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 .
Stanton, Gregory H. "Genocides and Conflicts." World Without Genocide. World Without Genocide, 7 May 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
During the 1900’s two deadly wars were raging on, the civil war in Sierra Leone and the genocide in Rwanda. The civil war in Sierra Leone began in March 1991, while the genocide began in 1994. Combined these two wars killed upward of 1,050,000 people, and affected the lives of all the people that lived there. The conflicts in Sierra Leone and Rwanda occurred for different major reasons, but many little aspects were similar. Politics and Ethnicity were the two main conflicts, but despite the different moments rebellions and the murder of innocent people occurred in both places.
United Nations. Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. New York: , 2010. Web. .
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 ...
As of February 2003 more than four-hundred thousand Darfuri citizens have been found slaughtered on the side of the streets of their home town. Prior to 2003, Darfur, Sudan has a population of six million people. In 2003, two rebel groups came to the conclusion of the government’s neglect in decision to rise against the government of Sudan. As a result, the Sudanese government unleashed the forces of Arab militias (also known as the Janjaweed). With blood on their hands, the Janjaweed have been the accused for the misplacing of many villages and people. As the war seems to expand, the Sudanese government seems to oppose any association with the Janjaweed. In spite of continuing a limited amount of humanitarian aid, many are still in contact with dreadful food shortages and disease. The U.N. (United Nations) has ventured in sending humanitarian aid repeatedly, but the Janjaweed have reused all help. Despite the ignorance of the Janjaweed, the U.N. is in the process of securing the comfort of all Darfur citizens, and not only for the foreigners, but for the road that lies ahead of Sudan as well (Reeves).
"Center Update: Case Studies on Religion and Conflict." The Berkley Center. Georgetown University, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2012.
The acts of violence that were performed by rebels in Africa were horrific. Adults and children were murdered, mutilated, tortured, and raped. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone performed despicable acts of cutting off a people's body parts with machetes to instill fear in the community. If you were working in the diamond mines and not performing up to the standards of the rebels you would lose a body part as punishment. Rebels would continue to do this from one village to another in order “to take control of the mines in the area” (Hoyt). It is estimated that in Sierra Leone that over 20,000 people suffered mutilation. The acts that the rebels performed to these innocent victims was clearly a violation to their human rights. The RUF collected 125 million a year to fund their war on the government and the people of Sierra Leone.
"Rwanda Genocide." Global Issues in Context Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Global Issues In Context. Web. 12 Apr. 2010.
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...
Springer, Jane. Genocide: A Groundwork Guide. Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press, 2006. (Accessed March 7, 2014).
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...
Various schools of thought exist as to why genocide continues at this deplorable rate and what must be done in order to uphold our promise. There are those who believe it is inaction by the international community which allows for massacres and tragedies to occur - equating apathy or neutrality with complicity to evil. Although other nations may play a part in the solution to genocide, the absolute reliance on others is part of the problem. No one nation or group of nations can be given such a respo...
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
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When Congo gained its independence from Belgium it struggled to develop and remained a weak state. There were many factors that led to Congo being unable to progress and create strong institutions within its countries borders. “Political divisions along the ethnic lines were prevalent, though this fact could be misleading. Ethnicity became the primary source of political mobilization i...