Youth_Reading Memo

With over 200 millions people under 25, Africa is the youngest continent in the world. Quite evidently, African youth is a key factor in African development as it will build the future and undertake Africa's construction. However, African youth faces numerous challenges and is left in a total developmental turmoil as it is confronted to unstable political conditions and fragile economies. Moreover, African youth gets caught up in the violent conflicts that sprikle throughout the continent, making its flourishing, and by extension the continent's full development, harder to attain. Indeed, whether we look at the Sierra Leone and Southern Sudan civil wars or insurrectionary terrorist factions such as Al Shabaab, Boko Haram or the Lord's Resistance Army, we see that a large part of belligerents are very young. This is why we can ask ourselves how can African youth define and develop itself despite being constantly exposed to violence. The reasons why African youth are engrossed in highly violent conflicts are numerous but they come down to either ideological or economical purposes, as the readings suggest it. Indeed, on one hand, as Krijn Peters and Paul Richards' interviews with former fighters show it, many young soldiers joined the RSLMF because they wanted to get revenge from the RUF rebels, because they felt threatened and they wanted to protect their invaded territories and private spheres. Other fighters, especially those who fought on the RUF side, highlight the coercitive dimension of their conscription but even within the RUF, there was at some point a compliance to their ideology. On the other hand, as Daniel Hoffman's article suggests it, war and violence are also envisioned by African youths economically, as a labour, an idea that it also reinforced by the ex-militias' mobilisation during the post-war Sierra Leone elections which alludes to, as Mats Utas and Maya Mynster Christensen, « a displacement of violence ». In other words, violence is exerced by African youth as a way to earn their living in a precarious economical context. Violence can be thus considered as a fully-fledged skill, which is potentially marketable. Either way, it seems that African youth is used as a political instrument through violence. Their vulnerability is exploited by belligerent faction in order to have obedient recruits. This is why there is a growing sentiment of distrust towards governments in the aftermath of these conflict, as Cherry Leonardi's article highlights. Indeed, following the Civil War, South Sudanese youths tend to focus on their private sphere, which alludes to their families and communities, while distancing themselves from the government's agendas. This leads us to ask ourselves : how can we define adulthood in African countries that suffered such violent conflicts ? How can African youths acquire the responsibilities in order to become fully- fledged and fuctionnal members of their society ? Indeed, Leonardi tackles the notion of marriage, which is deemed to be indispensable in order to become an adult. Nevertheless, it is not enough as it is not satisfying anymore, even though it does strengthen African youths' sense of belonging to their respective private spheres and even so, many people cannot afford to consider marriage as they do not have the financial means to build sustainable families and households. Alcinda Honwana's lecture transcript refers to this state of disarray as being a state of « waithood », as African youths are waiting to become adults while lacking the proper means to achieve this state. While strong opposition and protest movements from African youths emerged during the past decade (as the Arab Spring shows it), it has failed to operate enduring and significant changes in African governance. Poverty rates are still high and African youths struggle to get proper jobs, as Honwana records it. African youths demand proper education, more infrastructures and qualified teachers but is it really enough ? Indeed, a considerable part of African youths leave their country in order to find better structured academic systems and more jobs. On the other hand, as Peters and Richards' interviews show it, military conflicts do get in the way of education as children are abducted from very early ages. Furthermore, how can we deal with ex-militia members ? Indeed, during the post-war election in Sierra Leone, ex-militias were deployed in order to secure the country during the election, as part of a « displacement of violence ». Even though the elections took place quite peacefully, what future does that leave for militia members ? As they are volatile armed forces with no concrete allegiance, they are a threat for national and international security in Africa. Moreover, young militias need to be properly reinserted into society. One can argue that demilitarisation programs are effective to this end. However, one can also argue that local solutions might be more efficient than national solutions. Indeed, militias primary objective is territory control and the local political use of that territory. Therefore, they have to be reintegrated locally. For instance, in the DRC, in 2015, former Interahamwe militiamen were largely integrated into the Kazuhi-Biega natural park's forest ranger corps, a zone in which they actually took shelter during the Great Lakes conflicts in which they took part. This kind of local solutions which muster traditionnal political structures to which former militiamen are familiar might be more viable than national demilitarization programs favoured by governments, as the latter can always exploit these former militias through them. All in all, it seems that African youths' flourishing is closely linked to a proper governance. Indeed, governments of countries that have witnessed highly violent conflicts need to efficiently reintegrate former fighters into society in a sustainable way. They also need to regain the youths' trust and allow them to access proper educational and professional perspectives. African youths have come a long way but they are more conscious than ever and they are ready to undertake all the social and political changes that they need.