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Analysis: In Africa, Hunting for Elusive Peace

Council on Foreign Relations

July 27, 2007
Prepared by: Stephanie Hanson

Cote d’Ivoire plans to light a symbolic “flame of peace” this month in Bouake, its second-largest city. Fueling the flame will be weapons used in the country’s civil war (Mail & Guardian). Meant to embody the nation’s reunification, the ceremony instead emphasizes the fragile nature of peace in Cote d’Ivoire. The event already has been delayed once by a June assassination attempt on the prime minister, former rebel leader Guillaume Soro (Economist).

A failed 2002 coup (AlertNet) divided Cote d’Ivoire between north and south and sparked a rebellion against the government. The March peace deal between Soro and President Laurent Gbagbo follows a series of failed efforts led by international mediators. The new deal sets an aggressive timetable for disarming rebels and organizing elections. Many see signs of hope in the deal’s “homegrown” nature, but an International Crisis Group report calls it “more a deal between two sides looking for an escape route that protects their own interests than a compromise which guarantees lasting peace.”

Still, the peace agreement in Cote d'Ivoire stands in contrast to a number of troubled peace efforts in Africa. Internally resolving conflicts in Darfur and Somalia appears implausible, but international brokers are stymied. Current mediation efforts have become fractured, unlike successful international initiatives that brought peace to Sierra Leone and Southern Sudan. While the United Nations moves forward with a draft resolution authorizing a hybrid peacekeeping force (AP) in Darfur, several regional actors are pursuing competing agendas for peace negotiations.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.