Reflections on International Humanitarian Interventions in Africa: A Symposium
21 to 23 September 2010 – Addis Ababa
Sponsored by USA for Africa
Twenty-five years have passed since the onset of a catastrophic famine across the SAHEL region of Africa. The 'eye of the storm' was Ethiopia. The news and footage of the devastation to human beings caused by the drought and famine spread across the planet. Mohammed Amin's iconic footage captured the suffering and epic character of the event and riveted people in every country to their television screens. The outpouring was massive. Celebrities and humanitarian agencies mobilised millions of dollars in assistance. Many travelled to witness directly and to try to ease suffering of what has been termed 'biblical proportions.'
Africa has experienced multiple, often uninvited, and increasingly aggressive and intensive interventions from the outside. Adventurers seeking to explore an unfamiliar "dark continent"; armies embarking on conquests and building empires; settlers looking for land and opportunities not readily available in their birthplaces; merchants and traders looking for natural resources and markets for their wares; missionaries spreading the word and converting the natives into their religions; and land grabs by foreign countries as they assure their food security needs.
Humanitarian and other forms of development aid can also be seen as external intervention albeit intended to ease suffering on the continent or to influence development trajectories. At times this form of intervention, though usually well intentioned, has unforeseen, even counter-productive and unfortunate consequences. All these interventions into Africa merit interrogation, analysis and reflection by the objects/subjects of the intervention, that is by Africans on the continent and those in the Diaspora.
Reflections on the past are indispensable in attempting to chart the future. USA for Africa was part of the intervention in 1985. Twenty-five years later, the time has come to have an informed conversation – a candid reflection- among African thinkers about what happened then and since. What was done to assist? How effective was the assistance? What went wrong or right in the process? In what ways did the intervention in 1985 shape future humanitarian efforts and create a space for interventions with various agendas? How should things have been done better or differently? And given all these and other important questions that will emerge in the conversations, "Quo Vadis " Africa?
The conversations and dialogue in this Symposium will be led by and among Africans with contributions from significant participants engaged in humanitarian initiatives in Africa. The ultimate objective is to stimulate dialogues amongst civil society, the private sector and the state on policy pertaining to humanitarian assistance as it affects economic, political, social and cultural development in Africa.
Objectives
The Symposium seeks to stimulate a discourse on international humanitarian interventions in Africa among thinkers, practitioners and activists on the continent and beyond. The Symposium creates an opportunity for dialogue and reflection on various key issues related to the impacts and implications of international interventions, namely:
- What have been the historical experiences, current realities and future possibilities of international humanitarian interventions?
- What do international organizations get from intervening?
- What are the influences that are subsumed in international humanitarian interventions?
- What has been the impact of international humanitarian interventions on local organizations, institutions and the state?
- What expectations do Africans have of international humanitarian interventions?
- What have local institutions derived from international humanitarian interventions?
- What has been the role of the Diaspora?
- What impact does the institutionalization of humanitarian interventions have on development in Africa?
Format
The Symposium will be held at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 21 to 23 September 2010. USA for Africa is responsible for sponsoring the meeting which includes mobilizing participants, providing the venue, handling logistics, and arranging accommodation for selected participants.
The Symposium will follow an open and interactive format in which all sessions will be moderated by facilitators. Broad and penetrating questions will be posed. Selected resource persons will offer their reflections and perspectives on those issues. These perspectives and reflections will be complemented by contributions from other participants.
Conference Organizers
Dr. Morley Nkosi, Development Specialist & former USA for Africa Advisor
Dr. Joanna Nkosi, Historian
Jalal Latif – ECA Staff and former USA for Africa Staff
Marcia Thomas, Executive Director USA for Africa
Ruth Maruru, Trust Africa
Dawit Zewde, Africa Humanitarian Action
Bilen Shimelis, Africa Humanitarian Action/Symposium Secretariat
Amira Ali, Symposium Local Coordinator
The official Report from the Symposium is available, download here
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