Impact Of The Nigeria Civil War In The Lives Of Teenagers And Children

Introduction

War as defined by Webster"s Dictionary "is a state of open and declared, hostile armed conflict between states or nations, or a period of such conflict" This captures a particularly political - rationalistic account of war and warfare, i.e. that war needs to be explicitly declared and to be between states to be a war.

War, in its judicial sense is a contention carried on by force of arms between sovereign states, or communities having in this regard the right of states. The term is often used for civil strife, sedition rebellion properly so called, or even for the undertaking of a state to put down by force an organized bodies of outlaws.

The continent of Africa has been highly susceptible to intra and inter-state wars and conflicts. This has prompted the insinuations that Africa is the home of wars and instability, most pathetic about this conflagrations is that they have defied any meaningful solution and their negative impacts have retarded growth and development in Africa while an end to them seems obscure. What then are the causes of this unending wars in Africa? How far have they impacted our younger generation and how far have they weakened cohesion, unity and potential development of the African continent?

The history of Africa as a continent "is replete with conflict" (Alabi, 2006: 41) one may even assert that the major current that runs through Africa from North to South, East to West and central is conflict and wars. Since the 196o"s, series of civil wars had taken place in Africa. Examples include; Sudan (1990-1995), Chad (1965-85), Angola since( 1974), Liberia (1980-2003), Nigeria (1967-1970), Somalia (1993-1999) and Burundi, Rwanda and Sierra Leone (1991-2001).

But apart from civil wars Africa has also witnessed a number of intermittent border and inter-state conflicts notable among which are the following:

• Nigeria-Cameroon dispute over Bakassi Peninsula since the 1970s
• Algeria-Morocco conflict over the Atlas, Mountain area in October 1963
• Eritrea-Ethiopian crisis between 1962 and 1979

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