Some conflicts raging in the world today
Kashmir
 India and Pakistan have been fighting over the
disputed region of Kashmir since partition in 1947. Pakistan has
designs on Indian administered Kashmir, which has a Muslim majority,
while India claims the region as its own. Fighting
has continued between Indian forces and Islamic militant groups
since armed revolt broke out in the Kashmir valley in 1989,
resulting in the deaths of between 30,000 and 80,000 people.
The solution to the conflict would be for a plebiscite to be held
in Kashmir so the people can decide for themselves whether they
prefer Indian control, Pakistani control, or independence. A
plebiscite also needs to be held in the neighbouring districts of
Jammu and Ladakh, which have Hindu majorities. The people of Jammu
and Ladakh should not be forced to follow the destiny of Kashmir
against their wishes.
Iraq
The USA and UK invaded Iraq in 2003, purportedly to rid the
regime of weapons of mass destruction (none were ever used or
found), although actually to install a more compliant regime and
extend their control in the region, particularly over Iraq’s oil.
The war also served the domestic political interests of the US
administration, in that it whipped up domestic support at a time
when the US economy was performing terribly. Although exact numbers
are unknown, at least 80,000 Iraqi civilians and many Iraqi soldiers
died as a direct result of this American and British aggression.
Prior to talk of war, there was some hope for the Iraqi people.
It looked like sanctions would be
lifted, and there was a chance that the West would negotiate with
the leader Saddam Hussein and offer him incentives such as aid and
trade to democratise his country. Later, Saddam was being peacefully
and successfully disarmed by UN weapons inspectors, and there was
the possibility of human rights monitors entering Iraq to safeguard
the people. Peace was working.
 However, the USA and Britain sent the world
into war and into an Orwellian nightmare, where killing was
“liberation” and war was “peace”. The description of the war as "Operation Iraqi Freedom"
was another darkly ironic misnomer, given that the US and the UK had shown little
regard for Iraqi freedom or even Iraqi life when they supported Saddam throughout the
1970s and 1980s, or when they bombed Iraq and imposed a brutal
system of sanctions for 12 years after the end of the first Gulf War
in 1991, leading to a million deaths.
The continuing presence of the US and UK
in Iraq is the main cause of communal violence directed at groups accused of
collaborating with the occupiers, which leads to the deaths of many Iraqis on an almost daily basis.
The most sensible action the Americans and British can take to genuinely ensure peace and 'Iraqi Freedom' is
to withdraw their troops from Iraq immediately and to stop interfering in the internal
politics of the country. This will leave Iraqis free to choose their own destiny,
with assistance from the United Nations if so requested.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/memorial/0,13313,952862,00.html
provides accounts of the human cost of the conflict.
For images of the first Gulf War conflict, visit:
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0212/pt_intro.html
Israel/ Palestine
 Since Israel occupied the West Bank and the
Gaza strip in 1967, the Palestinian people have struggled for their
freedom and an end to the campaign of US-funded Israeli repression.
Israel has an expansionist agenda and wants the occupied land for
itself, particularly as the land comes with lucrative accompaniments
such as valuable water rights. The Palestinians too want the
occupied territory, in order to form their own homeland and state.
Strong US support for Israel has perpetuated the occupation and
the ensuing conflict. The US is keen to support Israel as Israel can
act as its non-Muslim proxy in a region where the US needs to police
any threats to its own oil interests from popular Arab movements or
unfavourable dictators. US support also derives from the presence of
a powerful pro-Israel lobby within the US, which contributes
millions of dollars to US politicians in exchange for them
maintaining US subsidies for the Israeli state, no matter how
reprehensible Israel’s policies are.
The cost of all this? So far, at least 15,000 dead, mainly
Palestinians. Israel’s tactics include sending tanks and bulldozers
into refugee camps full of unarmed women and children, looking for
militants but killing many innocent people in the process. There is
daily humiliation for the Palestinians at Israeli-manned
checkpoints, and arbitrary bombing raids have killed a number of
Palestinians. Some Palestinian individuals and groups have responded
by launching indiscriminate suicide bombing attacks against
Israelis, often deliberately targeting civilians and killing and
maiming many of them, including schoolchildren.
The solution to this is for the US to stop bankrolling the occupation,
which will act as an incentive for Israel to
leave the occupied territories. Then, a Palestinian state can be
created, and the two peoples can endeavour to live in peace and
harmony.
http://electronicintifada.net/new.shtml and http://www.bitterlemons.org/ provide alternative views
of the conflict to those generally reported in the western media.
Chechnya
In 1994, Russian troops invaded Chechnya to restore Russian
control and destroy the independence movement. When they left in
1996, over 80,000 people were dead. A second Russian invasion
followed in 1999, which included a barbaric assault on the capital
city of Grozny, which left thousands dead. The war continues today,
with many Chechen civilians being forced to flee as refugees to neighbouring
republics.
The conflict is partly territorial, with the Chechens asserting
their right of self-determination, while the Russians seek to ensure
that Chechnya remains a part of the ailing Russian empire. Chechnya
is also important to Russia’s strategic economic interests. There
are mountain passes from Chechnya into the South Caucasus, where
Russia is competing with states such as the US for influence and
control over central Asian oil, much of which is untapped.
The Russian hunger for oil and land has so far left around
200,000 people dead. Some of the Chechen fighters, like the
Russians, have sunk to medieval levels of barbarity. Murders and
killings continue unabated every day, and remain almost totally
unreported in the Western press. The solution to the problem is
quite simple- Russia must get out of Chechnya and let the people
there determine their own fate.
The Caucasus outside Chechnya
Unresolved conflicts persist in other parts of the Caucasus,
outside Chechnya. Occasional fighting over the region of Nagorno
Karabakh between Azerbaijan and Armenia continues, after a war in
the 1990s that led to 20,000 deaths. In Georgia, separatist
struggles in Abkhazia and South Ossetia linger on. The problems in
these areas are not just about freedom, but about resources. The fighters have virtually nothing and their countries
are impoverished. With aid and a push by wealthier countries to
democratise countries of the Caucasus such as Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan, the motive for fighting would all but disappear.
Algeria
There is an ongoing civil war between the government on the one
hand, and the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and the Armed Islamic
Group (GIA) on the other. The FIS won an election in 1991 but the
government annulled this election, and fighting has ensued ever
since, principally over political power and control of resources.
100,000 people have died in abnormally brutal violence.
The FIS and GIA have entered villages and massacred those who
supposedly support the government, either out of revenge, to create
disorder or to take land. Children are not spared. Some of the armed
groups carrying out these massacres may have actually been
government forces, motivated to attack in order to assert their
power and undermine the forces fighting against them.
An important step in resolving the conflict would be for the
government to hold an election and respect the results. Other
countries could squeeze Algeria into following this course, and as
with all non-democratic regimes, aid or trade could be offered as an
incentive to democratise. Once democratic institutions are in place
and are respected, the justification for the rebels to fight would
be undermined.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Since August 1998, and despite a tentative ceasefire signed in
December 2002, government forces supported by Namibia, Angola and
Zimbabwe have been fighting against the Tutsi rebels of the Alliance
of the Democratic Forces of Congo (AFDL), who are backed by Uganda
and Rwanda. Each party to the war has been keen to plunder the
country’s vast mineral resources, with western-based multi-national
companies ready and willing to deal with the successful
pillagers.
Ever since independence in 1960, the DRC has faced war. After
Joseph Mobutu seized power in 1965, the US pumped billions of
dollars into the country to fund its war against neighbouring,
Soviet-backed Angola. Millions died in Angola and millions have died
in the DRC. The current war has led to at least 2.5 million deaths
and perhaps up to 5 million, either as a result of the fighting
itself or because of the disease and starvation that has
followed. The direct cause of the war is poverty, with various impoverished
groups competing for control over the DRC's rich resources.
Congo
War has been ongoing in Congo since 1993, when disputed election
results led to fighting between different ethnic groups competing
for control. A full-scale civil war erupted in 1997, with the
country’s prized offshore oil assets at stake for the victors. Rebel
militias continue to fight government forces, with gross human
rights violations committed by both sides, including rapes and
murders. Between 10,000 and 20,000 people have died.
Uganda
Rebel insurgencies in the north by the Lord’s Resistance Army
(LRA) and in the west of Uganda have led to thousands of deaths and
displacements, with the government fighting the LRA in the north of
Uganda and in southern Sudan. Both groups have committed terrible
atrocities. For example, in 2001 the LRA reportedly attacked a
civilian market and forced parents to beat their own children to
death. There is no protection for children in this war- they are
regularly kidnapped and killed by both sides.
Part of the problem in Uganda, as in other African countries, is
that borders between countries were arbitrarily imposed by imperial
states during colonial times as part of the carve-up of Africa
between the great powers. As a result, the same tribe can be
artificially spread over two countries because of the way the
borders were created, as in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, where
the people in both regions speak the same language. Fighting between
tribes within a country or countries could have been avoided if
sensible borders had been drawn up to divide the tribes, and so
former colonial nations must share some of the responsibility for
continuing problems in their old territories.
Burundi
Since a Hutu head of state was assassinated in 1993, Burundi has
seen destructive violence between the rebel forces of the CNDD-FDD
and the government. The rebel forces, like the majority of the
population, are Hutu, whereas the government army is dominated by
Tutsis. Government forces have killed civilians, raped women, burned
and pillaged villages, and prevented humanitarian agencies from
helping those in need. The fighting has led to 200,000 people losing
their lives, and is on-going.
Ivory Coast
Since a coup in 1999, the Ivory Coast has been racked with
internal conflict and division. The country is currently divided
into rebel and government held areas, with government officials
positively inciting violent xenophobia and ethnic intolerance,
particularly against the Muslims in the north of the country and
immigrants. Government forces have
killed and arrested individuals solely on the basis of their
ethnicity, religion, or support for the opposition party. The
rebels- the Movement Patriotique de Cote d’Ivoire, or MPCI- have
also carried out unlawful killings and detentions in the areas they
control.
Colombia
The conflict in Colombia, which has been going on since the
1960s, is essentially economic in nature. The country has
significant natural resources, including oil, gold, silver and
minerals, but this wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few rich
families and individuals of Spanish descent, to the exclusion of the
mixed race and indigenous majority.
Left-wings rebels such as the FARC have challenged this, although
much of their activity is focused on gaining revenue from drugs and
kidnapping. The FARC have become notorious for committing massacres
against civilians who refuse to be forcibly recruited, or those it
suspects of collaborating with right-wing paramilitary groups.
These right-wing paramilitaries, sometimes supported by both the
Colombian government and the US administration, commit serious human
rights violations themselves, targeting those suspected of helping
the most impoverished groups in society. The paramilitaries are
often funded by rich landowners or drug traffickers. The death toll
in Colombia since the troubles re-ignited in the 1960s is at least
30,000, and could be as high as 200,000.
Colombia's problems are, at heart, about the distribution of
wealth in the country. The poor will continue to be attracted to
groups like the FARC or to right-wing paramilitary groups if those
groups represent their only way out of poverty. The US provides the
Colombian government with billions of dollars to fight the FARC and
to pursue the “war on drugs”- this money would be far better spent
in tackling the endemic poverty in Colombia, which causes people to
look to groups like the FARC or the drugs trade for a way out in the
first place.
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