Browsing by Author "Thomas, Charles G."

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    Secession and Separatist Conflicts in Postcolonial Africa
    (University of Calgary Press, 2020-06) Thomas, Charles G.; Falola, Toyin
    The first book to examine the full historical arc of secession and secessionist conflict across sub-Saharan Africa. Wars fought for political separation have become omnipresent in post-colonial Africa. From the division of Sudan, to the continued fragmentation of Somalia, and the protracted struggles of Cabinda and Azawad, conflict over secession and separation continues to the present day. This is the first single volume to examine the historical arc of secession and secessionist conflict across sub-Saharan Africa. Paying particular attention to the development of secessionist conflicts and their evolving goals, Secession and Separatist Conflicts in Postcolonial Africa draws on case studies and rigorous research to examine three waves of secessionist movements, themselves defined by international conflict and change. Using detailed case studies, the authors offer a framework to understand how secession and separation occur, how these are influenced by both preceding movements and global political trends, and how their ongoing legacies continue to shape African regional politics. Deeply engaging and thoroughly researched, this book presents a nuanced and important new overview of African separatist and secessionist conflicts. It addresses the structures, goals, and underlying influences of these movements within a broader global context to impart a rich understanding of why these conflicts are waged, and how they succeed or fail.
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    Thebe ya Sechaba: A History of the Botswana Defence Force, c. 1977-2007
    (2021-01-11) Mocheregwa, Bafumiki; Stapleton, Timothy J.; Chastko, Paul A.; Apentiik, Caesar Roland; Hill, Alexander; Huebert, Robert N.; Thomas, Charles G.
    The protracted liberation struggles of Southern Africa that began in the 1960s, particularly in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe today) eventually prompted the Botswana government to establish its own defence force in 1977. Due to budgetary constraints and relative internal political stability, Botswana had relied on a small paramilitary force called the Police Mobile Unit (PMU) since the early 1960s for all defence – related issues. By the late 1970s, the sharp escalation of the struggle for Zimbabwe resulted in cross-border incursions by Rhodesian security forces who were pursuing armed freedom fighters. In these numerous violations of Botswana’s territorial integrity, many Batswana who lived in towns and villages adjacent to the Rhodesian border lost their lives while other were abducted, women raped, children maimed, and houses set ablaze by Rhodesian forces. This study explores the circumstances around the establishment of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) in April 1977 in reaction to the Rhodesian war. This study also traces the development of the defence force into a professional military between the time it was established and the early 2000s taking into account internal and external factors that determined this evolution. Internally, the lack of funds during the BDF’s formative years meant that the government could only acquire limited equipment and manpower but the discovery of diamonds and economic stabilization beginning in the 1980s resulted in more expansive budgets and the acquisition of lethal hardware. Externally, it was regional contentions in the 1980s, mainly aggression from apartheid South Africa, that largely shaped the development of the BDF. After the end of apartheid, the BDF adopted a more aggressive expansion policy that was supported by the strong diamond – based economy of Botswana. It was in this period that the BDF started to participate in international peacekeeping operations which not only taught valuable lessons to it personnel but highlighted Botswana as a democratic country that helped restore peace and stability in fellow African nations. The decisions to professionalise its officer corps in the late 1990s and early 2000s as well as the recruitment of women into the force were important indicators of growth. These represented necessary steps that the leaders of the BDF took to mould it into a professional apolitical military.