Africa At War

Stability, civility and social responsibility appear all too tenuous in far too many African countries. From Sierra Leone to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan to Rwanda, Somalia to Ethiopia, Libya to Chad, Tanzania to Uganda, Egypt to Algeria -- and the list goes on -- African countries continue to distinguish themselves by their transient civility and their breakdown into ferocious tribal and sectarian conflicts.

Hatred so searing it ignites a compulsion to slaughter comes to the fore, with the dredging up of old animosities derived from previous wars and accusations of wrong-doing and superiority -- that there seems no end to the carnage that they inflict upon one another. Have we forgotten to mention Liberia and Nigeria? Burkino Faso and Zimbabwe? Angola and Malawi? There's more.

Wikipedia mentions 47 African countries in the continent and their war histories. There are, in total, 55 African countries, so that qualifies some eight African countries as being relatively free from conflict, internal and external. Not all conflicts are recent, but all too many are. And the extent of the atrocities, the deranged brutalities that they inflict on one another is staggering.

Intervention is always an option, and sometimes does happen; France intervened in Mali and succeeded, somewhat in alleviating its internal conflict. And it is now studying its options in South Sudan, the world's most recently-declared sovereign state. In the Central African Republic, France also intervened, but the people who had initially welcomed French troops now view them with suspicion.

The spectacular failures to intervene in Darfur (Sudan) and Rwanda and the resulting genocidal carnage left the world both weeping in helpless dismay and indifferent to yet another display of African irredentism. The fanatic, searing hatred of one group of ethic people toward another, generally resulting from their perceived territorial imperative.

UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic, comprised of some Chadian units, have become targets by Christian militias charging the Chadians of having undue sympathy with the country's Muslims with whom the Christians are at war. France's troops are under attack by the Seleka rebels comprised of Muslim factions battling the Christians, with French troops seen as being hostile to the Muslim president.

"I know there are many thousands of people seeking protection in churches. I know that we have our own staff that have literally walked into the bush and are communicating from there. That's where they say they are safest."
Toby Lanzer, UN humanitarian coordinator

"The United Nations will stay with you. We will do our utmost to protect you, to provide the humanitarian assistance you need, and most of all to help the country regain the path to peace."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

An underestimation of tens of thousands of South Sudanese are now displaced, about 45,000 of them looking for protection at UN bases. Mr. Ban has been urging regional leaders to increase their military support and "political backing for efforts to defuse the crisis". African Union peacekeepers have been singularly ineffective in the past in attempting to intervene between warring belligerents,

The conflict in South Sudan erupted in a spontaneous utterance of tribal violence. With the South Sudan city of Bor seeing heavy machine-gun barrages, as one of the most violent areas of the conflict, a mere week old, but seeming destined to live quite a bit longer. That week of violence has taken over a thousand lives, with an internal refugee total closer to a hundred thousand.

The U.S., Britain and other European countries are being appealed to by the United Nations for funding to help defuse the vitriol and the violence. The UN Security Council, led by France's UN Ambassador as the current council president, expects a vote on a resolution authorizing requested troop transfers from other UN missions to the South Sudan.

There are urgent fires of conflict necessitating the presence of UN peacekeeping troops elsewhere, seemingly everywhere in Africa. Western countries have been busy issuing alerts to their nationals and evacuating as many as they can. They have also been evacuating those South Sudanese nationals whose plight and terror make them doubly vulnerable, creating ever more refugees on the world scene.

And while the ethnic Nuer rebels now have Bor in their hands, the ethnic Dinka South Sudan forces are advancing on the city, the importance of which cannot be overstated for the financial stability through oil production that the country requires. It is doubtful that President Salva Kiir might consider in his wildest dreams turning back the clock to prevent his dismissal of his former vice-president Riek Machar, a decision that presaged the conflict.