ABSTRACT This research investigates the role played by external actors in contemporary African civil conflicts with specific attention to South Africa’s leading role in addressing Burundi’s intractable civil conflict. The inquiry was guided by looking at SA’s efforts in managing Burundi’s peace process in partnership with key external parties such as the Regional Initiative for peace in Burundi, AU and the UN; and by examining the level of success of SA’s involvement in the peace process and limitations encountered in pursuing diplomatic/political and military efforts aimed at resolving the civil conflict. The theories of conflict resolution and protracted social change, and scholarly and policy literature on intervention were drawn upon to frame the research. The struggle for political power explains the key root cause to Burundi’s civil conflict; rival politicians manipulated ethnicity and the past injustices, which are rooted in colonial policies of divide and rule, as tools in an attempt to accede to power and thereby, gain economic advantage at the expense of others. SA diplomatic efforts played an important role in addressing this by advocating for political and military power sharing. In order to reconcile and manage differences in approaches that were advocated to deal with the Burundi civil conflict, SA mobilized for support in Burundi’s neighbouring countries so as to back a peaceful solution to address the conflict. Further, in an effort to bolster its troops and, therefore, expand operations designed to promote peace in Burundi, SA had to merge into the African Mission in Burundi, and cooperate with the UN in order for the latter to render impetus to the peace process by, providing necessary resources and political support for the Burundi peace mission, and subsequently to assume the mission by taking over from the African mission. Although SA’s troop deployment provided protection for the former Hutu exile politicians and thereby, encouraged them to participate in negotiations and the transitional government, which participation increased chances of success in the peace process, however, SA did not do much in peacekeeping under the UN due to inadequate military equipments; civilians continued to be killed in the presence of SA troops, even though, under the UN their role extended to include civilian protection. To the extent that SA’s intensive diplomatic efforts resulted in the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi, however, a number of Burundian parties did not participate in the signing of the agreement and the rebel movements were excluded from the process. Thus, the Arusha peace process failed to attain consensus in addressing Burundi’s contentious issues. Although the UN peacekeepers in Burundi, of which SA was part, had a Chapter VII mandate to enforce the peace of which civilian protection was part of their mission, they did not exercise it. Intervention was constrained by the Burundian government; they argued that the ultimate authority in maintaining security throughout the country rested on them. Moreover, it is difficult if not impossible to observe UN traditional peacekeeping norms while at the same time having to implement the responsibility to protect, which has been occasioned by the post-Cold War world, in which human rights have gained wider recognition, and international norms of sovereignty and nonintervention redefined. Thus, strict observance of the UN traditional peacekeeping norms, inhibit intervention aimed to protect civilians facing catastrophic circumstances or under imminent threat.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-12-07T11:14:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Wellington da Silva de Barros.pdf: 4150051 bytes, checksum: 662d4b88841e66cd1211d5e836bb8f70 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-07T11:14:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Wellington da Silva de Barros.pdf: 4150051 bytes, checksum: 662d4b88841e66cd1211d5e836bb8f70 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-11-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Fundação São Paulo - FUNDASP / The research that follows this thesis had as objective to analyze the relationship between human mobility (immigration and refuge) and religious pluralism based on the religious dynamics of the Scalabrinian Mission Our Lady of Peace (Peace Mission), located in the city of São Paulo. In the Peace Mission the religious dynamics have as a goal the integration of immigrants and refugees from the respect to religious otherness that favors and makes fruitful the processes of approximation mediated by the spaces and actions of the institution. We analyze the religious dynamics developed by this institution, we use the concepts of alterity of the philosopher and historian Enrique Dussel, and of the interculturality of the philosopher Raul Fournet-Betancourt. We understand that the main challenge for interreligious dialogue today is the promotion of human life and the building of peace between religions and, therefore, we present the Catholic perspectives on religions with their advances and limits. The current theological position of the Catholic Church on religions is insufficient in view of the current challenges of interreligious dialogue. The hypothesis that guided this research is that the epistemology of suffering can be the basis for probable and desirable advances in the Catholic perspectives on religions. The inspiration of this epistemology emerged from the practice of welcoming immigrants and refugees developed by the Peace Mission. One of the conclusions of this research is that the present suffering in the lives of immigrants and refugees is a privileged locus for interreligious dialogue considering the irreducible autonomy of the subjects involved and the probable reciprocity between the alterities involved / A pesquisa subjacente a esta tese teve por objetivo analisar a relação entre a mobilidade humana (imigração e refúgio) e o pluralismo religioso a partir das dinâmicas religiosas da Missão Scalabriniana Nossa Senhora da Paz (Missão Paz), localizada na cidade de São Paulo. Na Missão Paz as dinâmicas religiosas visam à integração dos imigrantes e refugiados a partir do respeito à alteridade religiosa que favorece e torna fecundos os processos de aproximação mediada pelos espaços e ações da instituição. Analisamos as dinâmicas religiosas desenvolvidas por essa instituição, utilizamos os conceitos de alteridade do filósofo e historiador Enrique Dussel, e de interculturalidade do filósofo Raul Fournet-Betancourt. Entendemos que o principal desafio para o diálogo inter-religioso nos dias atuais é a promoção da vida humana e a construção da paz entre as religiões e, por isso, apresentamos as perspectivas católicas sobre as religiões com seus avanços e limites. A atual postura teológica da sobre as religiões se mostra insuficiente diante dos desafios atuais do diálogo inter-religioso. A hipótese que orientou esta pesquisa é a de que a epistemologia do sofrimento pode fundamentar prováveis e desejáveis avanços nas perspectivas católicas sobre as religiões. A inspiração desta epistemologia surgiu a partir da prática de acolhida aos imigrantes e refugiados desenvolvida pela Missão Paz. Uma das conclusões desta pesquisa é que o sofrimento presente na vida dos imigrantes e refugiados é um locus privilegiado para o diálogo inter-religioso considerando a autonomia irredutível dos sujeitos envolvidos e a provável reciprocidade entre as alteridades envolvidas