I. O. Abramov, D. M. Bondarenko, Moscow: Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2013, 459 p.

Africa is one of the most unstable regions in the world. On this continent, there were major political conflicts in terms of the number of victims and the scale of armed confrontation. A peer-reviewed monograph is devoted to the study of these problems.

The book is divided into three sections, including 19 chapters: section I. Some common and characteristic features of conflict situations in Africa; section II. Conflict situations in selected African countries and regions; section III. Peaceful conflict resolution: opportunities and reality.

In this paper, the authors focus on a comprehensive, systematic review of the causes and nature of anti-government protests and factors of political instability. As N. D. Kosukhin notes (Introduction, Chapter 1. "Ethnopolitical conflicts: origins and features"), " Contrary to expectations, the achievement of independence did not lead to the solution of the socio-economic problems of the population of the former colonies. As a result, the issue of resource allocation has come to the fore... overcoming the gap between the centers of economic development and vast backward regions" (p. 7). The monograph convincingly proves that the collapse of the bipolar system of international relations did not have a stabilizing effect on the situation in the sphere of regional security, but, on the contrary, led to the aggravation of many conflicts rooted in the pre-colonial and colonial past of the continent.

Among the causes and prerequisites for the emergence of conflicts, the authors point out poverty, epidemics, hunger, difficulties in economic development, social upheavals, an increase in the number of refugees, the marginalization of young people in urban conditions, a violation of the ecological balance, an increase in the uncontrolled spread of drugs, weapons, etc. As a result, the political situation is destabilized, which manifests itself in the form of various kinds of protest actions, power struggles between certain elite factions, coups d'etat, and aggravation of inter-religious contradictions. This, in turn, often leads to civil wars and armed conflicts.

L. M. Sadovskaya (Chapter 2 "Socio-political origins of the conflict and the possibilities of its settlement within the constitutional framework") considers the crisis of political power that arose in many African countries in the postcolonial period as a source of conflict. The author notes that "as a rule, the struggle for leadership within the country arose after the elections (parliamentary and presidential. - S. K.), which most often ended in challenging their results" (p. 44). Using the examples of Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Zimbabwe and other countries, L. M. Sadovskaya shows how the rigging of results, violence that occurs during the election campaign and after the announcement of the results, causes dissatisfaction, anger and unwillingness of the electorate to continue to participate in this "action".

An interesting problem - the role of mercenaries, pirates and bandits in the spread of conflicts and local wars - was raised by V. I. Gusarov and N. V. Grishina (Chapter 3 "Criminal components of conflicts"). According to the authors, mercenary activity in all cases "should be considered as a crime when, under one pretext or another, someone else's will is imposed by force on the opposing side, which is incompatible with its national or other interests" (p.65). In Africa, mercenaries operated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Angola, Nigeria, Benin, Sierra Leone, the Comoros, Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda, Libya, Mozambique and other countries. But, perhaps, as the authors correctly note, banditry, i.e. actions that violate the conditions of people's daily life and activities, is particularly dangerous. "As elsewhere in the world, in African countries banditry as a criminal phenomenon is always the result of stratification of political, economic, social, religious and other contradictions" (p.73). Sierra Leone and Liberia became hotbeds of banditry during the years of armed conflicts (1991-2002 and 1989-2003, respectively). Robberies, murders, amputation of limbs, rapes, and "fun" such as a dispute for money about the gender of the unborn child of a pregnant woman whose stomach was cut open are attributed to bandit formations in these countries.

V. I. Gusarov and N. V. Grishina note an increase in the scale of piracy, which is growing as the trade turnover expands and the number of vessels engaged in cargo transportation increases. The main areas of pirate activity are the Gulf of Guinea and the Gulf of Aden, the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea, etc. But the scale of Somali piracy in the Horn of Africa is truly enormous. Up to 20 thousand vessels pass here annually. Somalis themselves claim that piracy arose from the fact that foreign trawlers were fishing in their territorial waters and dumping hazardous waste in coastal areas. This is partly true. But, as the authors rightly point out, "this is only half the truth: sea robbery in these places has always been a traditional way of earning money" (p.78). Today, the problem of maritime piracy has become one of the components of the fight against international terrorism. Piracy claims hundreds of lives and hinders the development of world trade, and the general increase in the cost of sea transportation due to the threat of attacks negatively affects the economic performance of merchant fleets.

Considering the basic forms of manifestation of social conflicts, L. L. Fituni (Chapter 4. "Modern technologies in managing social conflicts in Africa") points out that " the severity of the conflict, its external manifestations, latency or openness can have different degrees and, as a result, generate a desire for the conflict participants themselves or a third party to influence it in their own interests " (p. 91). Purposeful influence on the course of conflict is usually called conflict management, which involves translating the current situation and escalated contradictions into a rational channel of people's activities through meaningful influence on the conflict behavior of social actors in order to achieve the desired results. The author notes the diversity and multidimensionality of African conflicts, which have their own genesis and logic of development. To manage such conflicts, methods and mechanisms should be used that meet their specific conditions

and specifics: geography, time, spatial characteristics, intensity, stage of development, etc.

L. L. Fituni makes a compelling case that the Internet and social media have provided a platform and tools for creating and expanding network structures that African Governments have little or no control over. Social media played an important role in the overthrow of many Arab regimes. However, the media are only tools that allow anti-government forces to reduce the costs of participation, organization, recruitment, and training. Their effectiveness depends on how well leaders use them and how accessible they are to those who have the skills, knowledge, and skills associated with using them.

"The peculiarity of the network, the author notes, is the horizontal structure, i.e. communication is carried out not vertically, but horizontally, not from the master to the slave, but (externally) equal participants in their direct contacts with each other. At the same time, three main elements that are considered to be present in a network social movement are important: a) a common communication space; b) a unifying idea or semantic concept; and c) connectivity and (formal) equality of participants" (p.94).

O. B. Gromova (Chapter 5, "The impact of conflicts on the social environment") focuses on numerous conflicts, military coups and civil wars on the continent, which "particularly affected the most vulnerable groups of the population - women and children, who made up the majority of victims of such confrontations" (p.103). Women and children primarily suffer from the economic, social and other consequences of conflicts, the collapse of the national economy and basic social services, the decline of the traditional economy and the accompanying ruin, impoverishment, hunger, exhaustion, unsanitary conditions, and various diseases. Extreme poverty combined with the destruction of infrastructure, including health services, will pose a serious threat to women's and children's health. In most African countries emerging from conflict, more than 20% of children died before the age of five in the face of rampant disease. Tens of thousands of civilians are becoming homeless. Refugees who manage to settle in overcrowded tent camps for displaced persons face many new risks and threats to their physical security, as the "shelter" does not protect them from attacks and war crimes.

O. B. Gromova argues that due to their position in society and gender, women "are at an increased risk and threat of violence, becoming the primary target and object of raids and attacks by soldiers and militants, who widely use various forms of violence against these most vulnerable categories of the civilian population" (p.104). At the same time, women and children become not only victims of violence, but also active participants in armed conflicts. A large number of children in African conflict zones have been systematically used in military operations by both insurgents and pro-Government armed groups. Africa accounts for almost a third of all child soldiers in the world.

Section II opens with the article by A. A. Tkachenko (Chapter 6 "Political upheavals and civil conflicts in North Africa: social explosion, revolution, revolt, civil war". The author points out that there is a high probability that "political upheavals in the Arab East will continue and lead to further, possibly radical changes in the political landscape of the region" and that the authoritarian regime that ruled for several decades has left a heavy legacy in the political and social sphere, overcoming which will be extremely difficult and will require a long time: "regimes the personal authorities, in fact, destroyed the already fragile system of political and social shock absorbers and counterweights, which in times of crisis saved society from the most severe civil confrontation, leaving behind a "political vacuum"" (p.131).

The fall of stable and apparently quite prosperous regimes showed that the main protest potential was directed primarily against the heads of the regimes themselves, who concentrated all power in their hands, and the authoritarian form of government. It is precisely with the rigid authoritarian power in public opinion in the countries of the region that numerous economic and social problems were increasingly associated. This is inefficient management, stagnantly low living standards of a significant part of the population, lack of basic freedoms, etc. The consequences of the "Arab Spring", according to the author, will largely determine the vector of development of each of the countries of North Africa, not only in the near and medium term,

but also in the long run. Apparently, there will be a struggle mainly between two tendencies: to preserve real power functions in the hands of a relatively narrow group, mainly or partially represented by the top of law enforcement agencies, on the one hand, and to carry out quasi-democratic reforms, on the other.

Speaking about political violence in Nigeria, L. V. Geweling (Chapter 7, "The Fourth Republic in Nigeria: A Chronicle of Political Violence") He points out that "violence played a hypertrophied role in the socio-political life of the country" (p. 148). Since mid-2000, Nigeria has experienced periodic parliamentary crises caused by widespread corruption and other abuses in both houses of the National Assembly. There were conflicts between the executive and legislative authorities, as well as tensions between the federal center and the regional leadership. The main reasons for this confrontation remained disagreements over the allocation of budget allocations and sometimes contested in court control over the country's oil resources. Attempts were repeatedly made to impeach the head of state.

Other conflicts have resulted from labor-capital tensions, price liberalization, the energy crisis, and fuel supply disruptions. The instability of the regime was partly due to the intensification of separatist and centrifugal forces, as well as the aggravation of contradictions between the main faiths - Muslims and Christians.

Nigeria continues to have a difficult criminal situation, largely due to the fact that approximately 60 (out of 170) million citizens live below the poverty line. The country serves as a transshipment point for large quantities of drugs moving to European, East Asian and North American markets.

In the article by G. M. Sidorova (Chapter 8 "The armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its consequences") It is pointed out that conflicts brought in from the neighboring states of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, etc. have been added to the country's own political and social contradictions. At the same time, the largest battles took place in parts of the country that are of great economic importance, for example, those containing cobalt and copper in the Katanga region and in the Mbuji-Mayi diamond deposits, which once again confirms the importance of having rich natural resources, exploiting them and exporting them for the emergence and continuation of the war.

S. V. Mezentsev (Chapter 9 "Conflicts in the Horn of Africa") focuses on internal crises in the territories of Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as in Sudan, which connects the Horn of Africa and the Nile Valley. Pointing out that the causes of past and present conflicts in the region are diverse, the author considers a combination of such factors as " the struggle for material and natural resources, as well as for power between various socio-political entities. Historically unresolved or artificially created contradictions between peoples of different ethnic, linguistic, cultural and confessional affiliations, forcibly united within the borders of single states, also support internal political tensions" (p.202). Using his own experience of working in the countries of the region and research conducted there, S. V. Mezentsev examines in detail the Ethiopian-Somali (1977-1978) and Ethiopian-Eritrean (1998-2000) conflicts and emphasizes that along with economic backwardness, an important factor of political instability is the weakness and underdevelopment of state power institutions. In many countries, there is no or insufficient control over national territories and borders. This situation contributes to the development of the smuggling of small arms and ammunition, as well as the almost unhindered movement of illegal armed groups in the border areas. Speaking about the high conflict potential of the Horn of Africa, the author rightly points out that the countries of the region are multinational and multi - confessional entities with centuries-old traditions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and traditional beliefs. Currently, the spread of radical Islamism is becoming a significant destabilizing factor.

The protracted conflicts in the Sudan - between the North and South of the country (1955-2011 with short respites) and in Darfur (2003-present) are discussed in the article by N. Z. Fakhrutdinova (Chapter 11, "The genesis of conflicts on the road to peace in the Sudan"), who notes that their origins "go back to the colonial era the country's past. Sudan is located... at the junction of two

two worlds: Arab and African, and two civilizations: Islamic and Christian " (p. 252). July 9, 2011 South Sudan has officially gained independence, but relations between it and North Sudan remain strained. Questions about the ownership of the oil-rich state of Abyei, the fate of the oil pipeline passing through the territory of two parts of the formerly unified state, have not been resolved. There are still military and political risks associated with serious internal contradictions in the ranks of the ruling group and the tribal elite of the South, the activities of rebel groups in the territories of both states, etc. With regard to Darfur, the author convincingly argues that one of the causes of the conflict was the struggle for resources-pasture and arable land, water sources and seasonal migration corridors of cattle-as a result of their sharp decline and depletion due to climate and environmental changes.

According to L. M. Sadovskaya (Chapter 10, "The ethnopolitical conflict in Ivory Coast and prospects for its resolution"), conflicts in Ivory Coast that began in the 1990s and continued with varying intensity until 2011, as well as in Sudan and many other countries of the continent, are rooted in disagreements Both the colonial and post-colonial periods were largely determined by the past relationships of the warring parties. Important factors of instability were the authorities ' exclusion from making responsible decisions and the displacement from the leading sectors of the economy of numerous immigrants-former labor migrants from Burkina Faso, Mali, Liberia and other states of the West African region, who concentrated in the northern regions of the country during the reign of the first long-lived President F. Houphouet-Boigny (1960-1993) and actually became Ivorians. Before the 1995 presidential election, changes in the Constitution deprived them of the right to vote and the right to be a presidential candidate. To be eligible, you must have been born to an Ivorian father and mother. Since" non-Ivoirians " accounted for about 30% of the population, Ivory Coast was virtually split into an Ivorian South and an immigrant North. The situation became noticeably worse after the 2010 presidential election, when a standoff broke out between supporters of former President L. Gbagbo and current A. Ouattara over the results of the vote count. The situation turned into bloody clashes, which were stopped only thanks to the intervention of the international community.

The same author's section (Chapter 12, "Senegal: the Casamance Problem") examines one of the most unusual conflicts on the African continent: the struggle of the Casamance Democratic Forces Movement to separate this southern province from the main part of the country. The conflict is characterized by a relatively small number of victims from the 1940s to the present day, the "seasonal" nature of the fighting, which is due to the need for militants to participate in agricultural work in order to feed their families, dependence on the sale of marijuana to finance the movement, etc. Among the main factors of the rise of separatism, L. M. Sadovskaya notes "the dominance of northerners in the leadership of provinces, economic difficulties associated with the severe drought in the central regions of Senegal, which caused a mass migration of non-indigenous people to Casamance" (p.274). The settlers took away housing and fertile plots of land from local residents. Along with this, the indignation of the indigenous Casamans was caused by the actions of the authorities to burn the crops of Indian hemp and other traditional crops, the cultivation of which is associated with the very existence of the local population. Sadovskaya concludes that young people, experiencing material deprivation and being in a certain spiritual and cultural vacuum, saw their future only in an independent Casamance.

T. S. Denisova (Chapter 13, "The First Civil War in Liberia (1989-1997): a regional dimension") examines in detail the role played by other African countries - Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Nigeria, Libya, etc. , as well as the military contingents of ECOWAS (Economic Cooperation and Development). Community of West African Countries) - ECOMOG played a role in the development of the Liberian conflict by providing the main anti-government group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), under the leadership of Ch. President of Liberia from 1997 to 2003) and other rebel factions by providing moral, political and military support, or, on the contrary, by participating in conflict resolution. On both sides of the conflict fought immigrants from different countries of the continent, trained in special camps in Libya, and foreign mercenaries. In addition, "all the Liberian 'warlords' collaborated with various foreign companies during the conflict."-

In Liberia, they began to represent the interests of international trade and industrial syndicates with headquarters in Conakry, Abidjan, Lagos, Abuja, Paris, Washington, and other centers" (p.292).

The conflict in Liberia has become a vivid example of the use by the parties of natural and other resources of the state for personal enrichment and the formation of an "economy of war". "Diamonds, gold, drugs, rubber, timber, looted property, scrap metal, palm oil, coffee, cocoa and, of course, weapons-all became the subject of purchase and sale" (p. 295). Even ECOMOG created its own drug trafficking scheme and competed with the NPFL for control of regional smuggling channels. Almost all of the Nigerian ECOMOG officers, who represented the largest group of the peacekeeping mission's officer corps, had business interests in Liberia during the war, including selling weapons to all opposing factions, and soldiers selling issued ammunition.

According to the author's fair observation, the conflict had a pronounced regional character, as it spread to neighboring States-Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Guinea and was subjected to external intervention, mainly from Nigeria and Ghana.

Over the past few years, the international community has focused its attention on the events in Mali, where on March 22, 2012, the third military coup in 50 years of independent existence took place, as a result of which a group of junior officers led by Captain A. Sanogo overthrew President Amala Toumani Toure, who led the previous (in 1991) Malian army intervention, which led to E. N. Korendyasov (Chapter 14 "The crisis in the Republic of Mali") highlights among the main features of the Malian crisis that "it was generated mainly by the aggravation of contradictions related to the processes of modernization of the state and socio-political structure, the development of a market economy and the consequences of globalization under the dominance of the United States." in the system of global governance of Western countries and TNCs" (p. 304). As the author points out, the coup d'etat revealed the fierce confrontation in Mali between the state and society and the low managerial capacity of State institutions. In addition, a deep shock in Malian society was caused by the revealed decline in the combat capability of the national army, a state institution respected by the country's residents. When the next Tuareg (Sahrawi nomad) uprising began in January 2012, the army was unable to resist the rebels, who within a few weeks occupied a number of large cities and established control over the northern regions of the country, an area that reached 65% of the national territory, and on April 6, the independence of the state of Azawad was declared.

E. N. Korendyasov points out that back in the early 1990s, Islamists, including Al-Qaeda, began to look for opportunities to create a support base for their movement in the vast Sahara-Sahel region located on the southern borders of North Africa. Moreover, as the difficulties in Al-Qaeda's activities in Afghanistan and Western countries increased, the role of the Sahra-Sahel stronghold of Islamism increased. The growing rebel potential of the Tuaregs was also taken into account.

Another factor in the aggravation of the situation along the "central authorities of Mali - Tuareg north" line was the fall of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, since the direct consequence of the NATO anti-Libyan operation was the mass movement of military units remaining loyal to Gaddafi from Libya through Algeria to the northern regions of Mali at the end of 2011. As a rule, these were soldiers and officers from the former Islamic legion, in the ranks of which there were about 2 thousand Tuaregs. They formed the backbone of the armed detachments of Islamist organizations and the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).

International efforts have had a decisive impact on the dynamics of the Malian crisis. "In terms of the content, driving forces, significance and acuteness of the interests called into question, the Malian events went far beyond the national and regional framework. There is an immediate threat of uncontrolled destabilization of the Sahel-Saharan countries and the entire region of West Africa, aggravation of separatist, ethno-confessional and criminal-terrorist problems, and fierce battles between world power centers for natural resources and military and political influence on the continent " (p. 315). It was only in August 2013 that an important part of the road map for overcoming the crisis was implemented: Following two rounds of voting, the new President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was elected.

Raising the topic of peacekeeping in Africa, T. L. Deitch (Chapter 15, "UN peacekeeping in Africa") notes that "any foreign intervention can have two consequences, both positive and negative, especially since it is quite difficult to ensure the impartiality of intervention forces that cannot conduct purely humanitarian operations without pursuing any specific goals." political goals" (p. 331). Often, however, the use of force is delayed, and ethnic "cleansing" and genocide take thousands of lives and reduce the chances of resolving the conflict, as happened in Rwanda in 1994. Meanwhile, armed intervention can stop mass acts of violence, but on the condition that operations of the international community must be carried out with the approval of the UN Security Council, be legitimate and not go beyond clearly defined boundaries without being penalized by the international community. The author rightly points out that not all UN missions were successful. Among the least successful is the UN mission to Somalia in 1992, when 18 US special forces were killed. The UN's work in Rwanda also ended in failure: UN officials failed to respond to warnings received from the mission in the capital, Kigali, and the withdrawal of peacekeepers contributed to the escalation of the conflict. UN operations in Sierra Leone (1999-2012), Liberia (2003-2011) and Burundi (2004-2012) were quite successful.

L. Y. Prokopenko (Chapter 16 "Peacemaking in the practice of the African Union and sub-regional integration groups") notes a significant contribution to the African security strategy and the practice of conflict resolution on the continent of the African Union (AU) and such regional organizations as the Southern African Development Community, the Economic Community of West African Countries, the Intergovernmental Organization for the Development of East Africa The Horn of Africa. In the 2000s, the AU and regional organizations resorted to both political and military means to resolve conflicts. Most conflicts in Africa cannot be resolved solely through peacekeeping operations or operations using military force, and the mechanisms of diplomacy still remain relevant to solving this problem " (p. 389).

Focusing on Russia's role as a participant in the peace-building process, T. L. Deitch (Chapter 19 "Russia as a participant in the peace-building process in Africa") stressed that over the past decade, Russia's participation in international efforts to resolve conflicts in Africa has noticeably intensified. "Peacemaking is for Russia one of the most powerful means of influencing the situation in the countries of the continent, a way to demonstrate its national interests and potential capabilities in solving African security problems" (p.438). Russia has never taken part in peace enforcement operations, but it does not refuse to participate in peacekeeping operations, which are radically different in their parameters: in the first case, peacekeepers are introduced into the conflict zone against the wishes of the warring parties and force the participants to stop armed clashes. In the second case, they are introduced into this zone at the request of the conflicting parties and with their consent. Russia has participated in UN peacekeeping operations in Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, DRC, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire and other countries.

As I. G. Rybalkina notes (Conclusion), African countries need to create optimal and stable conditions for solving internal problems of political and socio-economic development, and without international assistance, economic, financial, military, humanitarian, etc., the peoples of the continent will not be able to overcome crisis and conflict situations in the foreseeable future.

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