Ethnic identity and conflicts in Africa

Abstract

The upsurge of ethnic identity conflict in Africa poses a challenge to the African state system and international political order. The present nature of the African state system provides the basis for ethnic identity conflict in different parts of Africa in countries such as Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Cameroon, Uganda, Mali, Chad, among others. This chapter takes a retrospective view of the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial state-formation process and ethnic policy. The study reveals that certain world events, specifically the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the inevitable end of the Cold War, have contributed to the increasing rise of ethnic identity conflict in Africa. It concludes that the deep-seated animosity among ethnic groups arises from deliberate state policy that marginalizes, segregates and alienates minority groups in the state.