FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME ON PEACE, DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY IN AFRICA LAUNCHED

FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME ON PEACE, DISARMAMENT

AND SECURITY IN AFRICA LAUNCHED

(Reissued as received, delayed in transmission.)

LOME, 7 May (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) officially launched the first edition of its freshly established Fellowship Programme on Peace, Security and Disarmament on Monday 7 May in Lome, Togo, with funding from the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.

“The programme is geared towards strengthening capacities in Africa to promote the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.  It also aims at strengthening post-conflict demobilization, demilitarisation, rehabilitation, reconciliation and peace-building processes on the continent”, the Director of UNREC, Ivor Richard Fung, told an audience of Togo-based diplomats, academicians, researchers and journalists during the launching ceremony.

The German Ambassador to Togo, Dieter Papenfuss, said his country’s sponsorship of the Programme was in the hope that it would promote Africa’s participation in international development and help reverse the violent conflicts that currently afflict “close to a third of the 42 sub-Saharan African States”, worsening poverty and reversing development efforts.

“In this light, the Fellowship Programme we are launching today is geared towards improving understanding on these issues and, in the long run, in curbing conflicts as well as strengthening disarmament mechanisms”, Ambassador Papenfuss added.

The first three fellows admitted to the programme, Rose Mbumba Mpisi (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Anne Kamau (Kenya) and Terry Crawford-Browne (South Africa) will spend eight weeks at UNREC, finalizing work on as many research topics.

Ms. Mpisi’s research proposal is entitled “Empowerment of Civil Society for Conflict Resolution in Africa”.  Ms. Kamau is working on  “Disarmament as a Development Issue”.  On his part, Mr. Crawford-Browne's research proposal is on the “Socio-Economic Benefits of Constitutional Demilitarisation in South Africa, to Include the Constitutional Abolition of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and their Replacement by a Civilian Police Service, a Civilian Coastguard and a Civil Defence Service” .

The UNREC Fellowship Programme is open to: (1) persons familiar with the issues of peace, security, stability and disarmament in Africa and with the work of the United Nations in these domains; (2) persons with innovative and

well-developed ideas for a research project which fits into one or more of the issues above; (3) persons likely to make significant contributions to peace, security, stability and disarmament issues in Africa on completion of their projects; (4) persons seeking support to complete research work for a post-graduate, doctorate or post-doctorate university diploma on topics linked to peace, security, stability and disarmament in Africa; (5) persons with some experience in research, with proven writing skills and the capacity to work under stress to meet close deadlines and gifted with an excellent command of English and/or French.

Priority areas of work for the fellowship include, but are not limited to (a) Making Peace Accords Work in Africa; (b) Reduction in Insecurity and the Proliferation of Light Weapons in Africa; (c) Disarmament as a Development Concept; (d) NGO and IGO Contribution to Curbing Light Weapons Proliferation; and (e) Policing Illicit Weapons Routes and Unmasking Arms Caches in Africa.

A call for applications will be published every year and potential fellows are expected to apply by electronic mail, providing documents that must include (1) an application letter, (2) a curriculum vitae of the applicant, (3) three letters of reference, (4) a research project outline (maximum seven pages), including an executive summary, research questions and objectives, methodology and work plan.

At the end of each year’s course, fellows shall be required to submit a dissertation reflecting his/her initial research proposal.  Such dissertations would become the property of the United Nations and could be considered for publication as part of the research and study activities of the United Nations Regional Centre.

If a fellow subsequently wishes to publish his/her dissertation or part thereof, he/she must obtain approval of the United Nations through the Regional Centre.  Once approval has been obtained, the United Nations must be acknowledged and the publication must bear the following statement:  “The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the United Nations.”

Fellows are chosen by an international committee of experts whose members include the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, CODESRIA, (Senegal); the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, UNIDIR, (Switzerland); the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, IRIC, (Cameroon); the Organization of African Unity, OAU, (Ethiopia); the Southern African Political and Economic Monthly, SAPEM, (Zimbabwe); the Centre d’Etudes d’Afrique Noire, CEAN, (France); the Bonn International Centre for Conversion, BICC, (Germany); the University of Benin, (Togo), the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, (Togo); and the United Nations Regional Centre itself.

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