Throughout history Africa has been plagued by violence, when a substance of value is found within the region it has caused violence nine times out of ten. Whether these resources are diamonds, minerals, timber, or fossil fuels, nations have either fought with neighboring countries, colonizing powers or with themselves along ethnic lines of identify over these valuable commodities. Furthermore weak leadership in Africa has added to the problems. Leaders in Africa have consistently failed to invest in infrastructure and put these vast sums of western money to good uses. Instead the money is used to ensure that current leaders stay in power by distributing the funds throughout the top tiers in state rather than the well being of those in need.
Presently, oil is a hotbed for conflict within Africa. Large exporters of oil such as Sudan, Nigeria, and Angola all have histories of violence. With the current state of affairs expected to continue, violence is likely to balloon in these areas over the coming years. Western civilizations offer too much money and benefits for smaller developing nations to pass up. Developed nations seem to be satisfied with just receiving a steady flow of oil, what a developing nation does with the money and its environment are not our concern or at least not a priority. Nowhere is harsh reality illustrated more clearly than in Africa.
Sudan is a country with a huge amount of oil reserves, almost equal to that of a Middle Eastern nation. It also has the largest Arab population of any African nation, which is often times what fuels conflict within Sudan. Arabs in the north try to create laws that only benefit there own people and try to silence the Christian black Africans living mostly in the south. Sudan got its independence from Brittan in 1956, shortly after a lengthy civil war broke out. The southerners, anticipating independence, feared the north would dominate the new nation. Historically, the north of Sudan had closer ties with Egypt and was predominantly Arab and Muslim while the south was predominantly a mixture of Animism and Christianity. The civil war lasted until 1977, but then broke out again in 1983 and lasted until 1989. Finally, the north and south formed the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) the terms of the agreement are that a new party, the SPLM (Sudan people's liberation movement) would be allowed to hold a vote in Southern Sudan that would allow the southern region to secede and form a fresh new country, to be know as South Sudan. The vote is supposed to be held in January of 2011 and is expected to pass almost unanimously.
As of now, the oil revenues are being split evenly between the north and south, however it seems likely that if Southern Sudan does indeed form in January of 2011 they will want a larger share from the oil profits. The bulk of Sudan’s oil in fields along the still-unmarked boundary between the North and the South, between the still-heavily armed Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement and the equally well-armed military loyal to President Omar al-Bashir. According to most estimates, more than 70 percent of the oil reserves and more than 70 percent of the current production are inside Southern Sudan. Sadly this oil wealth is extremely likely to be a source of conflict in the coming years.
With the north being the more powerful militant region that has exhibited control over the entire nations in the past, it seems highly unlikely for the north to just allow the newly developing, now rival nation to be the only benefactors of the third largest oil reserves in Africa. Although Northern Sudan does have a decent amount of oil, it is dwarfed by the reserves in the south. Still its impossible to know for sure what will happen and only time will tell. On a positive note, there has recently been little violence with the current peace agreement still being upheld, but when Southern Sudan forms they will want to do whatever they can to jump stat their economy, and taking control of the oil revenues that is on their land seems like the logical thing to do.
Currently Sudan can produce around 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil and plans for the government to increase this to 600,000 by the end of the year are already underway. As mentioned previously, the south is also where all the developed, discovered oil is, fields in the north have not yet be explored to there potential. It could take several years for the north to develop their own oil industry and start turning a profit from. It will be essential for these two neighboring countries to work together in the early years of Southern Sudan forming or another civil war could ignite instantly over oil rights. Violence speculations aside it is essential that outside observers and third parties monitor where Sudan’s oil revenues go whether they are shared or taken by the south corruption is very likely.
There should always be concern when leaders of third world countries have unchecked amounts of western money flowing into their country. Often times the revenues from natural resources are not used in ethically correct ways. The economic term used to describe this is called dutch disease. This means leaders are able to do whatever they want with large sums of money and have very little incentive to invest it back into the country where the resources were exploited.
It’s no surprise that this sort of behavior can cause tension between the few wealthy individuals benefiting from it and the neglected impoverished masses. Rightfully so, dutch disease outrages the people who are forced to live in affected parts of the world and suffer while their leaders grow richer. However, what isn’t so right is the way in which citizens often go about making their voices heard, through violence. Rebels often attack western institutions, and use hostage taking, piracy, car bombs, whatever they can think of to try and bring down the system that they hate. In the end, civilians are the ones who suffer the most. Innocent workers are often used as hostages or killed, car bombs exploding at election rally’s and embassies may make a statement but at the expense of innocent people. Violence can certainly capture the world’s attention but it puts a negative stipulation with rebel groups in third world countries who are trying to improve the quality of life for those truly suffering.
Nigeria is a perfect example of this tragedy; corrupt governments have allowed oil companies like Shell and Chevron to drill for oil in their country with no code of ethics regarding the environment or social responsibility. In the early 1990’s when these companies first moved in to Nigeria, tensions ran high in the delta area where the Ogoni people live. They were concerned with the fact that the government was allowing these companies to destroy their land while the government gets rich and refuse to invest the money back into the country. Eventually, their frustration lead to the formation of activist groups which speak out against the government. The Nigerian government began to get very frustrated with the groups ability to get western media’s attention and organize boycotts on Nigerian oil. To put an end to this, the government began raiding villages and arresting leaders and other people who were involved in organizing the protests. Villagers grew tired of the governments rash oppression and formed groups like MEND, Movement for Emancipation of the Nigerian Delta. These groups can be descried as a violent rebel group that will stop at nothing to make their voices heard. Make no mistakes about it though; MEND is a sophisticated organization that has specific goals and interests, meant benefit the people of Nigeria. MEND is different than the anarchy seen in Somalia and other parts of Africa because they have a cause, and in many people’s eyes “a just” reason for using violence.
In September of 2008, MEND launched what they called “Operation Hurricane Barbossa,” essentially an ongoing string of militant attacks to bring down the oil industry within Nigeria or within close proximity to the Nigerian Delta. They started with a series of attacks on Shell and Chevron pipelines and oil platforms. In one instance they killed 22 government soldiers in an oil platform take over. The rebels suffered heavy casualties as well which lead to a temporary ceasefire that lasted until January in 2009. Throughout 2009 MEND continued to attack the oil industry with strings of car bombs outside government buildings and the bombing of pipelines within Nigeria. MEND started to receive a lot more media attention; they started to correspond with several foreign journalists sending them e-mails as to when new attacks will happen and their reasons behind the attacks. In the summer of 2009, MEND destroyed a section of a Chevron pipeline that they claimed carried 80% of the companies of-shore crude oil to a loading platform.
Most recently in 2010, two car bombs that exploded at Abuja, the capital of Nigeria during a parade this October. There were 12 people killed in the attack and 17 people were injured, mostly civilians and few government employees were among the casualties. The bomb was less than a kilometer away from president Goodluck Jonathan, its intended target. MEND claimed responsibility for this disaster, and also claim to have sent warning in the form of an email to a journalist half-an-hour before the bombs detonated. Shortly after, MEND also attacked two Exxon Mobil oil platforms on November 8th and then again on November 15th. Between the two takeovers they kidnapped two Americans, two Indonesians, a Canadian, and seven Nigerian oil workers and held them for ransom. There’s no word yet on whether they received the ransom for the workers but ransoms have been paid in the past to avoid more negative media coverage. Although unnecessary lives have been killed as a result of MEND there is something to say for those who take a bold stance against government corruption and fight for the enrichment of oppressed people.
The recent events in Nigeria are a perfect example of what could happen overnight in Sudan. North Sudan will be in a hurry to develop their oil industry and may very well allow western companies with no morals to come in and have free reign of their oil reserves. There is also a chance that this money will not be spent in ethical ways, or will cause tensions between North and South Sudan; in either instance violence is a predictable outcome. Resources have historically caused violence in Africa, and now in this modern world our dependency and desperation for resources will always take precedence over the environment and people with no voice. A sad but true reality that is so clearly seen throughout Africa.
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