African Union and the Management of Conflict in Africa

Abstract

Conflicts constitute one of the greatest challenges currently facing African continent. Africa is a continent afflicted by social, economic and political woes which manifest in hunger, disease, high infant mortality rate, short life span, corruption, technological slow motion, poor infrastructure, mass poverty etc. this situation has been compounded by insurrections, civil wars, ethnic, religious and communal violence in almost all the socio-economic formations in the continent. The Integration Theory has been adopted as the framework of analysis. The integration theory according to Weiner (1971) enhances understanding of how unity is created from formerly disparate groups by promoting what is common and communally advantageous to them, while de-emphasizing their area of difference. The paper opined that consequence of failure in the management or resolution of conflicts is usually severe, devastating and sometimes unimaginable. Africa as a continent has suffered so much in this respect, not only because of the loss of millions of innocent lives and the destruction of valuable assets and property but also in terms of the economic, social and political emasculation of the continent, associated with various tales of “arrested development”  Thus, the need for the African Union in collaboration with other sub-regional blocs to work harmoniously in forestalling and de-escalating the spread of new wave of conflict in the African Continent.