


Many of these groups fight each other, while others from neighbouring countries use the Congolese territory to launch attacks on their home countries. It began in 1998 with the involvement of about 20 different armed groups who maraud the country’s vast jungles. More than five million people have been killed in the Congolese war, according to the news agency Reuters. The war in the DRC is one of Africa’s deadliest. In its quest to “Silence the Guns” in Africa by 2020, which is its theme for the year, the African Union and other partners ought to focus on the main crisis spots currently: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Libya, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced. Many of the current conflicts are driven by prospects of political power or financial gain, with armed groups fighting to acquire valuable mineral resources, assert their ideology or address grievances. The nature of violent conflicts in Africa has changed since before independence when they were mostly ideologically-driven guerilla warfare. Despite efforts by various stakeholders to establish a peaceful Africa, armed conflicts continue in parts of the continent.
