CONCILIATING AFRICA’S ETHNIC MINORITIES WITH AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN POVERTY REDUCTION: LESSONS FROM CHINA

Abstract

Many conflicts in developing countries have been caused by groups on the margins of society agitating against their exclusion from the scheme of things. Africa is a region that has been ravaged by complex and multifaceted conflicts. The continent’s state fragility quotient is high; and one of the very first things some African countries (notably Nigeria, Zaire (now DRC) and Angola) did upon gaining independence was either fight a civil war or flirt with situations that brought them on the brink of war. Most of the conflicts have been fought by ethnic groups contesting the control of political and/or economic power and/or natural resources. Ethnic conflict on the continent has been approached with different measures. For example, in Rwanda measures have been taken to eliminate the social relevance of ethnicity (the major cause of the genocide), with the result that Rwandans are no longer ethnically profiled as Hutu or Tutsi or Twa but simply as Rwandan. There are various ethnic policies in the other regions that can be copied and adapted to the peculiar conditions in different countries on the continent. This work holds up China’s ethnic policies as models that can be adapted for the continent.