Post a response to this discussion thread
Okay, this may seem a simple take on the African issue...
During the period of 'empirebuilding' (imperialism) of the western colonial powers Britain and France, these two powers pretty much divided the African continent between themselves, using sophisticated devices such as rulers. Look at the borders of most African countries: they're mostly straight lines. The colonial class system added to the conflict between hostile tribes. 'Divide and rule' was the motto of the colonial governments. To achieve this they favored the tribe that was a minority. Members of this tribe would get better jobs and education, etc. During the hasty decolonisation following WW 2, these colonies became the 'countries' we know today, with tribes hostile to each other locked inside arbitrarily drawn borders.
The Dutch used a similar colonial class system in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). At the top were of course the white Europeans, followed by the indiginous royalty then the Chinese tradesmen and at the last place the Indonesian population. That's the main reason why to this day the Chinese in Indonesia have been the main target of riotous mobs.
Regarding the role of Western countries in peacekeeping roles: a similar thing like in Rwanda (with Canadian UN- troops) happened in former Yugoslavia, in the town of Srebenica (with Dutch UN-troops). The same circumstances were present: peacekeepers 'on the ground' faced with armed genocidal militia, and an unwilling UN-high command. The main difference with Rwanda was that the Dutch peacekeepers weren't willing to take *any* risks on the behalf of the beleaguered Bosnian civilians. They were harassed into obedience by the Serbs led by general Mladic and didn't make an attempt to save the Bosnian men who were being led away to their deaths.
Like Canada, the Netherlands has a small population (about 15 million), but unlike Canada, the Dutch have no military tradition to speak of. Everytime a Dutch contingent is sent out for peacekeeping duties, I fear the worst. The only capable Dutch soldiers are the Royal Marines, but they weren't sent to Bosnia at the time and are not part of the Dutch peaceforces in Macedonia today.
Post a response to this discussion thread