Conflict in Africa

1. Conflict in Africa

2. Conflict in Africa • Although media coverage seems to suggest that war, political coups and terrorist bombings happen all over Africa, many parts of the continent aren’t involved in conflict at all • However, the extent of conflict in Africa is greater than any other region in the world • It affects over half of the countries in Africa and 20% of the total population

3. Conflict in Africa Examples of African Conflict • Sierra Lione – over the control of diamond resources • Ethiopia & Eritrea – over border dispute • Rwanda & Burundi – ethnic civil war

4. Nature of Conflict in Africa Collapsing State Structures • Due to a combination of various political, economic, and territorial forces • Challenges to centralized Governmental controls, combined with economic decline and crippling foreign debt have left many African countries unable to maintain an infrastructure and provide basic services • This has given rise to independence movements, territorial disputes, and political and military coups • These situations have also created greater political, social and economic inequality, not just between individuals but also between groups • Ex - Madagascar

5. Nature of Conflict in Africa Regionalism • States find themselves crossing borders and aligning with other states or ethnic groups • Alignment is due to groups protecting resources, defending territories, or maintain (or overthrowing) political control • Countries continue to join various conflicts due to arising issues that did not exist in previous years • New issues arise due to a country’s depleting resources when dealing with other conflicts – this then affects countries that weren’t in the original conflict but are now force to enter it • Ex - DRC

6. Nature of Conflict in Africa Ethnicity • Genocide (the systematic attempt to exterminate defined groups of people with different religious or ethnic background) has had devastating effects on many countries in Africa • Rwandan Genocide – almost 1 million Tutsi and Hutu (sympathetic to the Tutsis) people were killed by the Hutu Militia • Burundi has also had Hutu and Tutsi conflict • Ex – South Africa/Apartheid

7. Nature of Conflict in Africa Resources • Conflict arises over necessity resources such as water and land but also arises over lucrative resources such as oil and diamonds • Countries that are economically dependent on the sale of these lucrative resources can experience internal and external struggles to gain control of the resources • Military and rebel groups now look to these resources to finance and sustain wars • For example, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) – a rebel group in Sierra Leone – earns tens of millions of dollars from the country’s diamond industry

8. Preventing Conflict in Africa • Conflict resolution through the spread of Democracy has provided many African countries with a more accountable and equitable method of governance • The riddance of “Apartheid Rule” has helped • Apartheid Rule – a system wherein racial discrimination and separation had been institutionalized by a series of “apartheid laws” that were put into place in 1948. Examples of such laws were those prohibiting interracial marriages, outlining “white-only” jobs, and prescribing where blacks could and could not live