Scarcity and surfeit : the ecology of Africa's conflicts

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 for Security Studies (ISS) to
explore and promote understanding of the complex dimensions and causes of
political conflicts in Africa.
ACTS is an international inter-governmental policy research and training
organization located 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 Cape Town with a mission to conceptualise, inform and enhance the secu-
rity debate in Africa. The Institute undertakes research and analysis; supports
policy formulation; awareness-raising; collecting, interpreting and disseminat-
ing 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 tire-
less efforts in gathering information and Adronico Aduogo Adede 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 Policy Research and
Outreach, and Elvin Nyukuri who patiently worked on this project as an assis-
tant to the researchers.
At the ISS we would like to thank senior researchers Richard Cornwell and
Jo2o 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 pub-
lications manager Andre Snyders and librarian Mmaditshipi Seageng.
Different chapters contained in this volume were first discussed as a draft at
a Consultative Session and Regional Conference on 'the Ecological Sources of
Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa' in March 2002. We thank all those who partic-
ipated 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.