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Diagnosing Africa Conflict 诊断非洲冲突
A new research project focuses on Africa’s capacity to prevent, contain and resolve conflicts. The Canadian-based Center for International Governance Innovation said a better understanding is needed of the dimensions of armed conflict and power struggles.
The center, known as CIGI, has released a report called Conflict in Africa: Diagnosis1 and Response. It considered how political violence, weak institutions, ethnicity, religion and identity contribute to conflict on the continent.
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker, a distinguished2 fellow with CIGI’s Global Security & Politics Program, said, “We were not only looking at violent extremism. We’re looking at other kinds of conflict patterns that exist, including conflicts that are spawned3 by criminal networks – conflicts that are aggravated4 by pirates and by traffickers – conflicts that are simply based on based on identity struggles and struggles for power between different competing groups. What’s going on in Burundi right now is basically a power struggle.”
As for violent extremism, the U.S., France and others have helped African countries deal with the threat. But Crocker said a military response is not enough. The root causes must be addressed.
“In some cases,” he said, “what happens is that there’s a weak state with a limited capacity in remote areas of a country. We’ve just seen that pattern in Nigeria with Boko Haram. And you know that some of the people who get recruited and sucked in to those kinds of movements like Boko Haram basically don’t have any other career options and they’re unemployable and unemployed5. And the government has ignored them and the local authorities haven’t known what to do with them. And so, you know, nature abhors6 a vacuum and Bobo Haram has filled it.”
Crocker said Boko Haram militants7 understand how to lure8 recruits.
“We can help you. We can deliver things to you. We can give you jobs. We can give you guns. That sort of thing. So, as I just said, you’ve got to watch out for vacuums. Vacuums are dangerous. And so the answers are not just military. They’re also in terms of governance in a broad sense,” he said.
The CIGI report described Africa’s conflicts as “diverse and complex, and efforts at managing and resolving them are mixed.”
“Well, it’s primarily Africa’s job and the job of African countries and African governments and leaders to address those issues. And I would underscore that. I don’t think anyone from the outside world can solve those problems, but we can certainly partner with African partners in helping9 to deal with them. And we do it, I would say, both institutionally and we do it selectively. And this is not charity. This is not dependence10. This is mutuality11 and inter-dependence between African states and societies and Africa’s friends outside,” said Crocker.
The Georgetown University professor of strategic studies said closer cooperation benefits all involved. One example of cooperation, he said, is Nigeria’s neighbors lending military support to fight Boko Haram.
“We don’t want to see bad guys get established in more areas of Africa. It’s not good for the West. It’s not good for Europe. It’s not good for the United States for that matter or for the Middle East. We also don’t want to see more boat people desperately12 becoming the victims of traffickers and drowning in the Mediterranean13. So, there are lots of reasons to be engaged,” he said.
The Center for International Governance Innovation report said policymakers and civil society also must cooperate more closely to counter violent extremism.
Crocker said, “What we’d like to see is stronger recognition that the coercive tools may open the door, open the window, for constructive14 initiatives. But they don’t provide solutions by themselves. You need to be able to connect the actions of peacekeepers to the actions of mediators. You need to connect the action of mediators to the people who live in these societies, ordinary societies, at the village level and at the town level and at the city level.”
He added that a regional approach is needed to address many of Africa’s problems.
“I think the toughest problems that Africa faces in the security space are regional problems where you have a large state that finds it difficult to provide governance all the way across the country, for example, the DRC. That becomes a regional problem for the DRC’s neighbors and vice-versa. They interfere15 across borders in both directions. It’s also a regional question when you look at the Sahel and the armed militias16 that have sprung up in the wake of the overthrow17 of Gadhafi in Libya.”
CIGI said that “even highly sophisticated approaches to conflict management, such as the United Nations, can affect only some of the dynamics18 of conflict.”
The Conflict in Africa report recommended ending power struggles – like in Burundi – by “using incentives19 to negotiate an agreement or consent to elections rather than using force to settle the dispute.”
For weak institutions, it called on donors20 to “focus on building up more representative and responsive governmental institutions.”
And for identity divisions, the CIGI report recommended NGOs and others help “build relationships between antagonists,” through dialogue, people-to-people programs and problem- solving workshops.
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1
diagnosis
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| n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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spawned
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| （鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产 | |
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aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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unemployed
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| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
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6
abhors
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| v.憎恶( abhor的第三人称单数 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
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militants
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| 激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 ) | |
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lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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mutuality
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| n.相互关系，相互依存 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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militias
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| n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 ) | |
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overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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dynamics
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| n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态 | |
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incentives
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| 激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机 | |
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donors
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| n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者 | |
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