African studiesSecurity studies

Renewed old border crises: (Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo), (Sudan and Chad), (Mali and Niger)

The radical solution to African border crises lies in promoting good governance; Where good governance facilitates relations and promotes peaceful ways to resolve issues between neighbors. This confirms that most African countries facing border crises today are those that score poorly in the democracy index.


Borders or border regions in Africa are a source of opportunities as well as challenges. This is evidenced by the conflict in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, which spread to Liberia and Ivory Coast, the regional response to the “Boko Haram” insurgency in West Africa, the cooperation between terrorist groups in the Sahel, and the ongoing tension between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the eastern Congo crisis, and there is a role for the Darfur crisis in the conflict. Sudanese-Chadian, and recently new clashes erupted between Sudan and Ethiopia; This means that there is often a historical, geospatial and geopolitical structure rooted in the trajectories of these conflicts and instability.

Following the nature of these borders, it can be said that the colonialists built most of these borders on loose structures of identities, loyalty and the assumption of homogeneity of African societies, and they continued to be adopted by African states after independence. The result was that there was always competition and conflict between these countries and the inhabitants of their border areas, in addition to the difficulty of managing and controlling them and agreeing on the paths of development of their societies.

Ongoing border crises in Africa

Border disputes have been a reality in Africa over the centuries; Where the border areas between different empires, kingdoms, and societies witnessed epics and facts recorded in history books in different regions, especially as different kingdoms sought to expand their sphere of influence by controlling lands and adopting some of them as their borders. However, the nature of those ancient borders was different from the usual ones today as a result of the different modern states and their national borders (1) .

Whereas border crises were not unique to Africa, as noted in the Sino-Taiwanese (2) and Russian-Ukrainian crises (3) ; The agreement of most researchers in border crises in Africa was that natural resources are the source of most of the conflicts between the countries of the continent over their borders, and that there is a possibility of a border conflict between countries that lack good governance, and that countries that operate within most of these borders have only “legal” sovereignty without Practical empirical dominance (4) .

A new study notes that there are nearly 100 border disputes going on across Africa today, and these are exacerbated by the arms conflicts and illegal operations that lie on many of these borders. Most border disputes in the past two decades can be categorized between the dispute over national sovereignty over a border area; Or the dispute over the subordination of a border area to a particular state because of the resources it contains, there are military skirmishes, cross-border terrorist activities, separatist movements insurgency, illegal smuggling of goods, ethnic violence, human trafficking and violent confrontations between farmers and herders (5) .

In addition to the fragility of African borders and the unrealism of their demarcation by colonial powers; Conflicts spreading across Africa across national borders are destabilizing entire regions. Examples of this abound, as is the case in the Congo, located in central Africa, in which fighting has been renewed for nearly a decade, in which more than ten rebel factions backed by various neighboring countries have participated in sponsoring some of the rebels as a form of revenge against the countries in which it is active. These rebels because of political positions or economic interest.

DR Congo and Rwanda

The Congolese-Rwanda border was established by Belgian and German colonialists in the early 20th century, and has remained unchanged since the two countries gained independence in the 1960s. It is characteristic that it extends in a typical north-south direction, largely along rivers and Lake Kivu for a distance of 222 km. This means that the border between the two countries was from the northern triple point with Uganda to the southern triple point with Burundi.

Last month, the long-running conflict between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda was renewed amid bloody skirmishes along their common border in eastern DR Congo. The turbulent relationship between the two sides dates back to the time of the arrival of some Rwandan Hutus to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These Hutus were accused of killing Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The crisis worsened after they formed with other groups of Rwandan refugees in the Congo militias in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in the name of “Forces The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), with the aim of opposing the influence of ethnic Tutsis and the government of Rwandan President Paul Kagame (6) .

The expectation was in 2019, when Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi came to power, that the dispute would be resolved peacefully and ways to quell renewed accusations between the two neighbors would be discussed. But the tension between them escalated, in June 2022, when the Congolese armed forces accused in a statement Rwanda of sending 500 special forces undercover to the “Chanzu” area in North Kivu province, bordering Rwanda (7) , where the “March 23” rebel movement is active. Which was formed, in April 2012, when about 300 soldiers, most of them former members of an armed political militia, defected and turned against the government of the DRC, claiming poor conditions in the army and the government’s failure to implement the peace agreement signed on March 23, 2009 (8) .

On the one hand, the Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi accuses his neighbor Rwanda of supporting the “March 23” rebel movement to destabilize the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the “March 23” movement is active in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and launches its strongest attacks in the eastern borderlands of the Congo. On the other hand, Rwanda accused the DRC army of supporting the “Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda” by firing into the Rwandan territory and fighting alongside this rebel movement to destabilize Rwanda (9) .

Another challenge lies in the fact that the Congolese government itself does not control the deteriorating conditions in the eastern region of the Congo, although it is legally under its sovereignty; The region has recently seen an increase in attacks against Congolese civilians by Congolese rebels and other foreign armed groups including the FDLR; This means that what is happening in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is not only a threat to the Congo, but rather a threat to the stability of the countries shared with it on the borders.

Sudan and Chad

The Darfur crisis, which began in 2003, was the focus of the conflict, and the crisis has taken on various stages, with the exchange of accusations between Sudan and Chad since then. For example, in 2005 the government of Chad declared a “state of war” with Sudan, and in 2006 and 2008 the rebels tried to seize the Chadian capital by force, but failed in both cases (10) .

Most of the mutual accusations between the two sides centered on trying to undermine sovereignty by manipulating the region to achieve a specific interest. For example, Chad accused Sudan in 2006 of supporting the rebellion that tried to seize the Chadian capital, but Sudan denied the allegation. In return, Sudan blamed Chad, saying: It supports a different group of rebels in Darfur, western Sudan. While Chadians blamed France, Chad’s former colonial power, accusing it of involvement by interfering in Chadian affairs and supporting tyranny.

The dynamics of the Chad-Sudan border crisis can also be understood through the other neighboring countries that have been involved; Eritrea and Libya have been accused of supporting the rebels in Darfur. This is in addition to the various armed groups such as the “United Front for Democratic Change”, the Arabs called “the Janjaweed” and the “Alliance of the Revolutionary Forces of Western Sudan” (11) .

It is worth noting that the Darfur region signed a peace agreement in 2020, with major rebels (12) , and the head of the Transitional Military Council in Chad, Mohamed Idriss Deby, visited Sudan in 2021, and said in a statement: The two countries embraced integration, concerted efforts and cooperation Joint with the African Union in the field of border security, combating terrorism and cross-border security violations (13 )

However, clashes continue to erupt over land, livestock and access to water and pasture. In April of this year (2022) alone, more than 200 people were killed in clashes between the “Janjaweed” and non-Arab groups in West Darfur (14) .

Mali and Niger

The case of Mali and Niger is relatively different from the previous two. Violence in rural areas between Mali and Niger has increased over the past two decades; The Malian and Nigerien governments have been unable to mitigate the escalating rivalry between the different ethnic groups along the border. The proliferation of weapons in the wake of the Tuareg rebellions of the 1990s and 2000s changed the character of violence, as a generation of young people in the border region depended on weapons for their livelihoods, and joined violent groups to obtain weapons to protect their communities from others. Various violent clashes were recorded along the border between the two countries, which, in just a few months in 2018, claimed the lives of dozens of residents (15) .

Terrorist groups have exploited local discontent and weak government presence and performance in northern Mali. The border region was more volatile in 2012 due to the conflict in Mali; It recruited fighters from the most vulnerable populations, accelerating the spread of weapons and giving militants a foothold and cross-border attacks against the Nigerien army. Following the French military operation “Serval” in early 2013, the fighters were able to re-establish themselves in the rural areas of Mali and then Niger (16) .

There are reports of politicians using Fulani militia in North Tillabri, the border region in southwestern Niger where violent activities are seen, to create community militias in neighboring areas of Mali and Niger. Despite criticism that these militias engage in predatory and violent behavior to pressure the government to gain a certain advantage, the leaders of these militias and their affiliates say that they defend the rights of tribes marginalized by the government (17) .

Efforts and suggested solutions

Efforts can be categorized into two parts: the first relates to the resolution of the border conflict and the second relates to violent cross-border activities. With regard to the first, the African Union has introduced an ambitious border program since 2007 to define international land and maritime borders across Africa and to establish frameworks for addressing border conflict. The challenge of this effort remains that it receives disproportionate participation from African governments, and by 2015 it had achieved only a quarter of its targets.

It can be said that the lack of confidence of African countries in African mechanisms for resolving their border dispute contributed to the resort of African countries to the “Permanent Court of Arbitration” (PCA) and the “International Court of Justice” (ICJ). This is despite the fact that the two courts have been criticized, including for accusing them of violating the interests of African states by applying central European international law to African border disputes.

Other alternatives in Africa that some are urging to exploit are councils of elders or the Elders and the use of the different platforms offered by different regional organizations, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Intergovernmental Authority on East African Development (IGAD).

With regard to violent activities and cross-border armed movements, the Special Early Warning System of the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union is among the innovative systems that exist to resolve these conflicts, in addition to various regional forces formed in recent years to deal with the crises of cross-border terrorist movements in countries in West Africa and the Sahel. and in the East African Community (EAC) region, among others.

There are different examples of the efforts of these regional organizations in combating violent cross-border activities, but in the three cases mentioned (Democratic Congo-Rwanda, Mali-Niger, and Sudan-Chad) the regional and African attempts were very symbolic in calming the situation. The last of these attempts was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when the leaders of the “East African Community in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, agreed to send a regional force to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to quell the recent escalation of violence sweeping the north-east of the country and exacerbating the relationship between it and Rwanda (18) .

It is worth noting that among the proposals made by some African researchers are: removing political obstacles to enable the free movement of products, services and production forces by using resources equitably and efficiently, in addition to equipping border areas with favorable markets, which increases the attractiveness of international trade and investment, and expanding the participation of indigenous professionals and groups Civil society and public referendums.

However, most of the proposals presented by researchers face several challenges, the most important of which is that a number of African governments are not ready to open their borders; All of them supported colonial borders after gaining their independence to the extent that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) included a clause in its charter that stipulated “respect for the borders of member states based on the achievement of national independence”; Which made some say: The founding members of the Organization of African Unity missed the opportunity to lay the foundation stone for true African integration and to address the distortions caused by the colonialists.

There are those who believe that the radical solution to the African border crises lies in strengthening good governance in the countries that suffer from these crises. Where good governance facilitates excellent relations and promotes peaceful ways of resolving issues between neighbours. This is underlined by the fact that most African countries facing border crises today are those that score poorly on the Democracy Index, or are categorized between hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes. In other words, interactions between states are often easy when the principles of local governance are democratic and institutional that support national integration and cohesion, and help neighboring states embrace the path of cooperation under conditions related to their borders, allowing regional integration.

About the author

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Hakim Aladi Najmuddin

Nigerian researcher specializing in educational issues and interested in African affairs.REFERENCE

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SAKHRI Mohamed

I hold a bachelor's degree in political science and international relations as well as a Master's degree in international security studies, alongside a passion for web development. During my studies, I gained a strong understanding of key political concepts, theories in international relations, security and strategic studies, as well as the tools and research methods used in these fields.

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