Pitt to Present Workshop on Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Africa

PITTSBURGH-Focusing on countries such as Sudan, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Lione, and other nations that have been devastated by civil war, Pitt will hold a two-day workshop titled "Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Africa" on Friday, March 24, and Saturday, March 25. The free public workshop will take place in Room 125, Frick Fine Arts Building Auditorium, Schenley Drive, Oakland.

Events on March 24, including a 1:30 p.m. keynote address by International Crisis Group Senior Advisor John Prendergast, will take place from 1 to 8:30 p.m. Prendergast, who served as an advisor in the White House and U.S. State Department during the Clinton Administration, worked for a variety of NGOs and think tanks in Africa and the United States, and is currently working on a book about the Darfur genocides with Hotel Rwanda star Don Cheadle. Over the past year, op-eds authored by Prendergast and Cheadle have appeared in the International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. The film Sometimes in April, written and directed by Raoul Peck and Macrina Lelei, assistant director of the University Center for International Studies' (UCIS) African Studies Program, will be screened at 6:30 p.m.

Events on March 25 will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Topics of discussion will include conflict resolution; post-conflict reconstruction through elections, consensus building, and development of society; and federalism and power sharing in deeply divided South Africa. Speaking on federalism will be Edmond Keller, director of the University of California, Los Angeles, Global Research Center-Africa. Keller has authored more than 50 articles on Africa and African American politics, and coedited three books, including Africa in the New International Order: Rethinking State Sovereignty and Regional Security (Lynne Reinner, 1996). The documentary Lost Boys of Sudan will be screened at 3 p.m.

The workshop is sponsored by Pitt's Department of Africana Studies, UCIS, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and University Honors College.

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