“Africa’s arc of crisis, a string of contiguous conflicts from the Horn to the Atlantic, is a serious obstacle to the continent’s renaissance. While Sierra Leone and Liberia illustrate the destructive effects of external economic rivalries in accelerating state collapse, ECOMOG’s deployment has contained their spread. The recent coup in Cote d’lvoire sent a frisson of fear through the Francophonie, but has not (yet?) proven contagious. The conflicts of the arc — between Sudan and Uganda, in the Great Lakes, the Congo’s and Angola — are more disturbing, as they suggest the possibility of protracted mutual reinforcement. Among these, two stand out — those in Angola and Rwanda — neither of
which has attracted broad African efforts at resolution.”
