Western Africa Conflicts

Class Objective Students will examine the cause and effects of conflict in Western Africa.

Western Africa over the past 20 years has been covered in Civil Wars. The wars for the most part all started for different reasons. The one thing that all of the conflicts have in common is their effects on civilians.

Countries involved The Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Central African Republic, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have all been connected to the main conflicts.

The Start The origination of the conflicts started after WW II when Europe gave up control of provinces throughout Africa. The conflict escalated during the Cold War between the United States and Russia. The U.S and Russia picked different groups to support and funded them economically and militarily.

When the Cold War ended Russia and the U When the Cold War ended Russia and the U.S stopped funding the African groups. When the money went away the groups focused on gaining control of natural resources. The different groups fought over control of resources throughout the countries.

Commonalities of the Conflicts 1. Weakness, Corruption, high level of militarization, and collapse of state government. 2. Multiple groups fighting over shifting economic and political motivations. 3. Serious regional discrepancies. 4. Brutal tactics: murder, genocide, amputation, mutilation, starvation, forced labor, rape, and cannibalism.

U.N Involvement The United Nations was established after WW II. Its purpose was to protect countries that could not protect themselves. Along with trying to use diplomacy instead of military force. Because of a lack of success in African conflicts since the end of the Cold War the U.N avoided involvement in African conflicts.

Because of a lack of U.N involvement peacekeeping was left up to regional powers. The problem with regional peacekeeping is a lack of power to stay in an area after the conflict ends. When the power would leave the conflict would erupt again.

RUF One of the main rebel forces is the RUF. The RUF stands for the Revolutionary United Front. The RUF is notoriously brutal, and focuses attacks on civilians.

Blood Diamonds One of the central aspects of the conflicts is the diamond trade. Because the local government could maintain control of resources such as oil. Diamonds are found along remote rivers throughout much of the area. Because of the remote location governments cannot control the RUF control of the diamonds.

Diamond Mining

Sources Crimes of War Project Magazine, War in Africa, Resolving African Conflicts, October 2004, by Tom Porteous “Blood Diamonds” DVD History Channel, 2006