Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency conference report, numbered RTT 95-10039 and dated October 1995, presents the proceedings of a conference held 30 September to 1 October 1993. The CIA's Geographic Resources Division sponsored the conference. In it, academic geographers, anthropologists and US Government officials examined ethnic conflict by region, covering Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and South Asia. The report also discusses what these conflicts mean for US policy. It does not deal with UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena.
“Nevers”25 pages
Approved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268 battle between the MPLA and UNITA began. Eventu- ally this conflict became internationalized with Cuban troops in support of the MPLA and South African and other external assistance to UNITA. The role of Zaire in the issue was significant. After the FNLA went into oblivion, Zaire moved its support to UNITA; this was a natural move, given Mobutu’s dependence on the United States. Zaire’s taking sides in Angola’s civil war had the effect of creating behind-the-back secu- rity for Savimbi’s UNITA. After the withdrawal of Cuban troops, the collapse of the MPLA’s sponsor—~the Soviet Union-and the withdrawal of South African support for UNITA, mediation by Herman Cohen and his staff produced an agreement for a multiparty election in 1992. In that election, the Dos Santos—led MPLA was victorious, winning 128 seats in the legislature to 71 for UNITA. Neither Dos Santos nor Savimbi received 50 percent of the vote, however, creating the need for a presiden- tial runoff election. Savimbi charged that the election had been fraudulent, and, on 30 October 1992, fight- ing broke out in Luanda andthe civil war resumed. Neither side appeared capable of vanquishing the other completely, at least not without extemal, mas- sive help. The question arose whether it should be US policy to promote a partition of this large country; the latitudinal morphology of the territory might make such a solution the sole alternative to endless ethnic strife. In 1994, renewed international efforts to medi- ate the Angolan conflict again appeared to have suc- cess, and a government was installed in Luanda. But the fundamental divisions of Angola remain. Potential Ethnic Conflicts Latent ethnic conflict exists in many African coun- tries. In Southern Africa, Mozambique has just emerged from years of ethnic strife, but the situation remains fragile, and many thousands of refugees have not yet returned home. In Zaire, the inevitable politi- cal transition may yield an explosion of long-sup- pressed ethnic conflict. In long-stable Kenya, the risk of ethnic strife has risen in recent years, apparently stoked by official actions. In.Chad, major conflict has recurred for decades and is likely to take place again. Other plural African societies, from Sierra Leone to South Africa, contend with potential ethnic conflict as a matter of course. Nigeria Nowhere are the risks as great, the stakes as high, or the divisions as deep as they are in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria’s arid north lies deeply embedded in Islamic Africa, and its palm- fringed southem coastlines are part of Afiica’s Chris- tian and animist world. British colonialism threw a lasso around some 200 ethnolinguistic groups scat- tered across a wide range of environmental and cul- tural zones. The survival of Nigeria (despite a bitter war of secession) is an African achievement of nota- ble proportions. Now Nigeria’s unity is threatened. Nigeria‘s population may number 100 million or more; the issue of census accuracy has roiled its poli- tics for years. Among more than 200 ethnic groups, three are dominant: the Hausa-Fulani of the North, the Yoruba of the Southwest, and the Ibo (Igbo) of the Southeast. These major nations (for such they are) have considerable disdain for each other. Muslim I-Iausa say that Yoruba are godless and uncultured. Ibo describe the Hausa as backward and uneducated. To Northemers, the Ibo are money-mad merchants who will do anything for a price. Nigeria was born an uneasy federation with three states centered on these dominant nations; today it is a country of 30 states try- ing to emulate not Westminster’s system but Washing- ton’s. The religious composition of the Nigerian population is estimated as follows: Muslims, 50 million; Chris- tians, 37 million; others (chiefly animists) 12 million. (The much disputed 1991 census of Nigeria did not require Nigerians to answer questions about religion.) A substantial number of Yoruba, perhaps 2 million, are Muslims, but Islam in Nigeria long has had a mod- erate tone. Some geographers have described the Yoruba as “middlemen” between Christian Eastemers and the more dogmatic Muslim Northemers, defusing tensions that might have led to religious conflict. 79 Approved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 205 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.