Professor Macharia Munene, who is an expert in international relations, told journalists in Nairobi that the origins of some of the conflicts in Africa are from outside the continent.
“There is a trend to legitimize insurgency in Africa and explaining handicaps in assisting African conflicts, yet some of them are from outside its borders,” Macharia said during an occasion, organized by the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF), a regional rapid response force, to mark the International Day of Peace that falls on Monday.
He said most of the conflicts within the continent can be traced to the artificial boundaries created by colonial rulers as they ruled and finally left Africa.
This, Munene said, did not have the effect of bringing together many different ethnic people within a nation that did not reflect, nor have, in such a short period of time, the ability to accommodate or provide for the cultural and ethnic diversity.
Kenya’s special envoy to the Somali Peace Process, Bethwel Kiplagat, said the African region has never known peace since 1952 when the Governor of Kenya declared a state of emergency in the country in order to deal with the Mau Mau Movement that was agitating for self-rule.
“The region is devastated by conflict. No single day have the guns gone silent and people have been on each other’s throats ever since,” said the former Kenyan envoy who successfully mediated the Somalia peace process.
He said the African Union should form an arbitration team to mitigate conflicts immediately a region becomes a flash point in order to save lives and before the Standby Force is deployed. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
