To sum up what is happening here the example of three countries would suffice: Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan. As of today the leaders of the Southern African development community, a regional grouping of Southern African nations, are meeting in Johannesburg in South Africa to discuss the on-going crisis in Zimbabwe and DR Congo.

For the last couple of years Zimbabwe as a country has simply imploded. Its president, Robert Mugabe, has become nothing but a blood-thirty dictator who is hell-bent on holding on to power no matter what it takes. The presidential election earlier this year was a total farce. His ZANU-PF party killed, thrashed and raped politicians and supporters of the opposition MDC party in the run up to the poll. And even though MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won the first round of polling, he was forced to pull out of the second round run-off with president Mugabe because of the orgy of violence that had been unleashed by ZANU-PF militias.

Meanwhile, the economy of the country is in a nose-dive. Inflation is as high as a staggering two million per cent with a loaf of bread costing as much as a hundred million Zimbabwean dollars! Tsvangirai and Mugabe are currently engaged in power sharing talks brokered by the SADC.

A closer look at the Zimbabwe problem will reveal that it has more to do with ethnicity than politics. Mugabe is from the majority ethnic Shona tribe whereas Tsvangirai is from the minority Matabele tribe. It is the centuries old conflict between these two tribes that is, in many ways, responsible for the crisis even today. In fact, ethnicity is at the root of almost all conflicts in Africa. If we take a look at what is presently happening in DR Congo we will realise that the same forces are at work here as well. The crisis here is a spillover of the Rwandan genocide of the last decade.

Ethnic Tutsi rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, blames the DR Cong government for supporting radical Hutu militias in the eastern part of the county. Even though a peace deal was agreed upon earlier this year, conflict still rages on with thousands already having been killed and millions displaced. Both sides are alleged to be responsible for war crimes and in spite of UN forces being present in the country the conflict shows no signs of abating. On the contrary the recent fighting has seen UN forces being caught in the line of fire.

Similarly, the Dafur crisis in Sudan is another example of ethnic strife affecting the continent. Here the conflict is between Arab dominated Khartoum and the ethnic African tribes of the western province of Dafur. The conflict that started in 2003 has again seen millions being systematically killed and millions more having to take shelter in refugee camps. Here too even though a peace deal was signed with one of the rebel factions, sporadic violence still continues. Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was accused of war crimes amounting to genocide by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Court of Justice earlier this year.

There are many more countries in Africa that are facing similar problems with ethnic rivalry as the main source of conflict. But in spite of knowing this the response of the international community to the same has been absolutely pathetic. Donor nations have poured billions of dollars in aid into Africa only to further complicate the turmoil. Apart from a few glimmers of hope, most of the nations in Africa today remain banana republics.

There is no real democracy and corruption is rampant. Throwing money at the problem, as has been the approach of donor nations, and writing off previous debts have only accentuated the crises that criss-cross this continent. Being a resource-rich land has in fact been a bane for Africa. It is the desire to control the same that has prevented real change from taking effect.

For example one of the reasons why the international community can do little to stop the violence in Sudan and Zimbabwe is because China has major stakes in Sudanese oil and Zimbabwean minerals. It is because of people like Omar al-Bashir and Robert Mugabe that the United Nations Security Council cannot take any affirmative action.

The need of the hour is for the international community to do a complete re-think of its Africa policy. Aid given must be tied to promoting multi-party democracy and developmental projects; the failure to fulfill which should mean a complete freeze on further aid. The international community should also put pressure on countries such as China so that the latter takes a more constructive role in the region.

People are dying needless deaths in Africa each day. Unless the international community starts acting more responsibly it will be responsible for one of the worst humanitarian crises in history. If it already isn’t, that is.