Africa's Wars, Woes And The Elusive Peace : Strategic Options To Peace Building

Abstract

Africa has been rated as having the largest number of armed conflicts with about 15 countries having been homes of armed conflicts in the recent past. Building lasting peace in some of the war torn countries has been a daunting challenge for global, regional and national peace building initiatives. Regrettably, there is no peace anywhere in sight in a number of states despite the fact that, almost half of the 51 United Nations States Peace Keeping missions have been deployed to Africa. Although there are nations that have emerged painfully from the devastating conflicts, some have slid back into violence eroding the minimal peace gains realized. Again, despite the increase in democratic regimes, contested elections have in some places resulted in violence and chaos derailing the very process of democracy. Anarchy in one country more often than not has spill effects in neighboring countries. Most warring African states have to grapple with problems of proliferation of small arms and light weapons which are easily and cheaply available due to porous borders; lack of controls and stringent legislation as well as religious and ethnic intolerance. Worse still, there are states that have fueled conflicts in their own countries and facilitated the plunder of their own resources by making payments for arms in kind through mining concessions and allowing access to significant natural resources. Arms embargoes have proved futile in cases where states have discovered the trick of ‘triangulation.’ This paper catalogues the recurrent conflicts in some pockets of Africa and why peace remains a mirage in these countries. It also examines the fresh outbreaks of violence and highlights factors militating against peace building efforts. This paper advocates for strategic peace building which has a stakeholder involvement approach that can guarantee sustained peace.