The drums of war are the drums of hunger: A comparative analysis of the use of food as a weapon in Darfur and Somalia

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this thesis has been to analyse which similarities exist in combatants' control over food supplylines to non-combatants in African civil conflict and evaluate whether these similarities are sufficient topermit generalisations about the use of food as a weapon in African civil conflict. The nature of this studyis both descriptive and explanatory. The case studies of Darfur and Somalia form the descriptive part ofthis study. This thesis is also explanatory in that it aims to make a first attempt at theory building wheresuch theory did not exist before. I try to explain if, how and why combatants intentionally use food as ameans of power in civil conflict. Is the control over food a deliberate and rational choice by combatants orare situations of food scarcity and even hunger or famines simply a consequence of war?The case studies of Darfur and Somalia provide many similarities concerning the impact of conflicton livelihoods and food security. Famine is more an issue of limited access rather than availability. The useof food as a weapon displays a number of important similarities. Attacks on food security can be dividedinto acts of omission, commission and provision. In Darfur, combatants exercise a greater level of controlover food supply lines than in Somalia. Finally, I argue that famine in African civil conflict is highlyfunctional and has a distinct political-economic character. The creation of famine is often deliberate, with ahidden political agenda.In both Darfur and Somalia, attacks on food security serve a political, economic and militaryrationale. The political logic of attacks on food security was most important in Darfur, although here thesigns of a sustainable war economy become apparent. In contrast, in Somalia, food production andprocurement are attacked without the intent to destroy the livelihoods of specific societal groups, with theexception of the politically and economically marginalised groups in the south-central part of the country.The political logic is very superficial in Somalia. The level of deliberateness and organisation of attacks onfood security, and hence the importance of the political logic, seem to tie in with the level of organisationof the central government, as well as with the presence or absence of a powerful ideology that clearlydivides certain sections of the population from others.I recommend that further research be undertaken to analyse if theory on resources and conflictapplies to attacks on food. Furthermore, additional research is needed on how to mitigate the negativeeffects of Food Aid. Finally, it is valuable to investigate to what extent effective government control and/orthe presence of a binding ideology affect the importance of the political logic behind the attacks on foodsecurity. To this point, this research should be extended to include more case studies, with a specific focuson the factors of governmental control, ideology and political logic.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University