Is Conflict Management the Origin of Conflicts? 'Peacebuilding' and Natural Resource Protection in Casamance
Publisher: Cahiers D'études Africaines
Author(s): Alvar Jones Sánchez
Date: 2020
Topics: Conflict Causes, Governance, Peace and Security Operations
Countries: Senegal
The mobilization of trendy topics in the development sector such as peacebuilding, sustainable development and local governance is particularly attractive for donors. However, the combination of these themes in the projects presupposes gears of causes and effects that are very uncertain in practice. In a peacebuilding intervention in a locality of Ziguinchor (Senegal), the objectives of environmental protection and conflict management proved to be highly contradictory. The project, intended for natural resources management and conflicts mediation, brought violent clashes between the inhabitants of the village of Toubacouta. While the NGOs leading the project claimed to pursue the “promotion of dialogue, solidarity and reconstruction of the social bond,” the intervention has deeply exacerbated existing tensions.