Conflict zones in AfricaWhy does Africa seem to have so many

problems?Who is to blame?

Current conflicts in AfricaClick here to see what the colors mean and tomagnify.

Who is to blame for the conflicts?According to the mapwhich European power got the most control of Africa?Click here for a quick video about theScramble for Africa? (2:47)

Berlin Conference 1884-1885 the meeting of Europeans to divide up Africa.

As you watch the video answer the questions below:

1. What was the “Scramble for Africa”?

2. Why did the Europeans want to control Africa?

3. Who attended the conference? Who did not?

Cecil Rhodes- Colossus of Africa

4. What does this political cartoon imply about the Europeans?

Why didn’t the Africans fight back?

The Europeans had access to newly invented technology like the Maxim machine gun that the Africans did not.

The people of the Congo suffered atthe hands of the Belgians (King Leopold)

Africa is RICH with natural resources. Why isn’t it a rich country then?The answer is complex but are some reasons….

Corrupt leadersDictators take the money from natural resources and leave the African people to

suffer. Totalitarian- a type of government where ONE person has COMPLETE control

Military ConflictsRebel leaders take money from natural resources to fund the conflict.

Children are often stolen from their homes at gunpoint and forced to serve under rebel leaders.

Some are forced to work in the diamond mines. If they refuse then the rebels cut off their limbs.

Advertisement against blood diamonds

Ethnic tensions caused by European colonialism

• Europeans divided up the continent of Africa based on natural resources and did not care about the different ethnic groups.

• They would often favor one group over another one.

• What do you think that did to the different ethnic groups?

Rwandan Genocide Who is Hutu? Tutsi?

Listen to the video here.Which group did the Europeans favor?What is the “real” difference between the 2 groups?

What did the Hutus do to the Tutsis? Genocide- targeted murder of a specific group based on ethnicity

Click here to see intro to Hotel Rwanda. Minutes -:46-2:00Children were affected-click here. 0-2:00 min

Did anyone help? Click here 0-3:00

Forced expulsion/migration Click here. Minutes 6-9

Click here to see the atrocities. Minutes 4-6

Teacher Slide: • Ethnic divisions and tensions between the Hutu and the Tutsi existed before the colonial era. The

Hutu majority saw the Tutsi minority as foreign invaders and not indigenous to Rwanda. However, there is very little scientific evidence of a genetic difference between the two groups. Both the Hutu and the Tutsi speak the same Bantu language. Until the 20th century, intermarriage between the two groups was quiet common. Besides sharing the same language, the Hutu and Tutsi also share the same religion. The majority of Hutu and Tutsi are Christians specifically Roman Catholics. There is some evidence that the distinction between Hutu and Tutsi was based on social class rather than racial differences.

• The differences between Hutu and Tutsi were widened and made law during the Belgian colonial period. After World War I, the Belgians took control of Rwanda from the Germans and took a census of their new colony. Each person was required to be classified as Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa. The Belgians developed a strict system of racial identification based on racist scientific theories. People with the whiter skin and Caucasian features were chosen Tutsi. Believing the Tutsi were superior to the Hutu, only Tutsi given access to higher education and as a result made up the ruling elite despite being minority.

• After World War II, the Belgians switched their support to majority Hutu. However, this did not stop the rising tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi. Starting in the early 1950s, violence between the Hutu and Tutsi began to occur frequently both Rwanda and Burundi. This culminated in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994

Assessment: Part I: Answer the questions on a separate piece of paper and explain why?

Cause:

A group perceives another as a threatTo one’s territory or concept of nationalism, and purposefully plans to target specific groupsand areas

Effect:

Forced expulsion (kicked out of home country)

Forced Migration

Murder

1. The cause and effect example depicted above describes the conflict between groupsSuch as the Hutu and the Tutsi in Rwanda. Conflicts such as this often result in-

A. PatriotismB. ImperialismC. GenocideD. sovereignty

Ticket out

Some reasons for conflict in Africa are _______________ and _______________. Mostly the ________________ are to blame for Africa’s problems. They were after the rich__________________ in Africa. Modern problems still exist in Africa such as _____________ and ______________. These tensions have led to mass killings of a specific group known as ________________. A specific recent example was between ___________ and _____________.