Scarcity and Surfeit: The Ecology of Africa's conflict

This book is a product of international and regional co-operation. Many scholars, government officials, non-governmental agencies and programme officers from various donor agencies have contributed to its conception and development. It forms part of the growing efforts of the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) and the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) to explore and promote understanding of the complex dimensions and causes of political conflict in Africa. ACTS is an international inter-governmental policy research and training organization local in Nairobi, Kenya. The Centre's activities focus on the implementation of Agenda 21 and related conventions on biological diversity, climate change and desertification. The ISS is a regional applied policy research institute with offices in Pretoria and Cope Town with a mission to conceptualise, inform and enhance the security debate in Africa. The Institute undertakes research analysis;supports policy formulation;awareness-raising;collecting interpreting and disseminating information on national, regional and international levels;and capacity building. The publishers would like to thank Jeremy Lind and Raymond Kitevu for taking the overall lead in this study, the country study researchers for their tireless efforts in gathering information and Adronico Aduogo Adele for compiling and editing the reports. We would also like to recognize the invaluable inputs of several staff members at the ACTS, particularly John Mugabe, the former Executive Director, Patricia Kameri-Mbote, the Director for the Policy Research and Outreach, and Elving Nyukuri who patiently worked on this project as an assistant to the researchers. At the ISS we would like to thank senior researchers Richards Cornwell and Joao Gomes Porto of the African Security Analysis Programme. Kathryn Sturman, senior researcher at the Institute, was responsible for the editing of the various chapters into a single coherent volume. Thanks also to ISS publications manager Andre Snyders and librarian Mmadishipi Seageng. Different chapters contained in this volume were first discussed as a draft at a consultative session and regional conference on "the Ecological Source of Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa" in March 2002. We thank all those who participated in that conference for their very useful intellectual contributions. Their ideas have been "guide posts" in the long process of editing this volume. Given the fluidity of events in the Great Lakes and Greater Horn regions, it is important to note that most of the work for this book was completed in 2001, although it has been updated where appropriate.