Drought emergency, yes...drought disaster, no:Southern Africa 1991–93

The article analyses the rapid political change and redefinition of a regional identity in southern Africa in the 1990s in the context of the severe drought which affected these countries in 1991–92. As South Africa and its neighbours looked towards the normalisation of relations, concerted, regional, emergency actions prevented the drought conditions from producing a devastating drought disaster. These events not only served as a confidence‐building measure demonstrating that southern Africa can coherently function as a region to avert crisis, but also provided the first opportunity for the former adversaries to successfully cooperate on (non‐military) security matters. Nonetheless, although this case study illustrates that positive diplomatic initiatives can result from disaster relief efforts, the drought cannot be seen as the main driving force behind the normalisation of relations between South Africa and its neighbours.