Ethnic Conflict

Why Do Ethnicities clash?

What is ethnic cleansing?

Why do ethnicities clash?

• Sometimes ethnicities compete to dominate national identity (Civil wars)

• Sometimes problems result from division of ethnicities into more than one state

• Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon examples of competition to dominate nationality

Ethiopia and Eritrea• Eritrea was an Italian colony 1890-1944

• Ethiopia remained independent except for brief capture by Italians in 1930s

• After WW2 Eritrea united w/ Ethiopia, UN expected autonomy for Eritrea

• Ethiopia suppressed Eritrea’s ethnicity, banning major language (Tigrinya) and dissolving legislature

• Rebellion 1961-1991

Ethiopia and Eritrea

• Ethiopia defeated in ’91

• War again in ’98 over border dispute

• Ethiopia won in 2000

• Eritrea united by nationalism- strong sense of shared struggle with Ethiopia

• Evenly divided between Christians and Muslims, 9 ethnic groups

• Ethiopia remains a multiethnic state

Sudan

• Civil War between black Christians and animists in South, and Muslim Arabs in North- since 1980s

• Black southerners resisted attempts to convert the country from a multi-ethnic society to one nationally tied to Muslim tradition

• Sudan has passed laws designed to segregate sexes in public

Sudan

• Over 2 million died and 1 million emigrated (refugees)

• 2005-an accord called for greater autonomy for southern region. But as religious war wound down,

• Ethnic conflict erupted in Darfur in 2003- blacks rebelled against discrimination and neglect

• Janjaweed- Arab nomads on camels attacked blacks w/ gov’t support. Over 450,000 dead, 2.5 million in refugee camps.

Somalia

• 6 major ethnic groups, or clans, in country• Two colonies united in 1960s to form Somalia

Somalia• The Isaak clan declared Somaliland

independent in 1990s

• US sent troops to distribute food after 300,000 died from famine and warfare

• US withdrew in 1994 after peace talks broke down

• Islamist militias took over most of Somalia in 2006

• Most Somalis support Islamists as a way to restore order

Lebanon

• A tiny country with great religious diversity

• Precise distribution is unknown- no census since 1932

• About 60% Muslim, 30% Christian, 10% other

• 6 Christian Sects alone

• Druze- combines Christianity and Islam, rituals kept secret

• The ’43 Constitution required each religion represented in Chamber of Deputies

Lebanon

• When the gov’t was created, Christians constituted a majority, but as Muslims became the majority, they demanded political/economic equality

• Civil War broke out in 1975

• The US pulled out in 1983 when 241 US Marines died

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Dividing Ethnicities Among more than One State

• Conflicts arise when an ethnicity is split among more than one country

• 1947- After WW2 British colonial rule in India ends- divide into 2 states for 2 major ethnic groups

• Pakistan comprised two noncontiguous areas- E. and W.

• Hinduism has become a great source of national unity

Dividing Ethnicities in S. Asia

• Partition of S. Asia resulted in massive migration- about 17 million people on the wrong side of the boundary were attacked as they tried to make it to the other side.

• Gandhi wanted reconciliation with Muslims, but was assassinated in ’48 by a Hindu

Dividing Ethnicities in S. Asia• Pakistan split in 1971 into Pakistan and

Bangladesh

• Never agreed about who controls Jammu and Kashmir

• India blames Pakistan for instigating

• Pakistan wants self-determination for the region, confident the majority Muslim population will split w/ India

• 25 million Sikhs in Punjab pissed they did not get own state

Sri Lanka• 20 million people, divided between Tamil

Hindus in the North and Sinhalese Buddhists in South

• Conflict is more than 2000 years old but suppressed during 300 yrs colonial rule

• Sinhalese 74% pop

• 60,000 people dead since fighting started in 1983

• Sinhalese have dominated gov’t and commerce since 1948

• Tamils feel they are discriminated against

• How do you split up this one?

Ethnic Cleansing

• A process in which a more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogenous region

• Involves the removal of every member- women, kids, grandmas, etc

Creation of Yugoslavia

• Created after WW1 out of Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires

• Yugo means “South” Slavic

• Dictator Tito suppressed ethnic conflict

• Conflict resurfaced in 1980’s after Tito’s death

• Most broke away in 1990s, Montenegro in 2006, Kosovo over the weekend

Yugoslavia

• 7 neighbors

• 6 republics

• 5 nationalities

• 4 official languages

• 3 religions

• 2 alphabets

• 1 dinar- economic interest unites them all

Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo

• Largest ethnic group in Bosnia considered an ethnicity no a nationality at the time- Muslim 48%

• Serbs and Croats fought to unite their parts of Bosnia to Croatia or Serbia.

• Engaged in ethnic cleansing to eliminate Muslims from their territory

Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo

• Ethnic Albanians 90% of pop of Kosovo

• Received autonomy under Tito

• 1999-Peak of Ethnic Cleansing-750,000 of 2 million forced from homes.

• NATO bombed Serbia as a result and stationed 50,000 troops

• Balkanized- a small geographic area that can not be organized into stable states

Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo

• Balkanization- process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities- a threat to peace throughout the world

Rwanda• Hutus- settled farmers in Rwanda and Burundi

• Tutsis- cattle herders who migrated from W. Kenya 400 years ago

• Tutsi (15% pop)- Controlled Rwanda and made Hutus their serfs

• Under German and Belgian control, differences reinforced

• 1962- Hutus killed or ethnically cleansed Tutsis

Rwanda

• In 1994 Tutsis shot down a plane carrying Hutu and Tutsi leaders

• Tutsis poured into Rwanda from Uganda, defeated Hutu army, killed 500,000 Hutus

• Tutsis lost about 500,000 as well

• Three of seven million Hutus left Rwanda

• Conflict spilled into other countries- esp. Congo