Capacity Building and Training for Peace Operations and Conflict Resolution in East Africa

Abstract

Conflicts in Africa bear certain unique characteristics predominantly embedded in their root causes, intensity, duration (often too long), escalation and their propensity to spill over to neighboring states. Although the recent creation of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) led to concerted efforts by African states to search for peace on the continent, the commitment of African people to mitigate their own conflicts is not a recent endeavour: the continent has been grappling with the issue since the beginning of the post-colonial period, yet positive results have persistently remained elusive. Capacity-building and training in conflict resolution can make an important contribution to the management of conflict in East Africa.