The head of the Zimbabwean opposition group MDC (Movement for Democratic Change), Morgan Tsvangirai is calling for Zimbabweans to rise up against the dictator Robert Mugabe. Already a wave of panic buying has swept across the country as many feel that the conflict between Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the MDC could result in civil war.
Sub-Saharan Africa has seen some of the most bloody conflicts in the world since World War II, yet very little attention in the worldwide press, and especially in America. Some have argued that the next security hotspots for the world will be in Africa rather than the Middle East. Given the rise of Islamic extremism throughout Africa as well as secular dictators like Mugabe, if Africa ever managed to export even a fraction of the violence it experiences, it could have a destabilizing effect across the world.
Unfortunately, answers for solving the pan-African crisis could be even more difficult than the Middle Eastern one. However, one hopes that it will not take an export of terrorism for their to be some effort towards solving the indemic problems of Africa.
A good place to start in dealing with the African crisis is refusing to play ball in the blood-for-diamonds trade, but that’s about as likely as the US refusing to subsidize oil tycoons who use our money to kill us.