Africa: A Fragile Peace One a Bloodied Continent - Article Example

Africa: A fragile peace one a bloodied continent The article, Africa: A fragile peace one a bloodied continent, was written by UN undersecretary general of peace keeping operations, Mr. Jean Marie Guehenno. It was published on International Herald Tribune on 29 January 2004. This article explains the bloody wars and internal agitations going on inside African continent and the future of peace keeping processes in Africa. The major points of this article are; Peace keeping efforts in Africa will meet success only if the African states and their supporters continue to be innovative and learn from their past mistakes. The killing of innocent people stopped up to certain extent in Africa. In many of the African countries wars and internal agitations are over and the signs of peace are visible. The peace processes are mostly home-grown Internal wars in Africa are mostly fuelled by outsiders Inter African rivalry is another reason for wars in Africa Africa is facing shortage of resources to enhance the peace efforts Life expectancy is decreasing in Africa and the influence of war is visible everywhere in African life Outside help is necessary for the rebuilding and sustainment of peace in Africa. Un security council is hardworking for the sustainment of peace in Africa United Sates has shown many interests in the peace building process in Africa. Even though the peace keeping efforts are fragmented, Africa is slowly coming out from the bloody wars (Guehenno). It is evident that no external forces can bring permanent peace in a country without the cooperation from the internal forces. Africa suffered a lot because of internal agitations in the past. In order to loot the wealth of Africa, politicians encouraged the internal wars in Africa. As a result of that no economic developments or infrastructure development took place in Africa. Even though globalization brought huge opportunities to the poor countries, because of internal agitation and poor infrastructure facilities, Africa failed to exploit it. African people knew only to fight irrespective of the age differences. In other words, wars were in their blood at the time of birth itself. Africa needs to learn from these mistakes and concentrate more on the development aspect of the continent rather than the military and political aspects. For the time being, internal wars were stopped up to certain extent and the killing of innocent people is only a rare incident now in Africa. It should be noted that more than seven million people were killed in the recent past in Africa due to internal wars. Countries like Angola, Congo, Sudan etc where internal wars were severe in the past, killing incidents are reported rarely now. Now, it is time to concentrate more on the rebuilding processes of Africa. The comfortable signs of peace are visible everywhere in Africa at present. The presence of foreign military armies to ensure peace is not necessary in Africa at present. African people realised the mistakes they committed in the past and they are slowly constructing a normal life as that of the people in the external world. They realised that wars are not answers to any of their basic problems and peace is necessary to solve all of their basic problems. It should be noted that peace processes are now developing internally even though it was developed because of the external pressure in the past. Moreover, African countries, which were engaged in fierce battle earlier, started to help each other in the peace building process now. Majority of the internal wars in Africa were caused by the external forces in order to exploit African wealth. External forces assumed that it is difficult for them to exploit a peaceful Africa and therefore they cultivated the seeds of enmity deliberately in the bloods of different African people. Clashes between cultures and communities were happened in Africa because of this foreign intrusion. Now the real problem facing by Africa is the shortage of resources to sustain the peace. It should be noted that when people struggle to find their livelihood, it is easy for antisocial elements to encourage them to go back to their old habits of robbery and killing for survival. So, it is the responsibility of international community to help Africa in its rebuilding process so that Africans may not return to their old life styles. Life expectancy is below 40 in majority of the countries in Africa which is not a good sign. Apart from wars, poverty is the major reason for the decreased life expectancy in Africa. Majority of the Africans are struggling to find enough food at least once in every day. It should be noted that in developed countries, food production is excess and a substantial portion of it is getting damaged because of improper storage. If these countries can provide their excess of food items to African people, poverty in Africa can be eradicated permanently. The interference of UN Security Council in Africa has brought huge changes. So many external powers including United States are helping UN in the peace building processes in Africa. One of the major drawbacks of the peace building processes in Africa is fragmentation of peace efforts. It is necessary to bring all the peace efforts in Africa under a common banner so that permanent peace may not become a myth, but a fact. This article educated me that present Africa is entirely different from past Africa. I realised that a sense of urgency for peace is visible everywhere in Africa at present. Civil wars and internal clashes in Africa would be history rather than reality in coming years. Along with Africans, foreigners are also interested in the peace building processes in Africa which is a good sign. In a heavily globalized and competitive world, it is illogical and unethical to leave Africans in pathetic conditions while all the other regions in the world are developing rapidly. The major strength of this article is the credibility of the author. It should be noted that the author is working as a top UN official in the peace keeping operations in Africa and therefore his analysis and opinions should be considered seriously. The author succeeded in comparing Africa at present with Africa in the past. He has given lot of statistics to substantiate his claims. Moreover, he specifically compared the present and past situations of some of the worst states in Africa which will definitely help the readers to get more comprehensive pictures of present Africa. At the same time, the author failed to provide some recommendations for the development and peace sustainment in Africa. Instead of giving more importance to the past events, he could have given more importance to the present and future. To conclude, African social, political and economic climate is undergoing drastic changes in the recent past. Internal wars, civil wars, clashes, disputes and conflicts are old stories for the present Africa. Those who took guns for settling every dispute are now talking in a diplomatic manner for solving disputes. The necessities of peace for economic and social development are well understood by the present African people. Sustainment of peaceful climate in Africa is a big challenge to the international community. Poverty and lack of resources are causing huge problems for the sustainment of peace efforts in Africa. International community definitely has a huge role to play in the sustainment of peace in Africa. Financial aids and increased food supply from external sources are necessary to keep the peace climate intact in Africa. In short, present Africa is entirely different from Africa in the past. Works Cited Guehenno, Jean Marie. “Africa: A Fragile Peace One A Bloodied Continent”. 2004. International Herald Tribune. 29 January 2004. Web. 29 October 2011. Read More