The State of Africa

Post-conflict reconstruction is not a new phenomenon but can be linked to the Marshall Plan after the Second World War. Reconstruction efforts in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, have seen a revival of the concept in the early 21st century. In Africa, post-conflict reconstruction has become more prominent as a result of the peace processes in the DRC, Sudan, Burundi and the Comoros. As a result, the African Union and NEPAD have formulated policy frameworks to deal with post conflict reconstruction and development. As part of the UN's reform, its new Peacebuilding Commission is another institution which takes responsibility for post-conflict reconstruction. This publication focuses on a number of themes including, gender and post-conflict reconstruction, the transformation of war economies into peace economies, elections in Africa in the context of post conflict reconstruction, constitutional negotiations and power-sharing arrangements, and the predicament of ethnic identities in the DRC. The NEPAD framework is also analysed in detail. All of these themes serve as indicators for Africa of the lessons to be learnt from the post-conflict reconstruction processes already in progress.