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The document examines mine action in Southern Africa, focusing on the transition from emergency de-mining to sustainable development. It highlights the role of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Ottawa Convention, while providing detailed case studies on Mozambique's impact surveys and Angola's operational challenges. The report argues that mine action should be treated as a core development activity rather than a stand-alone technical task, recommending better coordination, national capacity-building, and the use of socio-economic impact surveys to prioritize resources.

The document outlines the causes and consequences of global climate change, highlighting the role of greenhouse gas emissions and the influence of the fossil fuel lobby. It categorizes career paths for scientists and engineers into four areas of positive contribution: understanding the problem, technological solutions, economic solutions, and social/political solutions, while warning against the influence of vested interests.

The author argues that while the end of the Cold War initially saw a rise in local conflicts, the overall trend is moving toward a more peaceful world. This optimism is grounded in the observed decline in the number of armed conflicts since the late 1990s and the positive influence of global trends such as poverty reduction, democratization, and the rise of international military interventions for conflict settlement. The analysis highlights that internal conflicts (civil wars) are the dominant form of violence and are most strongly linked to poverty, though the author distinguishes between 'greed' and 'grievance' motivations. The document also notes that while ethnic polarization and resource scarcity are often cited as causes of war, systematic evidence is often ambiguous or secondary to broader economic and political factors.

The document examines the polarized debate over GM foods in Africa, specifically focusing on the 2002 food crisis in Southern Africa. It argues that while GM technology offers potential gains, it cannot solve food security on its own because hunger is driven by complex economic, social, and political factors rather than just production. The author highlights the risks of multinational control over seeds, potential loss of biodiversity, and the danger of 'techno-fix' approaches that ignore traditional, drought-resistant crops. The report calls for SADC to harmonize biosafety regulations and for African nations to lead the debate to ensure biotechnology serves local needs rather than external commercial interests.

The author examines whether democratic decentralization reduces poverty and inequality, arguing that while it can address regional disparities, it often fails to reduce intra-regional inequality due to elite capture. The paper identifies seven conditions—such as pro-poor ruling parties, political competition for poor voters, and the presence of pro-poor civil society coalitions—that can enable marginalized groups to gain from decentralized governance. Additionally, the author notes specific challenges in the environmental sector, particularly forestry, where bureaucratic cultures of policing hinder the transition to participatory management.

The document analyzes the 2002 elections in Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Zambia, contrasting Lesotho's successful consensus-based approach with the constitutional and legal instability seen in Zimbabwe and Zambia. It highlights systemic issues in Zimbabwe, including a 'constitutional vacuum', flawed voter registration, and state-sponsored violence, while noting that Zambia faced challenges with media control and restrictive registration processes. The author argues that while citizens in these nations show a strong belief in multiparty democracy, the lack of harmonization between national laws and SADC Norms and Standards for conducting elections remains a significant barrier to governance.

The proceedings detail the challenges faced by Eastern and Southern African nations in establishing biosafety regulatory frameworks. It emphasizes the critical gaps in human resources, laboratory infrastructure, and public awareness across knowledge-generating institutions, government bodies, and civil society. The report argues for a regional, resource-sharing approach to risk assessment and data validation to overcome the financial and technical limitations of individual countries.

The paper argues that while South Africa had significant opportunities for a 'peace dividend' following the end of apartheid and the Cold War, defence conversion has remained a neglected and uncoordinated process. It analyzes three main areas: the diversification of the defence industry, the demobilisation and rationalisation of military personnel, and the conversion of redundant military bases. The author concludes that the process has been hindered by a lack of overarching policy, institutional capacity, and the recent R43 billion arms procurement package, which has diminished the urgency for conversion.

The document examines the restructuring of South Africa's electricity sector, focusing on the transition from an Eskom-dominated monopoly to a more competitive market. It analyzes the urgent need for reform in the electricity distribution industry (EDI) due to financial crises and inefficiencies, and the proposed shift toward regional electricity distributors (REDs). In the electricity supply industry (ESI), it explores models for introducing wholesale competition and the corporatization of Eskom. A central theme is the 'public benefits imperative,' assessing how goals like rural electrification, black economic empowerment, and energy efficiency are being balanced against economic efficiency and privatization. The study notes that while some social goals are high on the agenda, environmental benefits and demand-side management have seen less traction, often sidelined by immediate financial survival or used as strategic tools to delay reform.

The report finds that Sida's support for Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) has been fragmented and ad hoc, heavily prioritizing mine clearance (85% of funding) over other essential components like impact assessment and survey. While Sida has been a major global donor, its funding trended downward after 1998. The evaluation highlights a 'quiet revolution' in HMA, shifting from output-based measures (mines removed) to impact-based measures (societal effect), and argues that Sida must institutionalize impact assessment to ensure sustainable, development-oriented assistance. It analyzes various implementation channels, noting that NGOs are flexible and innovative but struggle with long-term sustainability, while government/military channels offer better sustainability but may lack humanitarian sensitivity. The report also critiques Sida's R&D and technical initiatives, such as the Mine Detection Dog project in Cambodia, for failing to base needs on local stakeholders and lacking sustainability.

The report critiques the traditional focus of Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) on technical metrics—such as the number of mines removed—and advocates for a shift toward socio-economic impact assessments. Using case studies from Mozambique, the authors argue that the physical removal of mines is often insufficient to trigger positive change unless operators understand local dynamics and foster community trust. The report proposes a 'transformative reconstruction' approach where HMA is integrated into broader development goals, emphasizing that impact is maximized through strong agency-community relationships and a continuous cycle of socio-economic analysis from project planning through long-term follow-up.

Operation Rachel was a bilateral security initiative between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) designed to destroy surplus weapons from previous conflicts. Between 1995 and 1999, four distinct operations (Rachel I-IV) were conducted, resulting in the destruction of 11,891 firearms and over 3 million rounds of ammunition. The operations were intelligence-driven and utilized an unorthodox approach of rewarding informers and granting undeclared amnesty to avoid politicizing the recovery of caches. While successful in building trust between two historically hostile security apparatuses, the operations faced challenges including high costs, language barriers, and fluctuating political stability in Mozambique. The report concludes that while the operations reduced the immediate supply of illegal arms smuggled into South Africa, long-term success requires addressing the socio-economic drivers of violence and integrating bilateral efforts into broader regional frameworks like SADC and SARPCCO.

The document provides a comparative analysis of child involvement in conflict in Mozambique and South Africa. In Mozambique, it details the devastating effects of a 16-year war of destabilisation and the subsequent use of government, NGO, and traditional community rituals to reintegrate child ex-soldiers. In South Africa, it explores the role of children as 'proxy soldiers' and activists during the struggle against apartheid from 1976 to 1994, highlighting the psychological damage of state repression and the challenges of resocialisation in a post-apartheid society.

The document examines the motivations and activities of US government agencies and private organisations in promoting stability in Africa. It argues that while the US has a profound humanitarian impulse and a stated interest in regional stability, its policy is primarily reactive and lacks a coherent, long-term strategy. The report details the roles of the Department of State, Department of Defense, and USAID, alongside the influence of the US Congress and various NGOs. Key initiatives of the Clinton era are analysed, including the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act, while providing strategic advice to African leaders on how to effectively engage with the fragmented US policy apparatus.

The paper examines the fragile peace process in Angola following the 1994 Lusaka Protocol, arguing that UNITA's leadership, particularly Jonas Savimbi, has consistently procrastinated on disarmament while maintaining military capabilities through illicit arms networks. It details the complex international supply chains providing weapons to UNITA and analyzes the strategic positions of both the MPLA-led government and UNITA. The author concludes that while a military offensive by the government is possible, it may not end the conflict due to UNITA's deep-rooted guerrilla infrastructure and the region's fluid political instability.

The document outlines the Towards Collaborative Peace (TCP) project, which examines how the proliferation of small arms and light weapons fuels a 'culture of violence' and undermines democratization in Southern Africa. The project employs a south-south comparative framework, contrasting trends in Southern Africa with those in South American Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay). Through field research and a series of publications, the TCP project aims to identify the dynamics of illegal weapons flows and develop regional control mechanisms and local educational packages to mitigate violence.

The report examines voluntary weapons collection programmes (VWCPs), including amnesties, buy-backs, and exchange programmes, as tools for reducing small arms proliferation. It analyzes the debate over their efficacy, noting that while they may not significantly reduce overall gun violence, they serve as 'soft social controls' and community-building tools. Case studies from Southern Africa, Central America, Australia, and the United States illustrate diverse approaches to incentives and implementation. The document concludes that VWCPs are most effective when integrated into broader, multi-faceted strategies involving education and legislative reform.

This monograph examines the transition from traditional military-focused national security to 'new security thinking,' which prioritises human security and incorporates political, economic, social, and environmental dimensions. It argues that security in Africa must be reconceptualised through gender-sensitive lenses and an integrated approach to development, while addressing the practical challenges of institutionalising these concepts within regional bodies like SADC.

The report argues that there is no legitimate African cultural tradition that justifies the use of children in armed conflict, noting that traditional age-set systems typically recruited relatively mature men. It examines the limitations of existing international humanitarian and human rights laws, such as the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in preventing child recruitment. The author concludes that the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) is the most effective way to ensure individual criminal accountability for those who conscript or enlist children.

The document analyzes the shift from security-focused disarmament forums, such as the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), toward the humanitarian-led Ottawa Process. It details the progression of meetings from Ottawa in 1996 through Brussels and Oslo in 1997, culminating in a treaty for a total ban on anti-personnel landmines (APMs). The paper highlights the role of smaller states and NGOs, the specific challenges posed by US security exemptions, and the acute impact of landmines in Africa.