Angela Muvumba Sellström

Dr. Angela Muvumba Sellström is a Senior Researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute and affiliated to Uppsala University’s Department of Peace and Conflict Research. She has contributed to research in Africa, Sweden and internationally for over 20 years on Africa's peace and security, and carried out multi-year projects on wartime sexual violence. She is a member of the Swedish Women’s Mediation Network and a non-resident fellow of the International Peace Institute.

Why do some actors believe they can commit atrocities with impunity, while others do not? What makes some armed groups prevent everyday tolerance of sexual violence? How do multilateral institutions in the arena of peacemaking adapt to the power dynamics that shape their priorities and efficacy? Why are some states better at promoting women, peace and security than others? How can African governments and their Nordic partners influence outcomes in the UN Security Council? What place is there for African priorities in a shifting, crowded space of norms, ideas, and political agendas at the global level?

I am interested in how different attitudes, capacities and interests shape outcomes for actors at different levels of analysis. And I have usually undertaken research (and teaching) by engaging others across disciplinary domains, institutional orientations, countries, and continents.

While at Uppsala University (2015-2020), I have designed and taught courses in peace and conflict research, gender, war and peace, and directed international training in dialogue and mediation. I have contributed to research collaborations on international interventions, urbanization and violence, and the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. Most of my focus in the last five years has expanded upon my doctoral dissertation (Uppsala University, 2015), "Stronger than Justice: Armed Group Impunity for Sexual Violence," and is also part of my multi-year project "Disciplining Fighters: Understanding Armed Political Actors' Control of Sexual Violence", funded by the Swedish Research Council (2016-2018).

Some of my previous research has examined questions about rebel group behaviour and the concept of impunity for sexual violence; and patterns of post-settlement sexual violence. Further research on this and broader topics related to women, peace and security is still ongoing. I have also researched HIV/AIDS as a security issue; and the role of civil society in peacebuilding and democratization.

With over 20 years of policy and research experience, I have worked at the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), the African Union Commission (AU), the Centre for Conflict Resolution (CR), the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), and the International Peace Institute (IPI). Over this period, I have contributed to, or spear-headed policy research events across Africa and cooperated with civil society actors, governments, military leaders, UN agencies, staff at the AU Commission, and Africa's regional economic communities (RECs). In addition to carrying out empirical studies on the AU and the UN, I have conducted fieldwork in Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda.

My main current research interest at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) centres on Africa and the United Nations (UN) Security Council and multilateral conflict prevention and resolution. This work seeks to develop empirical and theoretical insights into the fundamental dynamics affecting how the UN Security Council makes peace in Africa and whether and how African elected members, individually and in alliances with the Nordic countries, navigate these processes and outcomes.

Current research projects

• Principal researcher in the project, "Shattering Glass: How Elected Members of the UN Security Council Fight for Women, Peace and Security" (2021-), Nordic Africa Institute, funded by the Swedish Research Council.
• Researcher in the project, "The Urban Dilemma: Urbanization and Ethnocommunal Conflict" (2019-),principal researcher, Emma Elversson, Uppsala University, Department of Peace and Conflict Research (DPCR), funded by the Swedish Research Council.
• Principal researcher in the project "Disciplining Fighters: Understanding Armed Political Actors' Control of Sexual Violence", Uppsala University, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, funded by the Swedish Research Council (2016 - 2018).