‘Burundi in 2003: highlights of a ‘thorny’ road to peace?’ gives a preview of the year 2003 and highlights some of the key attempts undertaken to move to a situation in which peace and stability are not only obtained but sustained. ‘The Machakos Protocol and prospects for peace in Sudan’ shows that in Sudan, the conflict hinges around two competing cultural outlooks: a dominant Arab-Islamic identity in the north; which offers an Arab Islamic model as a solution to the national question, and a dominant African cultural identity in the south, which offers a secular democratic model. ‘The emerging role of sub-regional organisations’ looks at realising the noble objectives of NEPAD. However, let the various sub-regions of Africa rise to the challenges of our time, especially in the field of peace and security. ‘Conflict diamonds and the African ‘resource curse’ states that civil wars have provided many opportunities for political leaders in Africa to take advantage of the prevailing instability and plunder valuable natural resources. The continent’s vast mineral wealth, especially diamonds and oil, has hence been its curse – prolonging, amongst others, the continent’s most vicious wars, in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan. ‘The role of MONUC in the DRC’s peace process’ discusses the role of the United Nations in support of the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by addressing four broad questions; why is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) important?; will the Transition succeed?; what is the role of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC)? And, what is MONUC’s concept of operations? Please note that the cover page and table of contents is missing.
