Issue 3 – April 2013
TOPICS: Mali, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Somalia, Conflict Analysis
Coordinator:
Christian Chereji and Iustin Mureșanu
Content – Sommaire:
ARTICLES in Issue 3 – April 2013:
Mali. Conflict Analysis
Ionuț BADALE, Diana Cristina ISVORANU
Abstract:
The beginning of the 21st century brought about significant shifting trends in the predominant types of conflict that mankind was dealing with – as various conflict practitioners have often acknowledged. With a high degree of importance, magnitude, and prominence, the intrastate conflict is without a doubt a growing reality of our times, a reality impossible to ignore, as it affects human society at every level. Approached from a conflict practitioner perspective, in the present paper we strived to expose and analyze both context and elements of one of the most severe and highly publicized North African intrastate conflicts, which covered, for a year, one of the poorest countries from the African continent: The Republic of Mali. Far from claiming to be complete, the present paper performs its analysis through a bi-dimensional parallel approach, using the United
States Institute of Peace and International Network for Education in Emergencies conflict analysis frameworks for gaining a plus of comprehensiveness and for offering valuable insights regarding the elements underlying the Mali conflict. The analysis focuses first on the geographical and socio-cultural context, and in the second part on the main actors in the Malian conflict. Once the elements mentioned above have been scanned, the reader has gained the basic knowledge for going deeper into the analysis, thus allowing him/her to observe the multiple causes and the dynamics of the Malian conflict. Finally, the analysis appeals to Michael Lund`s Curve of Conflict in order to provide a visual timing framework upon the evolution of the conflict, as well as to serve as a basis for building other possible effective intervention strategies that could be implemented.
Key words:
Mali, France, Senegal, Tuareg, Al-Qaeda, Ansar-Dine, AQIM.
An Analysis of the Conflict in Afghanistan
Alexandru CRAINIC
Abstract:
The conflict in Afghanistan is very complex, with multiple implications, and it can be
analyzed, like every type of conflict, by using multiple tools and considering various aspects. This conflict is ongoing since 2001, making it one of the longest so far, and the reasons of its prolongation are numerous; some of them will be presented in the following paragraphs. We will go through the conflict history in the Afghan area as early as the British dominance in the 19th century, to the Russian intervention and through the American intervention in 2001. The important reasons and stages of this conflict will be emphasized in this paper, but the main focus will be on the most recent conflict started after the US intervention targeted to cut down a terrorist base located in Afghanistan. We will try to emphasize the most important causes for which the conflict emerged, the main actors, and the trigger causes that led to an ongoing complicated and unsecure situation
in Afghanistan. The latest conflict will be correlated with other similar conflicts that the country passed through in the 20th century.
Key words:
Afghanistan, Pashtun, British Empire, Soviet Union, United States, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek,
Turkmen.
Etwi, Ntul, Nkwifoyn and Foyn: Sites, Objects and Human Beings in Conflict Resolution in Precolonial Kom (Cameroon)
Walter Gam NKWI
Abstract:
Literature on conflict resolution the world over is replete. But literature on sites and
instruments dealing with conflict resolution in Africa is largely inadequate and completely scarce in Cameroon historiography. The present paper attempts to fill this gap by focusing on the importance and role of sites and human beings in resolving conflicts in pre-colonial Kom of the Northwest Cameroon, popularly known in colonial historiography as Bamenda Grassfields. The article confronts these sites and instruments, using mostly archival data and interviews with those who were involved in the activities, to prove that pre-colonial Africa had a well defined mechanism for resolving conflict long before European colonialism set foot on the continent. The article takes Kom as a case study.
Key words:
Africa, Cameroon, Kom, Etwi, Ntul, Nkwifoyn, Foyn, Bamenda, Bamenda Grassfields.
Somalia – When Will the Struggle End?
Ofelia ZAHA
Abstract:
Somalia is an African country which hasn’t really known peace, stability and prosperity
in the last 60 years although in the media the year 1991 is considered to be the starting point of the civil war. First of all, in my paper I will start with a short description of Somalia’s situation and organization in the pre colonial era, colonial period, during democracy, communism and in the end civil war. Secondly, once the base is formed I will continue in detail about the events that occurred after 1991. With this occasion I will describe the escalation factors, the triggers that kept the conflict going and the conditions that contribute to peace. Furthermore, the actors will be grouped in primary, secondary, other parties and peace makers. Because every conflict has a struggle for resources at its core I will proceed with exemplifying them for all the actors. Taking into consideration the complexity of this case there will be a focus on the facts regarding the present situation.
Finally, after so much information has been reviewed suppositions will be made on the future trends with an invitation to meditate on the course that this conflict will take.
Kew words:
Somalia, Siad Barre, Somaliland, al-Shabab, al-Qaeda.
