CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUTION
- BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Conflicts are common and unavoidable in all human society. All over the world, conflicts occur because society is made up of people with differing interests and values. In most societies, conflicts occur when parties in a state of independence perceives divergent views or believe that their aspirations or goals cannot be achieved simultaneously. Therefore, it is only natural that where there is inequality in access to the control of natural resources and political power for instance, there would be discontent, opposition and controversy.
Africa is a vast continent with different peoples and cultures. There has been increasing number of violent conflicts in Africa, especially during the end of the cold war. A number of violent conflicts have erupted in both developed and developing countries, inflicting sufferings and pains on the people and placing enormous stress on the environment. African countries are plagued by the crisis of Perverted religion, sectional and political upheavals.
Africa is perhaps the most devastated by internal conflicts and with catastrophic consequences. Introducing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) mechanism for preventing, managing and resolving conflicts to the OAU council of ministers at Dakar, Senegal, in 1992, the then General secretary Salim Ahmed Salim, emphasized that:
“Conflicts have cast a dark shadow over the prospects for a united, secure and prosperous Africa
which we seek to create…. Conflicts have caused immense suffering to our people and, in the worst
case, death. Men, women and children have been uprooted, dispossessed, deprived of their means of livelihood and thrown into exile as refuges as a result of conflicts. Conflicts have engendered hate and division among our people and undermined the prospects of the long term stability and unity of our countries and Africa as a whole. Since much energy, time and resources have been devoted to meeting the exigencies of conflict, our countries have been unable to harness the energies of our people and target them to development.
These conflicts have been fuelled by uncontrolled accumulation and proliferation of small arms and light weapons, begetting increased criminality, banditry, cross-border crime and emergence of the phenomenon of child soldiers. Though internal, most of these conflicts spill over into neighboring countries causing wide spread of regional insecurity and instability despite the presence of the United States‟ conflict resolution processes and all other peace keeping actors.