The Hutu, one of the ethnic groups of Rwanda, patrol the unfriendly streets as they continue to sniff around, digging for any more Tuti to hunt down. The government has decided to take action; as local officials and large radio stations ask of their Rwandan civilians to turn against their own neighbors, over 800,000 people will die within the next three days, forcing another 2 million to eventually evacuate the country (“The Rwandan Genocide”). This is only a small part of the massive chaos within Africa, and with new generations each as corrupt as the previous, endless occurrences of violence continue to inflict damage on the people (Gettleman).
Why do these pointless and violent events continue to show up in various regions of Africa? An important contributing cause is from the influence of many corrupt leaders. Many of them fight for the wrong cause; rather than aiming to eliminate tyranny or injustice, they instead advocate for groundless violence, leading to one-sided destruction that has no explanation. One such example is the LRA, or Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group enraged with the poverty existing in the country’s ethnic Acholi areas. Although supposedly protecting many civilians and fighting against injustice, the LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony, was an unlawful barbarian who began to break even his own rules. Eventually, he would push out extremely violent measures that included setting even his own troops against the people who they were supposed to be protecting (Gettleman).
Another large cause for such conflict can be attributed to the large number of different ethnic groups in Africa. Diversity causes people to care only for their own smaller groups, but as a country there is very little nationalistic feelings, instilling very little affection and hesitation in the killers before harming members from other groups (Oyeniyi). Across Africa, conflicts emerge from every region, including Sudan in the northeast, Mali, Algeria, and Libya in the northwest, and the Central African Republic and South Sudan near the center, due to the lack of unity (Dörrie).
One of the largest internal conflicts to erupt in Africa was the Congo War, a grueling war that raged for eight long years. Two tribes of different ethnicities, both inhabiting parts of the Congo, began to stir up tensions when the Rwandans mass-killed Tutsis in a genocide in 1994, soon leading to a retaliation led by the opposing political party. After repeated exchanges between the two groups, the war was finally settled in 2003 and left almost 4 million dead (Zapata).
These issues are still rampant today, as shown in the South Sudan tensions that are currently rising today. Yasmin Sooka, the head of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, expresses her concern with the country’s instability, referring to it as a “Rwanda-like” genocide. Its origins are similar to that of many other African civil wars: the president and his deputy split apart in 2013, engendering a military conflict that would eventually result in starvation, rape, and the burning of villages. This pointless violence inspired by the leaders has already produced thousands of tragedies and displaced three million, with tensions continuing to increase during this time.
The situation in Africa continues to remain a large problem at hand; with leaders who promote violence for unsupported reasons combined with the exceedingly high number of different ethnic groups in Africa, internal conflicts are common with little thought being put into why they are occurring. In 2014, with just 16 percent of the world’s population, Africa harbored half of the world’s conflicts, representing far more than any other region (Dörrie). As its share of the world’s conflicts continues to rise today, it is evident that new reforms and changes must take place for Africa to settle down and solve its current issues.
Works Cited:
Dörrie, Peter, Samuel Rines, Daniel R. DePetris, and Anthony Fensom. "The Wars Ravaging Africa in 2016." The National Interest. The Center for the National Interest, 22 Jan. 2016. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.
Gettleman, Jeffrey. "Africa’s Forever Wars." Foreign Policy. N.p., 11 Feb. 2010. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.
Oyeniyi, Adeleye. "Conflict and Violence in Africa: Causes, Sources and Types."TRANSCEND Media Service. N.p., 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.
Zapata, Mollie. "Congo: The First and Second Wars, 1996-2003." Enough. N.p., 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.
"The Rwandan Genocide." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.
I like how you included a question at the beginning of your second paragraph, making your point very clear. Hearing about how diversity created more tension was also interesting to read. How do you think Africans can lower the amount of violence in their country?
ReplyDeleteI liked that your points were very clear and easy to understand. My main takeaway is that corrupt leaders and diversity are the leading causes of such violence in many parts of Africa. How long do you think this violence will keep on going?
ReplyDelete