Subsaharan Africa Insurgent Movements :Must Include One or More Maps - Essay Example

The Sub-Saharan The Sub-Saharan The Sub-Saharan African region is made up of 48 countries with some of them experiencing conflicts and civil strife. These conflicts are hinged on factors such as human right violation, ethnic marginalization, poverty, bad governance and corruption, and small arms proliferation. There are other countries such as Guinea-Bissau, Cote D’Ivoire, and Sierra Leon which have organized movements for overthrowing their constituted government through armed conflict. One of these movements is the Rainforest Insurgent movement.

Below is a map showing the Sub-Saharan African region made up of 48 countries.Many violent conflicts occurred in forested regions of the sub-Saharan. This is because the forest provided food and refuge to the combatants. During 1980s and 1990s there was more protracted conflict and violent in some of the Sub-Saharan countries. Liberia started its first civil war in 1989 while Cote d’Ivoire got into civil strife in 2002. The Sub-Sahara region is rich of green forest and have characteristics associated with violent conflict.

For instant, the forested areas tend to be inaccessible and remote making it easier for insurgent to escape from government troops. In addition, they have petroleum, valuable timber, land, gold, diamonds, ivory, and other minerals which can be exploited by insurgents and fund their movements. Governments viewed forested areas as peripheral places with little political importance and few people. These areas were poorly integrated into political processes and received few public services. In addition, the dominant ethnic groups marginalized tribal and indigenous people in forested areas.

The marginalized people were limited to employment opportunities and experienced poor living standards. Ethnicity became a dividing factor among societies and influenced the eruption of civil strife and violent conflicts. The ethnic tension led to the development of Rainforest Insurgent movements. However, It was easy for insurgents to take up arms from the forested region since the marginalized people saw it as an opportunity to rebel against the corrupt government. The Rainforest Insurgent movements in the Sub-Saharan region significantly affected the developed world economies.

The forested regions had a wealthy natural resource base. Most of the insurgents extracted these forest resources and traded them with developed countries to raise funds for their movements. For instance, in “the Democratic Republic of Congo” high-value metals like cassiterite and Columbo-tantalite were traded with European countries to generate capital for DRC rebel groups. In addition, countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia and Angola extracted alluvial gold and diamonds in remote forest regions, to gain money for rebellion activities.

The Rainforest Insurgent movements influenced most of developed countries to support the rebel groups through trade activities. This influenced economic growth of the developed countries. The Rainforest Insurgent movements also had significant effects on the Rainforest ecosystem. The armies involved in the movement burnt and cleared forested regions with defoliants to spot their opponents more clearly. They also hunted wildlife for food. In addition, land mining did not only maimed and killed people, but also maimed and killed large mammals such as gorillas.

However, there were benefits associated with the Rainforest Insurgent movements in improving the natural forest resource. The movement forced large numbers of communities to flee from their rural areas. This allowed regeneration to occur in the abandoned areas. In addition, the vast land mines kept civilians out and promoted conservation of the places that had been cleared. In conclusion, Sub-Saharan African regions experienced conflicts and civil strife through insurgent movements such as the rainforest insurgent movements.

Out of the 48 Sub-Saharan countries, Guinea-Bissau, Cote D’Ivoire, and Sierra Leon were the main countries involved with armed conflicts. In addition, the forest regions influenced the occurrence of insurgent movements because they provided resources for funding the movements. ReferencesByman, D. (2001). Trends in outside support for insurgent movements. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.Reid, R. (2012). Warfare in African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Schnabel, A. (2006). Understanding and managing insurgent movements.

Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Academic.