African Security Review 17.2 Institute for Security Studies The potential of nonviolence in building security in sub-Saharan Africa

African wars of the past 15 years do not fi t the traditional concept of wars that involve two sides trying to defeat each other. A number of analysts (for example Keen 2000, Duffi eld 2000) interpret African wars as a means of gaining profi t, power and protection, often in relatively small areas, and not as a way of taking political control of a country