The spread of conflicts in Africa poses a threat to global security. Discuss the fundamental root causes of conflicts on the African continent.

Conflict defined
A conflict refers to a state of disharmony between incompatible or antithetical persons, ideas, or interests and may mean a clash. It can also mean a disagreement through which the parties involved perceive a threat to their needs, interests or concerns.
INTRODUCTION
Africa today is a battlefield in many countries. On many occasions there are killings, burning, destroying, looting of property and corruption in many countries across the continent. Africa is yet to find a lasting solution to the conflicts in Sudan and the eastern part of the DRC. In Somalia a fratricidal/brother war has made the country ungovernable despite the presence of some African Union peacekeepers. The conflict in Madagascar, the Delta Region of Nigeria and Guinea still poses a problem. Kenya and Zimbabwe have managed to solve a post-election conflict but the underlying root causes need addressing. In Uganda the peace agreement between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony is not yet signed, and Joseph Kony and his commanders continue to commit atrocities outside Uganda in the areas of Central Africa Republic and DRC.
Despite other hot spots for war, Africa consistently remains among the top places for ongoing conflicts, consisting of both long standing civil wars as already highlighted in Somalia and conflicts between countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea's border wars after the latter's independence from the former.
The causes of African conflicts are very diverse and complex. There are many theories about the root causes of conflicts in Africa which include but not limited to historical, psychological, anthropological, sociological, demographical rationalist, economic, Marxist and political science theories.
However, there are a number of common root causes of conflicts throughout the continent as highlighted below;
First of all in conditions of lack of democracy, and respect for human rights, lack of transparency, lack of proper checks and balances, lack of good governance the stakes become increasingly high. And when, as is the case of some countries, political parties are usually regionally or ethnically based, this kind of ethnicity exacerbates conflicts in society. As ethnicity is politicized, groups begin to believe that they have to capture state power, democratically or undemocratically, to survive not as a nation but as a group. This in turn causes bloody conflicts within such countries or societies.
Secondly, poverty has been identified as the fundamental cause of conflict on the African continent. In this context, poverty refers to the lack of basic human needs faced by certain segments of African societies. Without taking major steps against poverty, hunger and deprivation, conflicts in Africa will be difficult to deal with.
Also the issue of the legacy of European colonialism had a lot of impact on conflicts on the continent. The artificial borders created by the colonialists left many ethnic groupings in Africa and this has remained a major root cause of conflicts in Africa.
Further more unequal international trade/comparative advantage has done more bad than good to minimize conflicts in Africa. This is simply because Africa cannot compete favourably with developed nations in the international trade because of hostile IMF/World bank policies like structural adjustment programs (SAPs) which have left more conflicts than solutions on the African continent. For example cutting back on health, education and manpower retrenchment in government organizations cannot go without causing conflicts in African communities.
Another element fuelling conflicts is the struggle for natural resources. Natural resources have played a key role in the conflicts that have plagued a number of African countries over the last decade, both motivating and fuelling armed conflicts. Revenues from the exploitation of natural resources are not only used for sustaining armies but also for personal enrichment and building political support. As a result, they can become obstacles to peace as leaders of armed groups involved in exploitation are unwilling to give up control over these resources. Even when conflict gives way to a fragile peace, control over natural resources and their revenues often stays in the hands of a small elite group and is not used for broader development of the country.

In addition, we should remember the Cold War period where the activities of the super-powers in the name of democracy, "anti-communism" and "socialist revolutions" fuelled many of Africa's conflicts and under development. Africa was sacrificed on the altar of the cold war. At the end of the cold war "democratic anti-communist" or "socialist" states were simply deserted. Without the external political, military and economical support some African states could not sustain the undemocratic, neo-colonial system, and their political hold on economic and political power. This historical setting has remained another major source of conflicts in some African countries.
Africa’s conflicts are also compounded by the fact that "war is profitable". People, who are making money out of war, have a financial interest to ensure that conflicts continue. But such phenomena are not unique to Africa alone as other continents face the same situations world over.

However the above situation can change if Africans observe the following;
First all conflict prevention and resolution and people centered development therefore demands a striving for good governance, inter alia, respect for human rights and rule of law, promotion of transparency and accountability in government and enhancing of administrative and institutional capacity.
Also as Africa today is freed from the shackles of Cold War, it is not dangerous to proclaim that economic, social and cultural rights, that is the right to sustainable development that benefits the people, the right to life, the right to work, education and health is as important as political and civil rights. This will considerably reduce conflicts on the continent.
As despots and dictators flourish in an environment of abject poverty, a sad reality for the vast majority of Africans. Africa leaders and people therefore should tackle the issue of poverty if we want to ensure that democracy, good governance and the rule of law are not only achieved but sustained. Hence conflicts minimized.
The time is long past when anyone could claim ignorance about what was happening in Africa, or what was needed to achieve peace. The time is also past when the responsibilities for producing change could be shifted on to peoples’ shoulders. It is a responsibility African people must all face hence solve the problem of conflicts.
African leaders need to ensure that there are systems which take into account African specifics so that, while being truly democratic and protecting human rights, they are nevertheless designed in ways which really ensure that peaceful means can be used to address the competing interests of different social groups in each country. Hence conflicts tackled.
Conflicts on the African continent could be minimized by establishing the institutions and procedures which would enable the continent to collectively deal with questions of democracy, peace and stability for the good of the continent.
African people have been empowered with skills to embrace means of facilitating a peaceful and mutual benefiting co-existence of communities to minimize conflict situations.
Finally Africans should develop new visions on the future of Africa where people will experience peace and stability, development, integration, common ideals, values and interests to achieve peace on the continent.
CONCLUSION
Although this presentation has focused on the causes of conflict within African countries, much of the analysis is relevant to the international situations.
Poverty, political, social and economic inequalities between groups predispose to conflict; policies to tackle them will reduce this risk as seen above.
It is believed that eight out of ten of the world's poorest countries are suffering, or have recently suffered, from large scale violent conflicts. Wars in developing countries have heavy human, economic, and social costs and are a major cause of poverty and underdevelopment hence violent conflicts.



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