The role of African regional and sub-regional organisations in conflict prevention and resolution

This paper identifies the main regional and sub-regional organisations involved in conflict management, highlighting the mechanisms they have in place for the prevention and resolution of conflicts, while specifically looking at how these organisations have responded to conflicts during the Cold War. The linkage between regional organisations and the UN and its agencies in the management of African conflicts is discussed. The role of the African regional and sub-regional organisations in ameliorating the plights of the refugees and IDPs is the focus of attention in the paper, while the concluding section looks at how these organisations can be more effective in preventing and resolving conflicts in the new millennium.