African Universities and Social Reconstruction: What Mission and What Strategies? The Case of the Conflict Management Centre of the National University of Rwanda

Abstract

[A review of the effects of armed conflicts in the last decades on the continent makes for alarming reading. Though there have been several attempts to explain the causes of violent conflicts we are yet to learn more about the way in which peoples and states manage the results of these conflicts. What do individuals and groups that constitute and/or reconstitute these communities think of the strategies that should enable them to take action? Are the sustainable strategies of conflict control and prevention universal or peculiar to a situation? Finally, how do the groups and individuals contribute to these strategies that are aimed at assisting them regain control of their lives and their communities? What are the implications of policy and practical interventions of higher education institutions (HEIs) in public affairs? It is well known that the African university, which is the extension of the society in which it is situated, is as much affected as the latter by conflicts that invade it. These questions are considered in the context of the work of the Centre for Conflict Management at the National University of Rwanda.]