Peaceworks 6

Humanitarian Assistance and Conflict in Africa

David R. Smock

The good work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in recent conflicts in such countries as Somalia, Haiti, and Bosnia is well known—providing food, shelter, medicine, and a host of other materials and services under extremely difficult conditions. But does humanitarian assistance in some cases actually exacerbate conflict? And if so, what can NGOs and the international community do to eliminate or mitigate such effects? At the request of several concerned NGOs, the United States Institute of Peace organized a symposium on this issue, "Humanitarian Assistance and Conflict in Africa," in October 1995. This report summarizes the discussions and conclusions of the symposium.

David R. Smock is director of the Grant Program and coordinator of the Institute's activities on Africa. Smock was a staff member if the Ford Foundation in 1964–80, serving Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Lebanon, as well as in New York.

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