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GREED OR GRIEVANCE IN WEST AFRICA’S FOREST WARS?

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Extreme Conflict and Tropical Forests

Part of the book series: WORLD FORESTS ((WFSE,volume 5))

Abstract

After the end of the Cold War and the improvement of relations between the super powers, violent conflicts continued to be part of Africa’s political reality. Between 1992 and 2001, the number of armed conflicts outside Africa dropped by half, yet in Africa the number stayed roughly the same (Ross, 2003). Richards (2001, p. 65, referring to Duffield, 1998) identified a new type of “forest war” on the rise in the western half of the continent, stretching from Zaire to Liberia. These wars, largely fought over and sustained by natural resources, signify a break with old conflicts which were largely rooted in positions created by ColdWar animosities. Apart from some exceptions such as Angola, such proxy conflicts (some of which continue until today) were located on the eastern side of the continent, from the Horn of Africa to Mozambique.

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Authors
  1. RUBEN DE KONING
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Integrated Area Studies, Kyoto University, Japan

    Wil De Jong

  2. World Water Assessment Programme, Paris, France

    Deanna Donovan

  3. Center for Integrated Area Studies, Kyoto University, Japan

    Ken-Ichi Abe

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KONING, R.D. (2007). GREED OR GRIEVANCE IN WEST AFRICA’S FOREST WARS?. In: Jong, W.D., Donovan, D., Abe, KI. (eds) Extreme Conflict and Tropical Forests. WORLD FORESTS, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5462-4_3

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