West Africa was the most peaceful sub-region in Africa until the end of the 1980s. Although the other African sub-regions faced devastating civil wars and severe interstate conflicts, apart from the Nigerian Civil War (1967-70), in the Cold War era West Africa underwent neither large-scale international conflicts nor prolonged civil wars which threatened sub-regional security. However, this starkly contrasted with widespread internal violence and military coups in the sub-region. Nearly a half of successful military coups in independent Africa took place in West Africa. The reality of Pax West Africana in the Cold War era can be characterised by negative and limited peace with domestic political instability such as military coups.
However this negative sub-regional peace was broken by the erupt of civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) played a leading role in conflict resolution of the virulent civil wars, establishing the ECOWAS Cease-fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) at its own initiative and militarily intervening in the conflicts.
The aim of this article is to examine the root of ECOMOG. Although ECOMOG is labelled by ECOWAS as its own sub-regional peace-keeping force, the author believes that the root of ECOMOG is in the tradition of “armies on loan, ” which is one form of the use of military power in interstate relations of independent Africa. African states have often deployed elements of the armed forces in open support of foreign policy objectives on other African countries. ECOMOG is not a neutral peacekeeping force but multilateral “armies on loan” whose purpose is to provide military assistance to threatened regimes or governments in West Africa.

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In this article, we will show the roots of ethnic conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Rwanda in 1994, 500, 000 to 1, 000, 000 people were murdered in about three months. Since the military coup d'état of October 21, 1993, Burundi is experiencing a genocide, too. Several dozens die every day. Hundreds of thousands are either in exile or are living under harsh conditions in camps inside the country. Too many people have lost their lives in Angola, Liberia, Congo-Kinshasa, Nigeria, Sudan and so on. Since independence, why have such a large number of ethnic conflicts taken place in Africa? We discuss three topics.
Firstly, there are two myths that are obstacles to our understanding Africa properly. One is that pluralism in African states causes ethnic conflicts. It is not true. Much in Africa is quiet, stable, and functioning. Ethnicity itself does not necessarily generate ethnic conflict. We can see many cases that show peaceful coexistence of different ethnic group. The other is that there is ethnic antagonism since pre-colonial era and it causes ethnic conflicts. When the genocide started in Rwanda, most journalists explained it as the ‘tribal’ battle for ‘500 years’. Historical research shows this explanation does not work. The ‘Hamitic hypothesis’ is totally denied today. Ethnic identity is not eternal but changeable. In many cases ethnic nationalism we see today appeared in 1950s when African elites started to think ‘who governs the state’.
Secondly, what causes ethnic conflicts in Africa is the collapsed state, not ethnicity. The mark of state collapse is the breakdown of law and order. The collapsed state is also controlled by a small privileged group coming from one region, one ethnic group or one clan. This group uses the state as a tool to get personal or group benefits. Their concern is not people's welfare, but how to divide the national cake. Even genocide is the last tactics for the privileged group to sustain their power. Systems that permit the control by one ethnic group or region, such as the system under the First Nigerian Republic, may result in ethnic conflicts.
Thirdly, the international community has responsibility for the African conflicts. As to Rwandan genocide in April 1994, at least, France, Belgium, USA and UN are blamed for not attempting to prevent genocide, because they knew the preparation of genocide in 1993 or at the beginning of 1994 already. The Big Powers have supported dictators economically and militarily for a long time. The international community also has responsibility to regulate the considerable flow of small arms towards Africa.

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