The War Against Impunity

The Falling Battle in Africa

Abstract

In this century, perhaps more than at any other time in the history of the modern world, armed conflict, between peoples has occurred within state borders, rather than between countries. Internal conflicts, no less so than their international counterparts, imply that there will be civilian casualties, that there will be terror and torture, that there will be exceptional detention. And, therefore the civilian’s populations become direct victims of terror and atrocities or indirect victims of displacement and deprivation. Africa has been particularly vulnerable to conflicts of identity, which have decimated populations and violated numerous human rights norms.

The cases of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan (Darfur), Libya, Cote d’Ivoire, Northern Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo constitute frightful examples of this scourge.