The Central African Republic has gone through five coups and numerous rebellions since it declared independence from France in 1960. This, along with conflicts from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Chad has continuously crumbled the Central African Republic’s foundation to a pulp. The most recent conflict in the CAR has not had much media attention, but the ethno-political strength of this crisis has grown more and more prevalent over the past year. Is religion the root of the problem? After extensive research from the International Organization for Migration, Patheos, and CNN.com, I will provide an argument on the notion that the religious factions are only part of the problem at hand. First, I will discuss the religious tensions in the state. Second, I will discuss the misdiagnosis of this conflict as genocide, and third, I will end with my own opinions and estimations.
The conflict started back in March of 2013 when CAR Muslim rebel group, also known as the Seleka, seized the government. Since seizing power last year, Seleka’s ten-month reign allowed for mass looting, murder, and extortion. These crimes have attracted many angry Muslims from the south, despite peacekeeper presence. When Seleka was forced to surrender authority under international pressure this January, Christian militias or ‘anti-Balaka’ set about analytically pushing Muslims from the southern regions. Thousands of Muslims in the Central African Republic remain in jeopardy of being killed despite the attendance of international mercenaries. What seemed to be continuous mass murders of thousands this past winter has finally come to a halt for right now, but inter-societal tensions are still viciously terrifying. Slayings, rapes, and other methods of ...
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...is violence seems to be predominantly political and sectarian and makes uses of existing religious differences and rhetoric. What is going on the in Central African Republic is neither a jihad nor a crusade. It is rather a struggle for political power with Bangui as the prize.
Works Cited
Black, Sandra. Fewer Bangui Displaced Plan to Return Home: IOM CAR Return Intention Survey . 6 May 2014. 7 May 2014 .
Muslim vs. Christian in the Central African Republic? 11 Feb 2014. 5 May 2014 .
Watkins, Tom. Humanitarian groups: Don't let CAR devolve into genocide. 1 May 2014. 5 May 2014 .
The analysis of the genocides that took place both in Rwanda and Sudan’s Darfur region exhibit some similarities as well as differences. The character of violence was similar in both cases, but in Rwanda the violence was more intense, participatory, and extraordinary. The violence in these two places took place in an environment that had experienced civil wars. It was a period of political transition which was further aggravated by ethnic nationalism and a conflict of ethnic populations that were living in close proximity. However, in the Rwandan genocide, the state is more centralized, compact, and effective. This is what explains the intensity and variation. The international response to these genocides through observers emphasized on using the genocide label to create domestic constituencies especially in the Rwandan case.
In the Darfur region, part of Sudan, a civil war (often referred to as genocide) has been occurring for approximately 8 years. The current conflict began in 2003 when rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, made up of the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit tribes took up arms against the government of Sudan because the non-Arab Sudanese felt oppressed and that the government was in favor of Sudanese Arabs. A previous period of conflict in Sudan-Darfur during 1985-1988 saw only 9,000 killed, while during the first 3 years of this most recent conflict, 2003-2006, over 200,000 Darfurians are believed to have been...
Reeves, Eric, Massimo Calabresi, Sam Dealey, and Stephan Faris. “The Tragedy of Sudan.” Time. Time Inc, 4 Oct. 2004. Web and Print. 15 April 2014. .
Political violence is action taken to achieve political goals that may include armed revolution, civil strife, terrorism, war or other such activities that could result in injury, loss of property or loss of life. Political violence often occurs as a result of groups or individuals believing that the current political systems or anti-democratic leadership, often being dictatorial in nature, will not respond to their political ambitions or demands, nor accept their political objectives or recognize their grievances. Formally organized groups, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), businesses and collectives of individual citizens are non-state actors, that being that they are not locally, nationally or internationally recognized legitimate civilian or military authorities. The Cotonou Agreement of 2000 defines non-state actors as being those parties belonging to the private sector, economic and social partners and civil society in all its forms according to national characteristics. Historical observation shows that nation states with political institutions that are not capable of, or that are resistant to recognizing and addressing societies issues and grievances are more likely to see political violence manifest as a result of disparity amongst the population. This essay will examine why non-state political violence occurs including root and trigger causes by looking at the motivations that inspire groups and individuals to resort to non-conforming behaviors that manifest as occurrences of non-state political violence. Using terrorism and Islamic militancy on the one side, and human rights and basic freedoms on the other as examples, it will look at these two primary kinds of political violence that are most prevalent in the world ...
"The Genocide in Darfur and Its Consequences." By Kallie Szczepanski. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
The purpose of this essay is to adequately depict the current conflict in Darfur and discuss the effects that the Darfur Conflict has had on the neighboring countries, the Horn of Africa region and U.S. interest. In addition, this essay will explore how Darfur Conflict affects global concerns.
The conflict between the anti-balaka (Christian militia members) and the Seleka (Muslim rebel militia members) is said to have begun in September of 2102, which was when the Seleka group started to gain momentum and power. In March of 2013, the Seleka rebel militia overthrew President François Bozizé (who was a Christian). The Seleka leader, Michel Djotodia took over and became the first Muslim president of the Central African Republic. Although Djotodia attempted to dissolve the radical Seleka group after their victory, the group refused to disband. Although this group was not a particularly religious group, they were made up of mostly Muslims. These Muslims spent most of their time going from town to town and destroying villages, killing Christians and anyone who supported former President François Bozizé. The anti-balaka group has been around since the 1990s and was initially created as a village self-defense force to protect villages from danger. It was not until recently that they had any issues with the Seleka. The two sides continued and still are fighting back and forth between one another and the violence has escalated to include attacking citizens and in...
An important facet of genocide that must be faced is there is a political value in committing such a violent act. Genocide no longer would bring about respec...
Stanton, Gregory H. "Genocides and Conflicts." World Without Genocide. World Without Genocide, 7 May 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
The government of Sudan is responsible for 'ethnic cleansing' and crimes against humanity in Darfur, which is located on Sudan's western border with Chad (. The Sudanese government, along with the Arab 'Janjaweed' militias they arm and support, have attacked the civilians of the African Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. These attacks involved massacres, summary executions of civilians, burnings of towns and villages, and the forceful depopulation of Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa land. The militia, Muslim like the African groups, have destroyed many religious artifacts including the desecrated Qorans that belong to their enemies (Human Rights Watch, 2004, p. 5).
Violence marks much of human history. Within the sociopolitical sphere, violence has continually served as a tool used by various actors to influence and/or to control territory, people, institutions and other resources of society. The twentieth century witnessed an evolution of political violence in form and in scope. Continuing into the twenty-first, advances in technology and social organization dramatically increase the potential destructiveness of violent tools. Western colonialism left a world filled with many heterogeneous nation-states. In virtually all these countries nationalist ideologies have combined with ethnic, religious, and/or class conflicts resulting in secessionist movements or other kinds of demands. Such conflicts present opportunities for various actors in struggles for wealth, power, and prestige on both national and local levels. This is particularly evident in Indonesia, a region of the world that has experienced many forms of political violence. The state mass killings of 1965-66 mark the most dramatic of such events within this region. My goal is to understand the killings within a framework of collec...
Embroiled in “Africa’s World War” for decades now; the Congolese are no strangers to instability and violence. Located in the heart of Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (commonly known as ‘Congo’) has for decades also been the centre of conflict in the formerly known ‘dark continent’.
Extremism manifests itself dangerously in the Islam religion (Palmer, Monte, and Princess Palmer, 37). The Muslim religion has some laws and believes that no one should question their design, origin or application. Good people should punish immoral people in Islam religion without showing mercy to them. In Islam, human beings have no right to offer forgiveness to others that can easily lead to and create peace to oneself in the society. The unforgiving nature makes human rights groups in many ways try to change and support governments that try to overthrow Muslim extremist governments. Such an approach creates a war never ending between the Muslim governments and other governments that fight the extremist ideals. In East Africa, Somalia presents a case example by observing how the Government is not able to control the ever fighting and dreadful Al-Shabaab. The “Al-Shabaab” is an Arab name for Muslim youth who over the years try to use enforce extremist rulers in governing the country and hence controlling the resources. Muslim fighters and rebels arm themselves with arsenals they use to fight groups that oppose them by killing and torturing them. The al-Shabaab launches attacks that kill people and openly claim responsibility for the losses and the deaths they cause. They also punish members who commit sin using the retrogressive laws of the Quran on the people they label sinners. Other extremist
Since its independence from the United Kingdom and Egypt, the country of Sudan has always been in constant ethnic and rebel conflicts. Ironically, the conflicts that Sudan engaged in can be found inside its territories instead of its neighboring countries. The dangerous situation of the country created many Sudanese refugees in the process. Out of fear of being slaughtered, raped and enslaved, many fled to neighboring states of Eritrea, Chad, Ethiopia, Uganda and Cent...
With a country that comprises about 200 ethnic groups with different religious backgrounds makes Cameroon a complex country altogether. The distinctive and unlike groups of many religions comprising of Christianity, Islam, and even Animalism may make outsiders conclude Cameroon to have many conflicts and wars in the country. However, ever since their independence from 1960, it has had no civil war, no religious clashes, no rebellion, and no violence. This case is very interesting because there are no other countries that are like Cameroon in the last few decades that has never had conflicts among others. With this in mind, it is important to analyze and evaluate as to how this country has managed such peace in the past till now. In spite of