Organised by the UTG in collaboration with the Saint Mary's College of Maryland PEACE programme, the lecture was delivered by Professor Oumar Ndongo, a renowned professor of American studies at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal.
Professor Ndongo dilated on the various issues relating to conflict systems in the West African region, and even beyond. He also touched on conflict systems such as Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DRR) politics, politicization of ethno-religious identities, natural resources management as well as cross-border trafficking, youth bulge and piracy.
Ndongo told the gathering that conflicts occur when two parties or more pursue objectives that are incompatible. He cited the past and current uprisings in many countries such as Mali, Libya, Rwanda, Sudan and Senegal's southern region of Casamance as examples. He went as far as uncovering the origin of the Casamance conflict, which, he said was caused by a chaos during a football final match between a team from Casamance and another one from the Senegalese capital, Dakar. "Look at that incident, that commenced in a stadium and now its response in Casamance," he remarked.
Professor Ndongo said conflicts could be positive, but violent conflicts are destructive. He added that poverty and the unavailability of jobs are possible structural factors of conflicts. He noted that the treaty to create ECOWAS was targeted at regional economic integration and the creation of a common market, but it was not much into conflict resolution. "ECOWAS understood that the necessity to move from economic development to conflict resolution was eminent and this was why it was included," he stated.
Ndongo also suggested that ECOWAS should review its legal instrument in the area of conflict prevention and resolution, saying it is difficult to say that conflicts are always national. "So if we want to take only national approach to conflicts, there is certainty that the approach will fail," he added.
He further told the gathering that conflict systems always follow spill-over systems, where if issues are not appropriately addressed, could lead to national and even regional conflict. "I have the strong believe that conflicts breakout due to the failure of justice," he remarked.
He also reminded the gathering that disability leads to serious negative results, saying currently, clear structural causes can be seen in Mali, which, he said include poverty, abandoned areas for Malian administration with lots of vulnerabilities.
The deputy vice chancellor of the UTG, Dr. Omar Jah Jnr, who is also the head of the University's Administration and Finance, commended Professor Ndongo for giving himself the time to come and discuss with students.
Dr. Pierre Gomez, the acting dean of the School of Arts and Science at the UTG, expressed certainty that Professor Ndongo's wealth of experience will positively impact on the life of the UTG students and on their courses.
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