been exposed to the HIV/AIDS virus or any other sexually-transmitted disease?
  • What is being done to help the disabled and sick through DDR processes? What are the challenges in dealing with war-affected children who contract HIV/AIDS during the period of conflict?
  • What policies, practices and programs are designed to assist ex-child and female soldiers and disabled children in become productive members of the post-conflict society?
  • To what extent are DDR programmes designed to address issues such as shame, prejudice, unwanted pregnancies, bush babies, etc.? Do reinsertion/reintegration packages provide payment that takes into account the dependents of female ex-combatants?

The conference in Ghana will provide an important opportunity for knowledge-sharing and capacity-building. It will allow participants to share their assessment of DDR processes with others who have observed or are observing DDR processes in Liberia, Eritrea, Mozambique, Haiti, Southern Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, the DRC, Guinea-Bissau, Afghanistan, and possibly Iraq. One of our specific concerns in assessing and evaluating DDR processes is to try to understand why girls/women and disabled ex-combatants are being left out of many of these processes and to recommend what can be done to ensure that they do not fall between the cracks in those situations.