The Central African Republic’s Conflict and Its Impact on Cameroon, 2002 – 2016

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue I, January 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Central African Republic’s Conflict and Its Impact on Cameroon, 2002 – 2016

Ernest Dzelamonyuy¹, Prof. Simon Tata Ngenge²

¹PhD Student, Department of History and Archeology, University of Bamenda, Cameroon
² Vice Dean, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Bamenda, Cameroon

Abstract: – The African continent holds an unenviable record of being one of the most conflict prone continents of the world. This trend began immediately after most of the countries in the continent attained independence in the 1960s. These conflicts necessitated the involvement of sub – regional, regional and international organisations and come with consequences for the particular country as well as its neighbours. The main aim of this paper is topresent the conflict in the Central African Republic and to examine its consequences on the neighbouring Cameroon. The aim here is to expose the spill over potential of African conflicts that are otherwise considered as internal. The paper is divided into three parts. Part one deals with a synoptic overview of the conflict drivers and its main protagonists. Part two deals with efforts towards its resolution while part three dwells on the consequences of the conflict on Cameroon.
The paper argues that internal conflicts in African states have spillover effects on neighbouring countries and have the potential of turning latent grievances in those neighbouring countries into full bloom conflicts. This was done through the use of primary and secondary sources in the form of interviews, documents, journals and conference resolutions. These were carefully examined to arrive at the findings of the paper which attest to the spillover quality of African conflicts.

I. INTRODUCTION

The African continent has been bedeviled by conflicts since independence. An effective response to these conflicts requires agreement on and understanding of its causes. Past responses to conflicts have often failed to understand the context within which the conflicts operated or to address its causes. Fragile and conflict affected states present unique and complex challenges to achieving effective development. While the range of issues can vary depending on the country or region of fragility, some key issues are common to all of them. These include chronic poverty; government and state structures lacking the capacity or will to provide public safety, security and basic services to the population; low levels of state accountability to citizens; challenges relating to natural resource management; a private sector which may be largely informal and opportunistic; low levels of foreign direct investment; and a high risk of further state decline.

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