Some of the cases of armed conflict in Africa mentioned in class, is the genocide in the Central African Republic. In 2012, Central African Republic (CAR) had a civil war between the Seleka rebel forces and the government. In the end, the Seleka was able to overthrow the president and replace him with Muslim leader Michel Djotodia. After the successful revolution, Djotodia disbanded the rebel forces throughout CAR. This showed civil war, a type of war, within the country. The war then led on to a guerrilla warfare.
The Seleka mostly consisted of Muslim militias, mercenaries, gang members. However, after the disbandment, raids and attacks were reported in villages and most of them were targeting Christian civilians. As the assaults carried on, the Christian civilians were defending themselves by forming the anti-Balaka, Christian militias. The hatred between the two groups gradually escalated to a genocide that fought due to different ideologies and religious conflict. The Seleka and the anti-Balaka soon started launching killings against each other, mostly targeting civilians. Not only were there massacres, there had been domestic and sexual violence, and even reports of cannibalism. These massacres and abuses had severely violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
There has been reports of child soldiers, rape, torture, illegal killings, secret abductions…etc, being conducted through both sides of the conflicts. The actions mentioned above are all violations against UDHR. However, the biggest violation that was made was the massacres in the villages. The Seleka rebel forces raided Christian communities and the anti-Balaka charged into Muslim villages and started killing upon arrival. It discriminates toward a person’s religion and also restricts a person’s freedom. These acts indicate religious conflict because both groups targeted the other due to their difference in religion. Weapons such as machetes and shotguns were used to kill these civilians. The forces killed children, women, men, elders..etc, through gruesome methods.
Although actions had been made concerning about the issue in the Central African Republic, the soldiers and peacekeepers were not able to stop these killings, according to Human Rights Watch. Besides not being capable to effectively eliminate the problem, peacekeepers has been abusing their power by being related to disappearances of families. The UN has been placing peacekeepers and the conflict is shifting to becoming a genocide. France, US, and the UK had also deployed troops. The EU also called banned any arms trade with the Central African Republic. The African Union deployed troops had played a more active role due to the similar Rwanda genocide of civilians killing civilians without mercy. Despite these actions, the conflict is still escalating. Another factor of why the conflict was prolonged was that when the crisis initial started, major countries decided to first evacuate their own citizens instead of trying to stop the killings at once.
Other reasons that the Central African Republic hadn’t received much humanitarian aid was because the country’s conflict isn’t well known. The country lacks interest for countries to intervene, unlike the Iraq War, in which the US were interested in invading Iraq due to their abundance in oil. However, in this case, there were not many interests in the Central African Republic. News and media hadn’t covered much about the country’s issue because of the danger escalating. Problems that may occur when securing the area, would be the difficulty to identify the “good” and “bad”. Since most of the people conducting the attacks are armed civilian mobs, and the only difference between the two sides are the religion they follow. Which is why trying to find out who is responsible for each killing may be difficult. It was a conduct of guerrilla warfare due to the fighters being hidden among the village, and no specific unity was involved to easily identify the enemy.
The conflict in Central African Republic is escalating, and we should all be trying to stop it despite our national interests and sovereignty. These are massacres against their own people, including women and children. Despite countries had already deployed some of the troops, they only gave them a minimal amount. Countries right now should put aside national sovereignty, and stop these murders being conducted day by day. If plans of stopping this conflict earlier, it wouldn’t had been so severe. Both sides had committed wrongs and should both be punished of crimes they had violated.
The Seleka mostly consisted of Muslim militias, mercenaries, gang members. However, after the disbandment, raids and attacks were reported in villages and most of them were targeting Christian civilians. As the assaults carried on, the Christian civilians were defending themselves by forming the anti-Balaka, Christian militias. The hatred between the two groups gradually escalated to a genocide that fought due to different ideologies and religious conflict. The Seleka and the anti-Balaka soon started launching killings against each other, mostly targeting civilians. Not only were there massacres, there had been domestic and sexual violence, and even reports of cannibalism. These massacres and abuses had severely violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
There has been reports of child soldiers, rape, torture, illegal killings, secret abductions…etc, being conducted through both sides of the conflicts. The actions mentioned above are all violations against UDHR. However, the biggest violation that was made was the massacres in the villages. The Seleka rebel forces raided Christian communities and the anti-Balaka charged into Muslim villages and started killing upon arrival. It discriminates toward a person’s religion and also restricts a person’s freedom. These acts indicate religious conflict because both groups targeted the other due to their difference in religion. Weapons such as machetes and shotguns were used to kill these civilians. The forces killed children, women, men, elders..etc, through gruesome methods.
Although actions had been made concerning about the issue in the Central African Republic, the soldiers and peacekeepers were not able to stop these killings, according to Human Rights Watch. Besides not being capable to effectively eliminate the problem, peacekeepers has been abusing their power by being related to disappearances of families. The UN has been placing peacekeepers and the conflict is shifting to becoming a genocide. France, US, and the UK had also deployed troops. The EU also called banned any arms trade with the Central African Republic. The African Union deployed troops had played a more active role due to the similar Rwanda genocide of civilians killing civilians without mercy. Despite these actions, the conflict is still escalating. Another factor of why the conflict was prolonged was that when the crisis initial started, major countries decided to first evacuate their own citizens instead of trying to stop the killings at once.
Other reasons that the Central African Republic hadn’t received much humanitarian aid was because the country’s conflict isn’t well known. The country lacks interest for countries to intervene, unlike the Iraq War, in which the US were interested in invading Iraq due to their abundance in oil. However, in this case, there were not many interests in the Central African Republic. News and media hadn’t covered much about the country’s issue because of the danger escalating. Problems that may occur when securing the area, would be the difficulty to identify the “good” and “bad”. Since most of the people conducting the attacks are armed civilian mobs, and the only difference between the two sides are the religion they follow. Which is why trying to find out who is responsible for each killing may be difficult. It was a conduct of guerrilla warfare due to the fighters being hidden among the village, and no specific unity was involved to easily identify the enemy.
The conflict in Central African Republic is escalating, and we should all be trying to stop it despite our national interests and sovereignty. These are massacres against their own people, including women and children. Despite countries had already deployed some of the troops, they only gave them a minimal amount. Countries right now should put aside national sovereignty, and stop these murders being conducted day by day. If plans of stopping this conflict earlier, it wouldn’t had been so severe. Both sides had committed wrongs and should both be punished of crimes they had violated.