The literature on foreign policy behaviour in Africa largely neglects the role of leaders and their idiosyncrasies. The reasons for this neglect are many, but one important factor is that African foreign policies are largely viewed from structural and institutional perspectives. The project seeks to challenge this trend, by looking specifically at the role of leaders and their attributes in shaping the conflict-intervention policies of Nigeria and South Africa. More specifically, this project seeks to interrogate the extent to which leadership idiosyncrasies and orientation influences the foreign policy behaviour of African states, given its largely personalized foreign policy decision making process. How do we explain these idiosyncrasies within existing IR theories? Debates and suggestions are welcome