This is a discussion paper concerned with some of the acute dilemmas increasingly confronted by international relief agencies concerned with “political emergencies” – often called “complex emergencies” – in Africa… This paper argues that relief organizations largely developed their current mandates during the Cold War era. These restricted mandates are less relevant to many current disasters in Africa. In expanding their mandates, however, relief agencies run a danger whereby different components of their enlarged mandates come into conflict, with potentially very adverse consequences.