With their respective forces so close to multiple front lines, potential flash points abound. In Sudan, Lebanon, and Venezuela, to mention but a few examples, one can expect the number of unemployed to grow, real incomes to collapse, governments to face mounting difficulties paying security forces, and the general population to increasingly rely on state support at a time when states are least equipped to provide it. To further complicate things, patience is wearing thin with the AU mission that has for years battled Al-Shabaab. Thousands of children are suffering irreversible harm from malnutrition. I spent most of January in Cameroon for the Africa Cup of Nations, where some of the matches were staged in the verdant city of Limbe, tucked away at the southern foot of Mount Cameroon. They went from burning places of worship to kidnapping school children and then amassing territories and displacing many people in the process. What's Happening to Democracy in Africa? - Council on Foreign Relations Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and the violence has resulted in destruction, casualties and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The insurgents, who had initially reduced suicide bombings and assaults on cities and towns, responded to delays by stepping up attacks and assassinations. In Congo, attacks against media freedom, the growing involvement of intelligence services in intimidating dissenters, and the general narrowing of democratic space raise concerns ahead of the 2023 elections. Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Biden has signalled that he will shift course, agree to rejoin the JCPOA if Iran resumes compliance, and then seek to negotiate a follow-on deal tackling ballistic missiles and regional policy. Receive the best source of conflict analysis right in your inbox. In the centre of the continent, regular flare-ups of violence in the Central African Republic suggest that the peace agreement is not holding firm there, either. About two million residents, out of around 10 million, have fled the once-peaceful cities, abandoning their homes, shops and offices. IE 11 is not supported. At the authorities request, humanitarians have temporarily suspended the movement to Malakal of new arrivals from Sudan, he said. Yet both sides have backtracked. The government can ill afford to lose Marib, but it harbours another hope: the outgoing Trump administration may, in a parting shot at Iran, designate the Huthis a terrorist organisation, tightening the economic noose on the rebels and complicating negotiations with them by outside actors. Keeping a U.S. military presence in the country long past May without irreparably alienating the Taliban will be no small feat. Whether it be an insurgency, agitations for resource control, militancy, outright terrorism or full-blown wars, the truth is that many groups have taken to arms to antagonise different African states. The army - like many other sectors of society - is still bedevilled by Sudan's history of racism, slavery and colonialism. Russia has a military alliance with Armenia but avoided picking sides and eventually brokered the ceasefire that ended fighting. frica enters 2022 with a long and urgent to-do list. Its 'silencing the guns' initiative is aimed at 'ending all wars, civil conflicts, gender-based violence . Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 calls on the worlds countries to achieve peaceful and inclusive societies and to significantly reduce all forms of violence everywhere. much of the international airport, which has been shut since the conflict started. Ethiopia's war and other conflicts in the Horn of Africa region will shape the coming year. Arabs from Darfur form the backbone of the RSF. We advocate for effective and principled humanitarian action by all, for all. Combined with jihadist infighting, they appear to have contributed to a decline in complex militant attacks against security forces. In Mozambique, the regional Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and Rwanda supported the Mozambican military in the armed conflict with the Islamist insurgency known as Ansar al-Sunna Wa Jamma (ASWJ), which is associated with the Islamic State. At the heart of all the problems is a disagreement over power sharing. An important first stage in achieving this goal is to understand conflict dynamics over time and across continents as well as the types of violence various actors use. Share this via Reddit In any case, the UN two-party framework looks outdated. The growth of terrorism is a major threat to international peace and security, currently felt most keenly in Africa, the deputy UN chief told the Security Council on Thursday. Below, experts outline key political, economic, security and health issues the continent must contend with as it maps its COVID-19 recovery and post-pandemic reality. The conflicts seemed to have heightened in 2021, following a military offensive against the Tigray Region by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government. In Ethiopia, many people have died and others displaced as the government tries to regain control of the Tigray Region. He covers corporate Africa, analysing some of the continent's leading companies and the economies in which they operate. The conditions on which militants thrive are difficult to reverse. Communal conflicts, where incompatibilities are based on communal identity, remain the dominant form of non-state violence. There were at least 15 countries with active armed conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. Indeed, the more foreign militaries pile in, the bloodier the region seems to become. In 2017 and 2018, a series of cease-fires were negotiated and subsequently violated between the two sides and other factions. The suspicion is that the RSF is using them to avoid being hit by air strikes. Bahija J., a 75-year-old woman in Cape Town . However, no electoral process can be credible and successful without adequate civic and political space for all citizens to participate in it, and a great deal needs to be done in this regard, he added. Bidens election brought hope leavened with realism. "This Government is Failing Me Too": South Africa Compounds Legacy of By cutting bilateral deals in various conflict zones, both Russia and Turkey see the potential for gain. Venezuelans living conditions, devastated by the governments ineptitude, U.S. sanctions, and COVID-19, have hit rock bottom. Read about our approach to external linking. She expressed confidence that todays debate would offer insights for the summit, and help to build peaceful, stable communities and societies across the continent. Just as Azerbaijanis never forgot the humiliation of the early 1990s, so too will Armenians strive to erase the indignity of 2020. In 2021, nine countries in AfricaBurkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, DR Congo, Mali, Mozambique, The oppositions malaise stems primarily from its failure to bring about change. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. VideoThe endangered languages that are fighting back, When Miss World in India threatened 'cultural apocalypse'. Some of the damage wrought by his predecessor can be undone with relative ease. By the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. In our series of letters from African writers, Algerian-Canadian journalist Maher Mezahi reflects on the different way that conflicts in Europe and Africa are viewed. In Nigeria, terrorism, banditry, kidnappings and secessionist moves have continued to fuel conflicts. Photo: Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto via AFP/2022 A Ukrainian family reached the Polish border town of Medyka on Saturday, February 26. Still, with more frequent heat waves and extreme precipitation, many governments are harder-pressed to deal with food insecurity, water scarcity, migration, and competition for resources. Some of the soldiers are, in fact, descendants of slaves. If anything, over recent years it appears to have contributed to the uptick in inter-ethnic bloodshed and Islamist militancy. In August, the Burundian government deployed soldiers to eastern Congo, followed by Kenyan troops in November, in response to the East African Communitys (EAC) decision to establish a joint force to restore security in the region. Listed below are the current wars and conflicts in the continent of Africa. Africa | United Nations - Machar fled the country and was eventually detained in South Africa. The conflicts have been fueled by agitations for political control and natural resources. Can African leaders repeat the show of unity achieved on continental free trade to silence the guns? In January 2020, the U.S. killing of Iranian commander Qassem Suleimani brought U.S.-Iran tensions close to a boiling point. In Southern Africa, the long simmering violent tensions in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province intensified into full-blown armed conflict. The relationship between war and climate change is neither simple nor linear. Abiys tenure, which began with significant efforts at reforming a repressive governance system, has been marked by a loss of influence for Tigrayan leaders, who complain of being scapegoated for previous abuses and warily eye his rapprochement with the TPLFs old foe, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. Mapped: Where are the World's Ongoing Conflicts Today? Criteria States relations with many of their rural citizens have broken down, as have traditional conflict management systems. Front lines are now frozen in central Libya. Its 'silencing the guns' initiative is aimed at 'ending all wars, civil conflicts, gender-based violence, violent conflicts and preventing genocide in the continent by 2020.' Yes, there have been many articles about both Ethiopia and Cameroon published here by the BBC and on other international news sites but where is the widespread outrage? In the north of the country, as a result of a conflict in Tigray, more than two million people have been forced from their homes. Meanwhile, in the Eastern part of the country, secessionists have burnt police stations and election offices as part of their agitation. Throughout Trumps presidency, Irans nuclear program grew, increasingly unconstrained by the JCPOA. The media coverage of the war in Ukraine has revealed why this might be. What we can learn from Sudan is how quickly hard-won peace gains can unravel.. In a serious blow to the army, RSF fighters carried out an assault earlier this month on al-Yarmouk, one of Sudan's biggest military complexes, where arms were manufactured and stored. RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo became a big gold trader when his forces took over Sudan's most lucrative gold mines in 2017, and control of the border with Chad and Libya. Paradoxically, just as Moscow and Ankara compete on an increasing number of battlefields, their ties are stronger than they have been in some time. She underscored in her third point that countering terrorism can never be an excuse for violating human rights or international law as it would only set us back. One of the RSF's greatest strength lies in the fact that many of its "battalions" are made up of members of the same family or ethnic group, so they fight ferociously to protect each other. African conflicts to watch in 2022. What losses did Russia suffer in the Wagner revolt? Share this via LinkedIn Some of them have been shelled and bombed, others have been occupied and ransacked, with air-conditioners and furniture among the items carted away by the RSF. Even in its dying days, the Trump administration has been doubling down. A U.S.-led maximum pressure campaign entailing sanctions, international isolation, implied threats of military action, and even an abortive coup has not toppled Maduro. On the political front, the Sudan crisis is reducing much-needed bandwidth to focus on South Sudan during its critical transition phase, he said. But talks have been marred by controversy over how the UN selected these delegates, their legal authority, infighting, and allegations of attempted bribery. A member of Nigers security forces at Iferouane festival, Agadez region, in February 2019. This series comprises four papers, one on the Middle East, on Africa, one on Asia, and one that provides a global overview. Receive daily updates directly in your inbox -, Sudan crisis threatens to hobble South Sudans transition, UN mission chief says, Unique opportunity to resolve border dispute between Sudan, South Sudan, As pandemic encroaches on Abyei, tensions rise over disputed territory straddling Sudan, South Sudan, Little progress on disputed Abyei region between Sudan and South Sudan, Sudan violence threatens fragile cross-border progress with Juba, South Sudan: Humanitarians call for justice after latest deadly attack. The Libyan situation has not improved significantly after years of instability and a major civil war from 2018 to 2019. The reality is that Sudan's army, rather than fighting wars on its own, has long relied on militias. Looming in May 2021 is the deadline set in the February deal for a complete U.S. and NATO military withdrawal. Riots resulted in over 600 fatalities. It dates back more than two centuries when Ottoman and Egyptian conquerors established an army of slaves. The LNA and GNA committed to withdraw troops from front lines, expel foreign fighters, and stop all foreign military training. South Sudan. It would be critical then to move toward a national dialogue to heal the countrys deep divisions in Tigray and beyond. In this paper, we provide data on, and examine conflict trends in Africa, particularly since 1989, and place them in a global context. The spate of crackdowns against government opponents and critics was however not limited to countries under transitional rule. Current Conflicts In Africa And Examples - Information Crisis Groups President Robert Malley lists the Ten Conflicts to Watch in 2021. The challenge belongs to us all.