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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Diamonds and Warlords: The Geography of War in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone
Author:Vehnämäki, MikaISNI
Year:2002
Periodical:Nordic Journal of African Studies
Volume:11
Issue:1
Pages:48-74
Language:English
Geographic terms:Sierra Leone
Congo (Democratic Republic of)
Subjects:political science
civil wars
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Economics and Trade
Military, Defense and Arms
Politics and Government
External link:https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/364/347
Abstract:The wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone are neither mere civil wars, nor typical international or external wars. This article analyses both wars from the geography of war perspective. A conceptual model, deriving from various subdisciplines of the geography of war, is constructed. The war in the Congo is a multidimensional conflict. Political and economic hardships, decades-long inequality, aspirations for power by different political movements, control over vast natural wealth and all-embracing ethnic prejudices count as the most important internal reasons for the outbreak of the Congo war. Enormous societal hardships in the intervening foreign nations, personal relationships, loyalties and regional geopolitical hegemony can be observed as the interfering countries' key push factors. Lack of external security, improvement of strategic status and ownership of natural resources read as the foreign participants' pull factors. In Sierra Leone, the country's own internal problems have contributed to the escalation of conflict, but ethnicity is seldom represented as the chief reason for the war. Neither are politics, ideology, the neighbouring countries' security, nor the economic dichotomy between North and South. The war over Sierra Leone's diamond assets can be best characterized by sheer voracity, cooperation between rebel groups and interpresidential loyalties. Bibliogr., sum.
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