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Soldiers who join the army, serve, and then leave, can be placed in one of five distinct categories: those who complete a full contracted period of military service; those who are medically discharged; those who are dismissed for disciplinary reasons; those who apply to terminate their contracts; and those who desert from the army. Most research on military personnel focuses on the first category: those who complete a full contracted term of their military service. In contrast, this proposed study will focus on the fifth category, the least researched one: soldiers who joined the army in post-colonial Africa and deserted. The main focus will be army deserters from Rwanda, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who have all been deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo war (1998-2002) and now live in exile in South Africa. The main question is whether army deserters continue to be violent in SA, that is, if they indeed do commit criminal violence as suggested by the media, and if so, why, and how. If not, why is it that the media continue to scapegoat army deserters, in particular those seeking refuge in South African urban cities?

• Prof. Dr. Mamadou Diawara

  Universität Frankfurt am Main
  Zentrum für interdisziplinäre
  Afrikaforschung (ZIAF)
  Campus Westend
  Frankfurt am Main
  

• Dr. Godfrey Maringira

  University of the Western Cape
  Department of Anthropology & Sociology
  Faculty of Arts
  Cape Town
  Südafrika
  

• Politicization and resistance in the Zimbabwean national army

• Soldiers as victims: behind military barracks in the post-colonial African army

• Political violence within army barracks: desertion and loss among exiled Zimbabwean soldiers in South Africa

• Politics, Privileges, and Loyalty in the Zimbabwe National Army