Current Event - Totalitarian Restrictions or Ethnic Conflict

Ethnic Conflict in Central Sahel
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Ethnic Conflicts in Central Sahel
The article from the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (2020) highlights the unfortunate circumstances that befell the Central Sahel, the region bordering the Sahara and dominated by Mali, Burkina Faso, and some part of the Niger. Ethnic militia, community self-defense groups, and the wars between armed Islamist groups and state forces were order of the day in the region. According to the United Nations Office in West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), over 4000 people lost their lives as a result of the ethnic and terror attacks in the region in 2019 (Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, 2020). The Fulani and Dogon ethnic groups of Mali are the major conflicting groups, with the Fulani being dominated by the Islamist groups. The state security forces often intervene in the fight against the armed militia and the Islamic terrorists, leading to more casualties. The number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) has grown exponentially in the recent past, with a record of 1.5 million IDPs and close to 4000 schools being closed.
As per the article, the main cause of the ethnic conflicts in the region is the fight for resources, particularly grazing land and water (Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, 2020). Other contributing factors include the porous international borders, weak government institutions, easy access to arms, and adverse climatic conditions. The conflicts further disrupt other activities that support livelihood like farming, hence threatening the availability of food products in the region. The efforts of international security forces and peacekeepers from the United Nations (UN) seem to bear no fruits, with some becoming casualties. Other international interventions include the sentencing of some of the perpetrators in the International Court of Justice, state sanctions, and the condemnation of the recent coup in Mali.
The conflict in the Central Sahel has led to an extreme violation of human rights. It has also exposed the inability of the subject governments to contain the internal conflicts that have prevailed under their watch. The governments of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger even play a role in exacerbating the conflicts by engaging ethnic militia in battles. It the contemporary era of globalization, global activities including businesses and administrations thrive where there is peaceful coexistence among the host communities (Esman & Telhami, 2019). Global investors are made well aware of the heightened tension of ethnic conflicts in the ...