Civil war in Africa - Research Paper Example

Warlords and government can no longer rely on an ideological basis for civil war financing since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Natural resources are asserts that sustain activities of both rebel movements and justice movements set to counter them (Collier & Hoeffler, 2000). Congo has diverse and abundant minerals that include gold and copper. The locals do not benefit from these minerals, as those that benefit have not done any useful investment in the country. Foreigners have persistently found local collaborators to share the massive possessions of the continent.

Civil war broke as movements purported to protect the masses from the monopoly of the rulers and their overseas business allies (Nzongola-Ntalaja, 2004). Interference from outside countries, like USA and Soviet Union has also led to civil wars in the African continent; the Cold War is a significant component in aggravation of civil war in Africa. Each power militarized different African states and took part in destabilizing their government’s political legitimacy. Governments in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Zaire depended on Cold War finance sustain their military dominance.

This competition for supremacy motivated a scramble for power among different sponsored movements in different African states (Cramer, 2006; Ndikumana & Emizet, 2005). . The powers went as far as offering arms and training to groups to provide them and edge in waging war over their rivals. A large number of African civil war protagonists received military training from countries like Russia, Israel, USA, and the Soviet Union (Kinzer, 2008) Extend of Western countries’ contribution to civil wars can be as far as assassination of some of the African leaders.

There are accusation against western countries for sanctioning assassinations of African political leaders such as Eduardo Mondlane and Patrice Lumumba, Dag Hammarskjold and Samora Marcel (Akaki, 2008; De Witt, 2001). This assassination has contributed to civil wars in Africa as various political groups blame each other for the death of these leaders. The power vacuum in place leads to scramble for the vacant leadership position. High prevalence of civil wars in Africa is accredited to the ethnic variety of its people.

This inference seems self-evident to many, given that. Rebel movements in Africa are most of the times ethnically oriented. Divisions in terms of ethnic orientation and the hatred that comes with it are thus among the cause of violent conflict in African continent (Elbadawi & Sambanis, 2000). Settlement former slaves in Liberia can also be to blame for of civil unrest in the country. The freed slaves prevented those from indigenous community from taking up political leadership positions; moreover, thefreed slaves thought of themselves as a progressive group.

They saw indigenous Africans as heathens and savages. Liberians from America, adopted a racist thinking they experienced in the west at the time, which tagged indigenous Africans as primitive people. Such attitudes led to frequent friction among the groups, which