The role of non state actors in conflict management in Africa: case of 2007-2008 post election violence in Kenya
Abstract
Human security has recently emerged as an innovative approach which has afforded the global village to address, in a holistic manner, the sources of insecurity affecting people worldwide. The security of the individual is no longer defined exclusively within the realm of states or of state security. The origins of today‟s insecurities are diverse, relating to social, economic, environmental, health and other factors. Non-State actors are particularly well suited to engendering human security in the new world context. When the post-election violence broke out on the 30th December 2007 soon after the announcement of the Presidential election results by the Electoral Commission of Kenya, the Government of Kenya made a furious single handed attempt at containing the situation by the use of armed security personnel without success. The violence resulted in more than 1,000 deaths and approximately 600,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).It took the involvement of the United Nations and the African Union to broker peace. This study set to: establish the role played by non-State actors in conflict management during 2007/2008 post-election violence in Kenya; analyze challenges faced by Civil Societies in Kenya; and make recommendations on various ways in which the government can incorporate the civil society in key government decisions for faster peaceful conflict resolution in the future. The study has identified key causes of 2007/2008 post-election violence. These include, but not limited to: impunity, weak accountability in governance; corruption; politicized ethnicity; inequitable resource distribution; poverty and marginalisation; imperial presidency. However, the local non-State actors who were involved at the initial stages of dispute resolution were ideologically divided whether to pursue peace as an end in itself or whether to pursue sustainable peace through the search for truth, justice and accountability
Publisher
University of Nairobi