Dealing with the past: The youth and post-war recovery in southern Sudan

Abstract

The role of young people in times of conflict and their potential within postconflict recovery are phenomenal. If efforts are not made to reintegrate the youth and access their potential in Southern Sudan, post-conflict recovery will have limited success. Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programmes are the primary instruments that external actors can apply to induce spoilers of peace into the peace process or to reduce their threat to microlevel dynamism and to promote creative life strategies of war-affected individuals who are primary stake-holders in the nation-building process. By providing for the educational, vocational and other social needs of young ex-combatants and enabling them to gain skills and competences that facilitate their economic and social integration, the youths may be brought to a point where they find the alternative of returning to combat unattractive. In meeting the needs of the youths, it is important not to homogenise them as either security threats or passive victims needing special sympathy, but as complex and heterogeneous 30Shastry Njeru 30 individuals with multiple skills, aspirations and limitations of their own.Effective DDR programming must factor in the wartime history of individuals.Dealing with the past strategies in southern Sudan should acknowledge and build on the youths' potential as the starting point.

The Role of the Youth in Peace-Building Between the Maasai Community and the in-Migrant Communities in Kajiado North Sub-County

“…Conflict is implied directly because it is the driving force behind the need for building peace and it is implied indirectly because it is anticipated; due to indicators that conflict is in the offing. Njeru (2010) concurs that, the role of young people in times of conflict and their potential within post-conflict recovery are phenomenal.…”

“…Even though, age distinction has been mostly considered as prevailing approach in defining youth, the author suggests that social status and life situations should not be neglected as playing a role in the definition. Njeru (2010) study discusses the delicate place of youth in Southern Sudan and argues that war and peace benefit from the youth in many ways because in peacetime the youth provide the reservoir of any country's energy to grapple with its present circumstances and future challenges and on the other hand, in times of conflicts, the youth provide the personnel for fighting. i Apart from the forceful conscription into conflicts, the young people are also forced by circumstances emanating from the government's failure to create enabling environments for empowerment of the young people.…”

“…i Apart from the forceful conscription into conflicts, the young people are also forced by circumstances emanating from the government's failure to create enabling environments for empowerment of the young people. Njeru (2010) notes that Africa has excess youths without access to schooling or gainful employment, ready to heed the call to bear arms for spurious ideological or ethnic reasons. Such youths are easily off-loaded on any viable militia or government for use in violence.…”

“We Have Been Sensitized”: Ex‐Combatants, Marginalization, and Youth in Postwar Sierra Leone

“…The literature on postwar reintegration in Africa highlights the link between security and the success of combatant reintegration programs (see Kingma 1997:151; Metsola 2006:1120; Njeru 2010:29; Schafer 1998:207; Utas 2005:144), namely that reintegration failures can lead frustrated ex‐combatants to threaten renewed violence. The National Commission on Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (NCDDR) took the threat seriously and designed sensitization to reassure civilians that ex‐combatants were “normal” and should not be treated as criminals.…”

Enhancing youth's attitudes towards microcredit in the bottom of the pyramid markets

“…Among others, unemployment is a major challenge experienced by youth in war‐affected countries during and after war (Achio and Specht, ). Consequently, a sizeable portion of the youth in these countries often practise anti‐social behaviours, such as stealing, smuggling, homicide and abduction (Verdeli et al ., ; Njeru, ; Peters, ).…”