ARNOLD AFRICA • HISTORY Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest, No. 34 HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF Since the end of World War II, and especially after 1960 when seventeen African colonies became independent of colonial rule, the African continent has been rav- aged by a series of wars. They have ranged from liberation struggles against former colonial powers to power struggles between different factions in the aftermath of in- dependence to border wars between newly independent states to civil wars between different ethnic groups. As with many confl icts, outside forces were drawn into SECOND EDITION many of these wars, intervening on one side or the other for a variety of reasons, including political ideology, Cold War considerations, and ethnic alignments. HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF DICTIONARY HISTORICAL This second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Civil Wars in Africa reviews the wars that have occurred in Africa in the past half century: Algeria’s struggle for independence from French colonial rule, Nigeria’s fi ght to achieve a balanced state after the British departure, the Rwandan genocide of 1994, and the current ethnic cleansing in Darfur, to name only a few. It contains a chronology, a list of acronyms and abbreviations, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and cross-referenced dic- SECOND EDITION tionary entries on wars, confl icts, major political and military fi gures, and topics such as child soldiers, mercenaries, and blood diamonds. GUY ARNOLD is the author of more than 40 books, including the Historical Dictionary of Aid and Development Organizations (1996), Historical Dictionary of Civil Wars in Africa: First Edition (1999), Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War (2002), and Historical Dictionary of the Non-Aligned Movement and Third World (2006), all published by Scarecrow Press. For orders and information please contact the publisher SCARECROW PRESS, INC. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefi eld Publishing Group, Inc. Cover design by Neil D. Cotterill 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 Lanham, Maryland 20706 ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5766-7 ISBN-10: 0-8108-5766-9 1-800-462-6420 • fax 717-794-3803 90000 www.scarecrowpress.com GUY ARNOLD Cover photo: young Liberian soldiers in Monrovia, 9 780810 857667 2003, courtesy Reuters/Corbis HDCivilWarsOFFLITH.indd 1 10/22/07 11:37:54 AM HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF WAR, REVOLUTION, AND CIVIL UNREST Jon Woronoff, Series Editor 1. Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies, by Ludwig W. Adamec. 1996. Out of print. See No. 30. 2. The United States–Mexican War, by Edward H. Moseley and Paul C. Clark Jr. 1997. 3. World War I, by Ian V. Hogg. 1998. 4. The United States Navy, by James M. Morris and Patricia M. Kearns. 1998. 5. The United States Marine Corps, by Harry A. Gailey. 1998. 6. The Wars of the French Revolution, by Steven T. Ross. 1998. 7. The American Revolution, by Terry M. Mays. 1999. 8. The Spanish–American War, by Brad K. Berner. 1998. 9. The Persian Gulf War, by Clayton R. Newell. 1998. 10. The Holocaust, by Jack R. Fischel. 1999. 11. The United States Air Force and Its Antecedents, by Michael Robert Terry. 1999. 12. Civil Wars in Africa, by Guy Arnold. 1999. Out of Print. See No. 34. 13. World War II: The War Against Japan, by Anne Sharp Wells. 1999. 14. British and Irish Civil Wars, by Martyn Bennett. 2000. 15. The Cold War, by Joseph Smith and Simon Davis. 2000. 16. Ancient Greek Warfare, by Iain Spence. 2002. 17. The Vietnam War, by Edwin E. Moïse. 2001. 18. The Civil War, by Terry L. Jones. 2002. 19. The Crimean War, by Guy Arnold. 2002. 20. The United States Army, a Historical Dictionary, by Clayton R. Newell. 2002. 21. Terrorism, Second Edition, by Sean K. Anderson and Stephen Sloan. 2002. 22. Chinese Civil War, by Edwin Pak-wah Leung. 2002. 23. The Korean War: A Historical Dictionary, by Paul M. Edwards. 2002. 24. The “Dirty Wars,” by David Kohut, Olga Vilella, and Beatrice Julian. 2003. Arnold_00fm.indd i 10/17/2007 8:05:33 AM 25. The Crusades, by Corliss K. Slack. 2003. 26. Ancient Egyptian Warfare, by Robert G. Morkot. 2003. 27. The French Revolution, by Paul R. Hanson. 2004. 28. Arms Control and Disarmament, by Jeffrey A. Larsen and James M. Smith. 2005. 29. The Russo–Japanese War, by Rotem Kowner. 2005. 30. Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies, Second Edition, by Ludwig W. Adamec. 2005. 31. War of 1812, by Robert Malcomson. 2006. 32. Arab–Israeli Confl ict, by P. R. Kumaraswamy. 2006. 33. Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare, by Benjamin C. Garrett and John Hart. 2007. 34. Civil Wars in Africa, Second Edition, by Guy Arnold. 2008. 35. Northern Ireland Confl ict, by Gordon Gillespie. 2008. Arnold_00fm.indd ii 10/17/2007 8:05:33 AM Historical Dictionary of Civil Wars in Africa Second Edition Guy Arnold Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest, No. 34 The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2008 Arnold_00fm.indd iii 10/17/2007 8:05:33 AM SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefi eld Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 2008 by Guy Arnold All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arnold, Guy. Historical dictionary of civil wars in Africa / Guy Arnold. — 2nd ed. p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of war, revolution, and civil unrest ; 34) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5766-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8108-5766-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Revolutions—Africa—Encyclopedias. 2. Civil war—Encyclopedias. 3. Africa—History, Military—Encyclopedias. I. Title. DT21.5.A76 2007 960—dc22 2007024894 ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America. Arnold_00fm.indd iv 10/17/2007 8:05:33 AM Contents Editor’s Foreword (Jon Woronoff ) vii Preface ix Acronyms and Abbreviations xi Map xxi Chronology xxiii Introduction xxix THE DICTIONARY 1 Bibliography 433 About the Author 491 v Arnold_00fm.indd v 10/17/2007 8:05:33 AM Arnold_00fm.indd vi 10/17/2007 8:05:33 AM Editor’s Foreword For over a century, Africa has experienced a violent cycle of warfare. First came the wars of colonial conquest, then the armed struggles for independence, and fi nally a series of civil wars. These civil wars have many causes, including the struggle over artifi cial frontiers inherited from colonialism, friction and rivalry among different ethnic and reli- gious groups, and the crude desire for power of some African leaders. During the Cold War, the situation was further exacerbated by interven- tion or “aid” from the former colonial powers and new superpowers. Although it has not been easy to prevent or contain these wars, increas- ingly efforts are being made by the United Nations, other international organizations, and African organizations such as the African Union to provide peacekeeping and provide care for refugees. For a continent that is poorly known and badly misunderstood to begin with, it is often hard to fi nd useful information about under- lying situations, groups and people involved, and even the course of wars—which is why this Historical Dictionary of Civil Wars in Africa is such an important book. The chronology tracks when civil wars erupted or were resolved, and which ones still continue; the introduc- tion puts the warfare into historical, political, and geographical context; the dictionary provides a wealth of information on each of the wars, the more prominent leaders involved (both those who make war and those who try to bring peace), liberation movements, and political parties and organizations; and the substantial bibliography presents indispensable information for those who want to know more. Guy Arnold, who wrote the fi rst and now the second edition of this volume, is a freelance writer and has become an acknowledged author- ity on Africa and the third world. He has been writing about Africa for four decades and his books have covered events in many African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. He has also vii Arnold_00fm.indd vii 10/17/2007 8:05:33 AM viii • EDITOR’S FOREWORD written Wars in the Third World since 1945, Historical Dictionary of Aid and Development Organizations, and Historical Dictionary of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Third World. The second edition of this Historical Dictionary of Civil Wars in Africa is not only updated, but it is also considerably expanded, since there are sadly now 30 civil wars instead of the 20 in the fi rst edition. It is an important resource for anyone concerned with current events in Africa. Jon Woronoff Series Editor Arnold_00fm.indd viii 10/17/2007 8:05:33 AM Preface In the eight years since the fi rst edition of the Historical Dictionary of Civil Wars in Africa appeared, much has changed, yet the level of violence on the continent remains high. Thirty civil wars are now re- corded as opposed to 20 in the fi rst edition. In Sudan, the 20-year-old war between north and south has fi nally come to an end, but another civil war has replaced it in the huge Darfur province.