Monday, December 22, 2008

DEVELOPMENT AS A TOOL FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION.

1.0 Introduction.
This paper is intended to provide a thorough and detailed analysis regarding the major causes and impacts of social, economic and political conflicts in Africa in general and Tanzania in particular. The discussion will be divided into two phases,that is; during colonial and post independence periods.

1.1 CONFLICTS IN THE AFRICAN CONTINENT:
Africa has witnessed various kinds of conflicts.the causes of such conflicts may be classifiend into:

2.0 FACTORS CONTRIBUTED TO CONFLICTS IN AFRICA


2.1 THE LEGACY OF EUROPEAN COLONIALISM
European colonialism had a devastating impact on Africa. The artificial boundaries created by colonial rulers as they ruled and finally left Africa had the effect of bringing together many different ethnic people within a nation that did not reflect, nor have (in such a short period of time) the ability to accommodate or provide for, the cultural and ethnic diversity. The freedom from imperial powers was, and is still, not a smooth transition. The natural struggle to rebuild is proving difficult (www.wikipedia- visited on 29th August 2008).


2.2 Artificial Borders Created by Imperial Europe
In the 1870s, European nations were bickering over themselves about the spoils of Africa. In order to prevent further conflict between them, they convened at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 to lay down the rules on how they would partition up Africa between themselves.
Between 1870 and World War I alone, the European scramble for Africa resulted in the adding of around one-fifth of the land area of the globe to its overseas colonial possessions.
Colonial administrations started to take hold. In some areas, Europeans were encouraged to settle, thus creating dominant minority societies. France even planned to incorporate Algeria into the French state; such was the power at the time. In other cases, the classic “divide and conquer” techniques had to be used to get local people to help administer colonial administrations. Some were only too willing to help for their own ends. In most areas colonial administrations did not have the manpower or resources to fully administer the territory and had to rely on local power structures to help them. Various factions and groups within the societies exploited this European requirement for their own purposes, attempting to gain a position of power within their own communities by cooperating with Europeans [(Richard H. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, (Allyn and Bacon, 2002), p. 302)]. One aspect of this struggle included what Terrence Ranger has termed the “invention of tradition.” In order to legitimize their own claims to power in the eyes of both the colonial administrators, and their own people, people would essentially manufacture “traditional” claims to power, or ceremonies. As a result many societies were thrown into disarray by the new order (www.histoty of Africa.wikipedia-visited on 29thAugust 2008). Also, if the second world war(1939 -1945) just of 6 years duration has pervaded the consciousness of our developed world for 2 generations and imagine how the African continent for 4 centuries of enslavement might have seized the entire social and cultural ethos of an undeveloped continent( Bob Geldof, Why Africa? Bob Geldof Speaks at St. Paul’s Cathedral, DATA.org, April 21, 2004)


2.3 Unequal International Trade; Comparative Disadvantage
Colonialism had thus transformed an entire continent. Vast plantations and cash crop-based or other extractive economies were set up throughout. Even as colonial administrators parted, they left behind supportive elites that, in effect, continued the siphoning of Africa’s wealth. Thus has colonialism had a major impact on the economics of the region today. According to the Tanzanian Father of the nation, the late Mwalimu JK Nyerere, about 85 percent of Africans during colonial times and soon after their independences were illiterate. The British ruled Tanganyika for over 43 years. When they left in 1961, Tanganyika had only 2 trained engineers and 12 doctors. Such a situation forced African to rely on their colonial masters. Quoting the late Mwalimu, It seems that independence of the former colonies has suited the interests of the industrial world for bigger profits at less cost. Independence made it cheaper for them to exploit us. We became neo-colonies’. — Julius Nyerere interviewed by Ikaweba Bunting, The Heart of Africa, New Internationalist Magazine, Issue 309, January-February 1999 (Emphasis Added)
International trade and economic arrangements have done little to benefit the African people and has further exacerbated the problem. IMF/World Bank policies like Structural Adjustment have aggressively opened up African nations with disastrous effects, including the requirements to cut back on health, education (and AIDS is a huge problem), public services and so on, while growing food and extracting resources for export primarily, etc, thus continuing the colonial era arrangement.


The resulting increased poverty of Sub-Saharan Africa and the immense burden of debt have further crippled Africa’s ability to develop. Referring to the theory of comparative advantage, the country produces that it can produce cheaper than any other can and sells it to others in exchange for that which they can produce cheaper. The invisible hand of the market will of itself sort out any inequities in this system allowing for the appropriately correct level of development to any particular producer. However, colonialists distorted this view by deciding that Africa’s comparative advantage was its poverty. As a result, in Africa, existing patterns of farming were wiped away and huge plantations of single non-native crops were developed, always with the need of European processing industry in mind. There was a global transfer of foreign plants to facilitate this — tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber etc., The result was the erosion of the soil, forerunner of the desertification evident today. Moreover, with the erosion came steadily decreasing quantities of already scarce local food grown on marginal lands by labourers working for pitiful wages. Bob Geldof


2.4 Cold War by Proxy; Supporting and Arming Dictatorships in Africa


Throughout the Cold War, major powers such as the U.S.A, the Soviet Union and others supported various regimes and dictatorships. Some possibly promising leaders in the early days of the independence movements throughout the Third World were overthrown. There was disregard from the major powers as to how this would affect the people of these countries. Quoting William D. Harting and Bridget Moix ‘Deadly Legacy: The US Arms to Africa and the Congo War’, indicates that $1.5 billion worth of weapons to Africa has come from the U.S. alone(World Policy Institute, January 2000), also Europe for example, was able to “exploit Africa’s resources” to help rebuild after World War II.. The proliferation of small arms in the region when the Cold War ended has helped fuel many conflicts. Corporate interests and activities in Africa have also contributed to exploitation, conflict and poverty for ordinary people while enriching African and foreign elites. The easy access to natural resources to maintain and fuel rebellions (combined with corporate interests) makes for a nasty combination.
A lack of support for basic rights in the region, plus a lack of supporting institutions, as well as the international community’s political will to do something about it and help towards building peace and stability has also been a factor. A World Bank report notes that “politics and poverty cause civil wars, not ethnic diversity.” It also points out that in Africa, failed institutions are also a cause. It adds that where there is ethnic diversity, there is actually less chance for civil wars, as long as there is not just a small number of very large ethnic groups, or ethnic polarization.


2.5 Other Causes Of Conflicts in Africa:


For the June 2002 G8 summit, a briefing was prepared by Action for Southern Africa and the World Development Movement. In that, they also pointed out similar causes to the above, when looking at the wider issue of economic problems as well as political:
Referring the G8 Summit that was held in June 2002, at the summit, it was ratified that, ‘It is undeniable that there has been poor governance, corruption and mismanagement in Africa. However, the briefing reveals the context — the legacy of colonialism, the support of the G8 for repressive regimes in the Cold War, the creation of the debt trap, the massive failure of Structural Adjustment Programmes imposed by the IMF and World Bank and the deeply unfair rules on international trade. The role of the G8 in creating the conditions for Africa’s crisis cannot be denied. Its overriding responsibility must be to put its own house in order, and to end the unjust policies that are inhibiting Africa’s development.


3.0 EFFECTS OF CONFLICTS IN AFRICA


The costs of African conflicts during the Cold War can be estimated in a variety of ways. Loss of lives, including those by war-related famines, is the most obvious. Between 1945 and 1989, African wars related to the Cold War took the lives of about 5.5 million people, mostly civilians. More difficult to assess are economic, social, and cultural losses due to the overall devastation of the country. Civilian populations, especially farmers and other food producers, were often the primary victims. In many countries Cold War conflicts aggravated existing food shortages caused by drought and poverty. In the mid-1980s a massive drought struck much of Africa, and ongoing wars in Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Sudan transformed the drought into a full-scale famine that took more than one million lives. Cold War-related fighting also caused massive population shifts in Africa, creating an estimated 10 million internally-displaced persons (refugees within a country) and about 4.3 million international refugees. In addition, Cold War conflicts also disrupted education and health care and inflicted serious physical and psychological wounds on many of the survivors. The wars also resulted in gross violations of human rights, including, rape, torture, and illegal imprisonment. In some countries the chaos of these wars also led to a breakdown in community ties, cultural integrity, and social cohesiveness.

The Cold War also took a toll on many African countries because they spent money on their militaries that might have been better spent on schools, roads, hospitals, clinics, and other badly needed services. Although Cold War secrecy still makes estimating the total cost of the Cold War in Africa almost impossible, at the peak of the superpower rivalry in the late 1970s annual military spending by African governments averaged about $23 per person. Between 1960 and 1986, military expenditures increased from more than $1 billion to nearly $13 billion. This represented an increase in military spending from 0.9 percent to 3.6 percent of gross domestic product. The dedication of resources to the military meant less money for health care, education, and other important priorities. In the late 1970s, for example, for every 100,000 African people there were 290 soldiers but only 46 doctors. Africa’s five largest wars during the 1980s cost around $100 billion. Annual expenditures on weapons rose from $1.2 billion in the period from 1950 to 1952 to about $15 billion by 1979. (Encarta Reference Library,2005)


4.0 MAJOR CAUSES AND IMPACTS OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CONFLICTS IN TANZANIA
Like other any African country, Tanzania experienced more or less the same situation. Regionally, Tanzania has good relation with its neighbouring countries. However, in early 1970s and 1980s, the country had a boarder conflict with Uganda and had to fight in 1979 due to invasion of Idd Amin Dadaa’s troops who invaded Kagera. This was one of the devastative wars ever fought by Tanzania. Since then, the economy suffered a lot and had failed to recover. On the other hand, the ongoing conflicts in the neighbouring countries like Burundi, Rwanda and Sometimes in Mozambique in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had flooded Tanzania with a large number of refugees. The influx of refugees has destabilized peace, tranquillity and harmony in the respective Tanzanian regions, which has hosted the refugees. With them, refugees have brought guns and other arms, which in turn are used banditry and robbery. Some have even brought landmines that have caused social and economic unrest.
5.0 POST – CONFLICT DEVELOPMENT
The International Rescue Committee is one of the first organizations to respond to a crisis, but we also stay throughout the recovery phase. We program along the continuum of relief through post-conflict recovery, supporting conflict-impacted communities and countries in their transition to sustainable peace and development. Building on 75 years of experience, we operate in more than 25 protracted and post-conflict countries in Africa, Asia, South America and Eastern Europe, conducting a range of developmental programs to assist communities attempting to find durable solutions to conflict.The nature of conflict in the world is changing, impacting communities in very different ways than past wars. Environmental change and urbanization are relatively modern forces of conflict and displacement that have entered the global stage joining the traditional causes: weak to poor governance, ethnicity, religion and nationalistic ideologies. Modern wars no longer take place on the battlefield. In the wars of the 1950’s, the death rate of soldiers to civilians was 9 to 1. Today, the reverse is true: for every soldier killed, nine civilians die.
Civilians are often targeted in internal civil conflicts and the broader forces of environmental change and urbanization do not discriminate between those dressed in uniforms and those who are not. The root causes of today’s conflicts will not be quickly extinguished; conflicts will be long-term, with lasting consequences. In modern warfare countries are not only physically destroyed, but the human capital and social fabric are torn asunder.As a result of these changing forces, assistance to war impacted communities cannot solely be provision of humanitarian assistance. Assistance must also attempt to restore and strengthen physical and social institutions, as well as (re) build and restore social cohesion, trust and confidence between people and between people and their institutions. It is through these combined efforts that we can perhaps best help


5.1 Social programs: International Redcross Committee places specific emphasis on rebuilding the health, public infrastructure and education sectors, linking grass-roots interventions with sustainable development. Additionally, we are committed as an organization to working with communities on programming surrounding gender based violence beyond emergencies. 5.2 Economic programs Extreme poverty, exacerbated by the socio-economic impact of war, can create precisely the framework conducive to renewed violence. If stability is ever to hold and reconstruction is to be sustainable, then effort must focus on rebuilding the livelihoods and economic development capacity of conflict-impacted communities. One of the key issues in post-conflict societies is that of youth unemployment. Commonly in these settings, youth comprise a large proportion of the population and often head households. IRC’s Economic Recovery & Development programs are implemented using field tested best practices for economic and livelihood recovery and development. 5.3 Governance programsEvidence shows that most of today's conflicts are the result of failed states and repressive or dysfunctional systems, and that when good governance principles are applied and supported by a functioning civil society and the rule of law, disputes can be resolved through peaceful means and socio-economic development can flourish. IRC seeks to assist communities not only after, but also during conflict to create basic institutions responsive to the populations' needs, to ensure communities have a voice within those institutions, and that they have the capacity to manage them for their own socio-economic development. This is expressed in programs aiming at supporting civil society, enhancing protection and the RoL, and rebuilding ties between local governments and their constituencies, especially in conjunction with decentralization policies.
6.0 CONCLUSION
Most of the conflicts that Africa and its countries like Tanzania are witnessing have their root causes from the legacy of colonial era.The devastation from such conflicts justifies for remedial and compensation from the former colonial powers just as they have done to some Asian countries.African countries should demand compensation from the damages from the conflicts caused by the European nations.

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