Why So Many Wars In Africa?

Africa's Forever Wars: Why The Continent's Conflicts Never End. -- Jeffrey Gettleman, Foreign Policy

There is a very simple reason why some of Africa's bloodiest, most brutal wars never seem to end: They are not really wars. Not in the traditional sense, at least. The combatants don't have much of an ideology; they don't have clear goals. They couldn't care less about taking over capitals or major cities -- in fact, they prefer the deep bush, where it is far easier to commit crimes. Today's rebels seem especially uninterested in winning converts, content instead to steal other people's children, stick Kalashnikovs or axes in their hands, and make them do the killing. Look closely at some of the continent's most intractable conflicts, from the rebel-laden creeks of the Niger Delta to the inferno in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and this is what you will find.

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Update: Why Are There So Many Coups in West Africa? -- John Hudson, The Atlantic

My Comment: I (personally) concur with Jeffrey Gettleman's position on what is happening in Africa today (posted above), but Dan Murphy from the Christian Science Monitor does not believe the situation is that bad.