Peace dawns in Africa

But, as the 10th anniversary of the massacres in Rwanda approaches, observers are beginning to see signs of hope for peace in Africa.

Countries whose boundaries were defined by colonial powers rather than their own peoples have been ravaged by decades of seemingly intractable cross-border conflicts and civil war.

But according to Alex Vines, director of the Africa Programme of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, countries such as Mozambique, which has increasingly warm relations with neighbouring South Africa, and Kenya and Angola are now becoming havens for peace on the continent.

Vines said: "We have seen peaceful transitions of power in a number of countries. There are many countries that have successfully managed to end long-standing conflicts.

"Africa is a big and diverse continent, but there are signs of change, signs that it is not all bad news. There have been a number of examples of peaceful conflict resolution in places that have been hot spots for decades.

"Mozambique has had stable and fair elections since 1992 and the country remains stable. This year is a record year for free elections in Africa, and in recent years there have been free elections in Kenya and Angola."

Advances in commerce and communication technology, such as the mobile phone, have helped bring peace and stability to war-ravaged areas, he told a conference on Africa last week at the institute’s headquarters at Chatham House in London.

Vines added: "Part of the reason for this is the revival of commercial interests in these countries. Many are still concerned with producing primary commodities such as precious stones and oil, but there is movement in the right direction.

"There is also a growing freedom of expression, pluralism and a free press which is much wider than it was a few years ago.

Technological advances such as the internet have helped with freedom of expression and the mobile phone has helped reduce electoral fraud by making it easier to find out what is happening on the ground during elections, Vines said.

"While you can’t say all of Africa will be at peace, there is a growing optimism by some observers that more peaceful conflict resolution is possible."

It is this growth of a civil society - institutions such as education, commerce, unions and membership organisations that "wrap around" government - that is seen as a key factor by many.

The UN Civil Society panel is due to publish a wide-ranging report next month on the value of such institutions.

Kate Smith, a fellow at the Yale University Genocide Studies Programme, who is writing a book called End of Genocide?, said: "There is a growing belief in Africa that economic growth can bring civil society and as a result political stability." However she warned there was "no cheap, quick fix" and that resolving age-old conflicts would take time.

"There is an arrogance about the West’s dealings with Africa, the idea that democracy is best," Smith said.

"Democracy should not be an end in itself and nation building needs to grow civil society first.

"The lessons of Russia’s rapid democratisation in the 1990s must not be forgotten, the economy and society could not cope with quick, forced change. Putting in an army and a police force without allowing ethnic groups representation only sows the seeds of destruction.

"At the moment the international community is nation-building in its own image and it is very paternalistic. They need people in those countries to listen to the unique needs of each country."

And Smith warned: "I think there is another genocide waiting in the wings, probably in Africa. However, where civil society can grow I am optimistic those countries can avoid genocide."

In an example of how international differences can be tempered by greater co-operation, former enemies Mozambique and South Africa plan to merge the Limpopo National Park and Kruger National Park across the border along with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe to eventually create the world’s largest wildlife conservation area.

The joint project will see land mines cleared, infrastructure to be built and 6,000 people resettled. In coming years, officials say, border fences will disappear from the 23,000-square-mile area, opening up new swathes of land for animals to roam and offering visitors greater access to some of southern Africa’s most pristine wilderness.

This is not the only such environmental collaboration. The Peace Parks Foundation, a South African organisation, is promoting the creation of 22 different trans-frontier conservation areas across the continent.

The first such "peace park", the Kgalagai Transfrontier Park, shared by South Africa and Botswana, opened in May 2000. Eventually, the foundation even hopes to see parks in war-torn countries such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

South Africa’s Kruger National Park, one of the continent’s foremost attractions, draws two million visitors each year.

The creation of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which was funded by the World Bank, South Africa, United States and Germany, is seen as a way of extending these economic benefits, locking the constituent countries into a mutually beneficial economic link. Until recently, impoverished Mozambique was not featured on many tourist itineraries, but this has now begun to change.

But Stephen Ellis, director of the Africa Programme at the International Crisis Group, an aid agency based in Brussels, said he found the new optimism over initiatives such as the peace parks difficult to share.

He pointed to Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the Central African Republic as areas of continuing concern and warned that the West’s attempts to prevent conflict were misguided and inflexible.

"I’m not very optimistic at the moment. I don’t believe that current policies are working. The worst is to come in states where the government just does not work anymore," he said. "The way things are going, the problems are very big and are getting bigger and bigger. The international community is not doing enough about them.

"There has been more western interest in this since the September 11 attacks, because a country in anarchy does pose a security threat, but that interest is not guided in the right direction.

"The UN, US, Britain and France are trying to restore society, but it’s not working because they have a one-size fits all technical solution to it. They restore the army, train a police force, open schools and then hold democratic elections all in the space of two to three years.

Ellis added "You can’t bring peace from Washington or New York, you need to go to these countries and work directly with the people on the ground. Fundamentally, the final say does not lie with the West, it is a joint venture, if you don’t take the population along with you it will not work and you will have decades of war and famine."