The drums of war are the drums of hunger: A comparative analysis of the use of food as a weapon in Darfur and Somalia
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The aim of this thesis has been to analyse which similarities exist in combatants' control over food supply lines to non-combatants in African civil conflict and evaluate whether these similarities are sufficient to permit generalisations about the use of food as a weapon in African civil conflict.The nature of this study is both descriptive and explanatory.The case studies of Darfur and Somalia form the descriptive part of this study.This thesis is also explanatory in that it aims to make a first attempt at theory building where such theory did not exist before.I try to explain if, how and why combatants intentionally use food as a means of power in civil conflict.Is the control over food a deliberate and rational choice by combatants or I would like to thank Prof. P.J. McGowan, as my Stellenbosch University supervisor, for giving me indispensable advice as to how to operationalise this interesting topic for research and putting me on the right track in commencing this research.Furthermore, I would like to thank Cdr (Dr) Thean Potgieter at Saldanha's Military Academy for indirectly introducing me to this topic and the brainstorm sessions that followed over lunch at Java.I would like to express my gratitude to all in the humanitarian field, most notably at the World Food Programme and the UN/African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), who have taken the time to answer my questions, my follow up questions, and the question that came after those.Without this valuable input from "the field" this research project would not have been possible.A word of thanks also goes out to my classmates, especially Marc Boshoff, for our numerous hours in Humarga, keeping each other motivated and providing valuable insight.Furthermore, I would like to thank Jonathan Amid for his help with the Afrikaans translation of my abstract.
Author: Anneke Imke Kamphuis
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2171353021