Water Conflicts

Water is a fundamental human need and sought after resource even when considering the abundance of it on the Earth. South Asia has a large river system that flows between Pakistan and India leading to a combined 5,000 miles of Indian Ocean coastline. Although the two nations have gone to war many times, the division of water resources is a shining bright spot in their relationship and is widely known to be one of the longest and most upheld in the world.

It first started with the vast river systems that flow throughout the Pakistan and Indian borders. With more than 4oo rivers in India and 24 rivers in Pakistan where some of the rivers cross borders multiple times, they had a lot to separate. The main agreed upon document was the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960 which is a ratified version of a previous document. This gave control to the three eastern rivers to India which were the Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej that flowed 41 billion M³ annually. It also gave control of the three western rivers to Pakistan which are the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum that flowed 99 billion M³ a year. The document further specifies the division of the rivers as many of them cross the border to the other country. It lays down detailed regulations for building over the river, fishing culture, industry, and irrigation. Because India is located upstream a mutual compromise was made in recognition that both countries want to optimally use the river systems for many purposes in the spirit of cooperation. A main purpose is provided clean and efficient energy with the use of dams, which both countries utilize. The rivers, especially the Indus and Ganges, are spiritually sacred to the Hindi religion and therefore are treated as such and it is given more than just pure practical uses. Provisions have been added such as each country is required to notify the other of any building plans and other activities being undertaken. Even though the countries have gone to war, the protection of the rivers has been upheld even during these times. If future conflict arises, India could use the waters to cause mass flooding and damage downstream to Pakistan for a strategical advantage. Overall, they have never had any serious conflicts over the distribution of the sacred resource of water and the current relationship has remained cordial.

Southern Asia River Systems

Due to the longstanding conflict between the two nations, they have both built up their navies significantly in the past two decades. These navies strictly patrol the waters surrounding the coastlines for any violations of the maritime agreement they have in place. Even though the war has mostly been on land, their have been mid size attacks and battles originating from the Indian ocean. The first instance of this was operation Dwarka where the Pakistan Navy attacked the India coastal town of Dwarka. These water battles have historically been few and far between. Each nation relies on maritime activities economically such as fishing with exclusive rights to large areas of the coast line. They both value this so much that their have been many cases of trespassing into one another’s waters and illegally taking fish. This has caused increased military patrols that just continues to add tension. These industries are both important for trade and a food supply for their large populations.

Overall, water is a vital resource to both nations, but has been a bright spot of their relationship with treaties that have been largely upheld. A recent calling has been made to update the treaties to be more climate change oriented to reduce the water consumption that is a leading factor to the reduction in flow to the river. A reduction in use may go a long way in the long term viability of the river that would be nearly impossible to get back once gone.

Sources

https://indiawris.gov.in/wiki/doku.php?id=major_river_system_in_india

https://byjusexamprep.com/upsc-exam/river-system-in-india

https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/02/india-and-pakistan-are-playing-dangerous-game-indus-basin#:~:text=The%20international%20dispute%20over%20Indus,a%20matter%20of%20national%20survival.

https://southasianvoices.org/contested-waters-the-maritime-dimension-of-india-pakistan-relations/

As we discussed in the previous blog post, India and Pakistan had a constant simmering of tensions after the creation of the countries with the British Partition. This included both West and East Pakistan that flanked India on both sides. The reason for this non-contiguous country was that a random British lawyer was commissioned to partition over 2000 miles of land even though he had never stepped foot anywhere near the land while being given only 36 days. They had a short list of similarities where the only item on it was that they were both predominantly Muslims. They varied widely in culture, language, and ethnicity. East Pakistan was felt to be West Pakistan’s little brother in a sense with little power or influence in the direction of the country politically. This disconnection was even more emphasized with the discontiguous nature of the country. This was such a prevalent notion that protests were carried out and a large movement was started to call for a vote for independence for East Pakistan. This movement was blocked by the Pakistani military with many of the leaders being jailed. The third war between Pakistan and India gave East Pakistan a chance at independence.

East Pakistan Becomes Bangladesh

The war was sparked when Pakistan launched operation Chengiz Kahn which was a series of air strikes on Indian air stations. What quickly ensued was a full scale war. Due to Pakistan fighting a war on two fronts, India strategically blocked or destroyed key infrastructure lines and cut off all supply lines for Pakistani soldiers. This included food, weapons, ammunition, and general supplies that quickly stifled the army. Around 3,000 Indian soldiers were killed with little captured compared to 10,000 Pakistani soldiers killed and 90,000 being captured. Those deaths pale in comparisons when considering anywhere from 300,000 to 1,000,000 million civilians were killed in East Pakistan alone which caused mass migration to India and beyond. Those numbers show the lopsided nature of the war as it was over in just 13 days making it one of the shortest wars in history. Although Pakistan initiated the conflict and boiled over the seemingly natural tensions between the two countries, India was fully prepared and harshly responded to the attempted take over.

Pakistan’s General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi surrenders to the Indian Army

The ramification of the war was the secession of East Pakistan to become the nation of Bangladesh with their independence day being March 26, 1971. Due to the weakened state of the Pakistani army, they were simply spread too thin and damaged to try and resist the independence of the new nation. So, Bangladesh was born to replace East Pakistan. Another aspect of the independence was that India supported the Bangladesh freedom fighters in their cause not just openly verbally, but with supplies and soldiers. This of course added another reason for the countries to dislike one another and ultimately made tensions worse. Additionally, this was a large moral blow and loss of confidence for the Pakistani citizens. They were not expecting to lose a war of that manner, especially in just less than two weeks. With the peace treaty, Pakistan also lost critical military points along the India border that would play a massive role in the outcome of the war in 1999. It was a thorough embarrassment that reflected the fragility of the nation and democracy that they were trying to build.  This marked a turning point in the region as it became clear to the world that India was now definitively the dominant force over Pakistan and in the region in general where the gap would only continue to grow .

Sources

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/south-asia#:~:text=East%20Pakistani%20guerilla%20forces%2C%20supported,to%20respond%20to%20the%20crisis.

The Splitting of East-Pakistan from West-Pakistan in 1971: The Role of India

History of Conflict in India and Pakistan

India and Pakistan Historical Context

India and Pakistan are two nations in Southern Asia that border one another with Pakistan to the west and India to the east. They both have coastlines along the Indian ocean with large areas of land that are within their borders. The conflict between these two nations began all the way back in August of 1947 with the British partition of the land into the two nations. This was a formal cede of rule where independence was granted to these two governments forcing millions of people on both sides to migrate borders. An interesting and later crucial facet of these independences was the territory of Kashmir and what was to become of it.

Map of Southern Asia and land additions

Kashmir is a territory bordering the Northern borders of both India and Pakistan and was given the choice by the British to join either the predominantly Muslim Pakistanis or mostly Hindi India. With Kashmir being a majority Muslim state, most of the citizens wanted to join Pakistan. However, Hari Singh was the maharaja or ruling prince and he was Hindi. He therefore wanted Kashmir to remain independent at the least as he would not have been happy joining Pakistan and joining India would start a war. Regardless of this thought process, the Muslim citizens began a revolution with the goal of eventually adding Kashmir to the homeland. This movement eventually recruited armed tribesman of the Northwestern Province where it then turned serious. This caused Hari Singh to request military support from India where in return he would give them the region with a referendum attached to the document that would allow the citizens to vote on the status of the region in the future.

Pakistan did not recognize this document which sparked the first war between the nations that lead to upwards of 30,000 deaths over the span of two years from 1947-1948. The United Nations was eventually able to mediate a peace deal called the Karachi Agreement. Formally known as the Agreement Between Military Representatives of India and Pakistan Regarding the Establishment of a Cease Fire Line, this agreement established the borders between the nations in Kashmir. This mutual agreement did not stop future lad dispute conflicts.

Karachi Agreement Demarcations

The second Indo-Pakistani war broke out in 1965 when a series of small clashes culminated to Pakistani soldiers crossing the Line of Control which lead to war. It was stifled after a year when leaders again got together to sign the treaty once again affirming both commitments to peace with one another.

Their have been many other conflicts between the nations where it seems enough time passes where they forget why they have the peace treaty in the first place. Both countries have acquired nuclear weapons, notable attacks have taken for and against both sides, and the conflict is not only seen in military maneuvers. It can also be found within both cultures socially with a general dismay for one another despite the fact that they are massive trading partners. Overall this region is marked with intermittent violence towards one another with constantly rising and lowering of tensions that neither country will get over while both claiming the region.

Sources

History of Conflict in India and Pakistan

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-between-india-and-pakistan#:~:text=The%20conflict%20between%20India%20and,which%20country%20to%20accede%20to.

Religion has played and continues to play a crucial role in the making of the modern state of Nigeria. Based on a 2017 census from Afrobarometer, they found that 56% of inhabitants identified as Christian and 42% identified as Muslim with less than 5% identifying with other religions or none. This can even be seen in the breakdown of the geography of Nigeria. Although their are members of both religions spread out throughout the land, most Muslims live in the northern parts and most Christians can be found in the southern parts of the nation. This has been such a strong theme throughout the history that leaders have come to recognize the different identities of the citizens and planned policies and political campaigns around it. For example, the capital of Abuja was intentionally placed near the exact center of the nation even though that part of the nation is the least inhabitable being only dry desert. This not only symbolically shares the governmental powers between the two religions, but also gives easier access to every citizen and political leaders.

The use of religion also fills important gaps that the federal and local government does not have the resources for. These are usually general provisional benefits exclusive to the religious members. They each also provide to the benefit of the community through works of service or charity work. This can uphold a fragile social system and lack of resources such as food, water, electricity, construction, and other necessary actions to make society run smoothly. Also each of these religions emphasizes frugality and Muslims have the rule of zakat that requires them to give a certain portion of their income back to the community that they earned it from. These beliefs held and most importantly actions executed give Nigerian communities a leg up where the government falls short and is important to the running of society.

Religion in politics has also been present throughout the history and current political standing of the nation. A unique aspect of the Nigerian political aspect is that people tend to align with political leaders that share similar demographics to them rather than most other nations where people align with beliefs. This has caused many prominent parties to be followed and supported by one type of religion. This came to be a well understood fact to the point that the Nigerian constitution specifies that a president and vice president must be from opposing regions and subsequently different religions in order to be eligible to run and win an election. This just shows how ingrained in society the role of religion in and how even the constitution of the nation forces the coexistence of two religions in the same governing political party.

Overall, religion is synonymous with the culture and everyday life of Nigerians to the point of being completely intertwined with the government and running of the nation. Although it has been the root divide for many past and even less current problems, the population has put that difference aside through a couple decades of deliberation. Nigeria is superbly unique in this facet as almost no other nation has as big a population that is evenly split down the middle on religion that can make it work moderately well.

Sources:

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/03/collective-action-corruption-nigeria/context-religion-nigeria

https://news.gallup.com/poll/246689/nigerians-deeply-divided-religion-key-issues.aspx

https://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1017-04992016000100003

Humanitarian Law is defined as laws concerned with or seeking to promote human welfare. These are laws that want to protect and improve the lives and safety of citizens within societies where these laws are codified. The thing about humanitarian laws is that they can be extremely hard to get specific, and therefore can be hard to enforce as seen in the United States. For example, it is easy to put into law that the government will protect the safety of its citizens, but exactly how can be up to interpretation.

Nigerian coat of arms (notice banner)

Nigeria in particular has a constitution dating back to 1999 with the creation of the Fourth Republic that is still ongoing today. The constitution has its humanitarian laws laid out in chapter four. This chapter has 14 sections each dedicated to the description of the general title of each section. They are as follows:

1. Right to life
2. Right to dignity of human persons
3. Right to personal liberty
4. Right to fair hearing
5. Right to private and family life
6. Right to freedom of thought, conscience of religion
7. Right to freedom of expressions and the press
8. Right to peaceful assembly and association
9. Right to freedom of movement
10. Right to freedom from discrimination
11. Right to acquire and own immovable property
12. Compulsory acquisition of property
13. Restriction on and derogation from fundamental human rights
14. Special jurisdiction and High Court and Legal Aid

As you can see, The Nigerian constitution is an in depth take on human rights that leaves less of an interpretation in practical use and more of an upholding standard for the Nigerian courts.

While battling for independence from the United Kingdoms longtime colonial rule, military conflicts killed many on both sides, but was especially felt for the Nigerian populations. This was a brutal and tragic conflict that ended up resulting in Nigerian independence in 1960, but at a heavy cost.

A more modern example within Nigeria would be the the group of Boko Haram as named by western civilizations, but known to locals and members of the organization as “Jama’atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da’awati wal-Jihad” (JASDJ). This is a group of Sunni people calling for a Jihad, or holy war. This would entail replacing the mixed religion government (by constitution a president and vice president must be mixed religion, usually Christian and Muslim as the overwhelming majority of the population falls into those two categories) with just a Muslim government and the eradication of any westerners in the land and western ideologies. This is not just a protest group with powerful words, but an armed and an organized group that has carried out many attacks and atrocities towards civilians over decades. The group has existed in many forms varying in power since 1990. It faced large losses in 2009 when the government went after hundreds of their members and even killed the leader. The second in command Abubakar Shekau took control and sought to rebuild the strength of the organization. Since then, over 35,000 people (with some estimates being upwards of 50,000 people) have been killed by Boko Haram’s attacks and attempts to install their own Islamist state. A specific example would be on April 15, 2014 when the group attacked an all girl’s school and kidnapped 250-300 young girls in a northern state in Nigeria and threatened to sell them off as wives for a ransom. This was under the justification that women should not be taught in schools and had more opposition to western thoughts.

Nigerian soldiers hold up recently seized Boko Haram flag in victory

Nigeria has clearly had many bouts with Boko Haram and is in a long and constant struggle against them. Combine that with general political instability and the group is managing to get by. Other nations, such as the United States and some European powers have offered assistance namely in the hunting down of group members especially when they were aligned with ISIS for a time. Some aftermath affects have been a social discomfort in knowing that any one of these atrocities may happen to you or your children while in a public space. Another factor would be the resentment of the opposing religion as Nigeria has had a long history of religious conflicts that have only more recently (couple decades) settled down where this might be a spark to the continuation of struggles. Overall, Nigeria is overtly aware of this group and the new president that is tied to the military has had actions that has supposedly virtually eliminated this group.

Sources:

https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/boko_haram.html

Fundamental Human Rights of A Nigerian and Universal Human Rights

http://genocidewatch.net/page/2/?s=nigeria

https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/boko_haram.html

https://www.voanews.com/a/nigeria-army-chief-boko-haram-capabilities-virtually-eliminated/3511656.html

https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/humanitarian-aid/international-humanitarian-law_en

Endangered cultures are cultures that are threatened with extinction just as a plant or animal may be for various reasons. I agree with Wade Davis about the importance of these cultures which include fascinating ways of living and mindsets to the world. He also says that these get destroyed not through technology or even change, but through the wrong use of power. What threatens the integrity of the diverse ethnosphere is the face of domination. They are driven out of existence by identifiable forces way beyond their capacity to adapt to, such as widespread deforestation, disease, change in climate, change in sea level, or loss of land. He brings up how genocide is condemned but ethnocide is not, which I agree with. He gives many examples where the world sits by and watches an ancient culture dissolve in front of our eyes. A big example from my region would be the Fulani which was a prominent nomadic pastoralist community that roamed all of Northern and Western Africa and are especially seen in Nigeria. 

Africa is most definitely experiencing a loss of culture that is more strongly seen than in other parts of the world. Africa is such a massive continent with literally hundreds of different cultures in the form of tribes that cover the landscape. A large reason for this was imperialism and the conquering of these people as well as drawing arbitrary lines through the land that lead to massive conflicts. Some of these effects can still be seen today throughout the countries plus all the other shifts that reduce the passing down of ancestral knowledge which leads to the gradual death of these cultures. Fulani is a great example of this as they were once a great power in the upper region of Africa that have now been reduced to more of the Western states mainly in Nigeria and in Cameroon. They are experiencing loss of culture due to the growth of agriculture, globalization, climate change and loss of native lands, and loss of education of younger members of old ways issues. It is interesting how the loss of biodiversity is closely correlated to a loss of culture as some of the native people can trace lineage back hundreds if not thousands of years. When you become so tied to the land with a deep well of knowledge and reliance on it. It can be extremely difficult, borderline impossible, to just switch up and change lifestyle which is what is happening through globalization. As previously mentioned in my blog, Northern Africa is experiencing climate change like the rest of the world and notably the expansion of the Saharan desert that makes the land less livable overall.

Another culture that is experiencing loss is the Toubou culture in the Tibesti Mountains near Niger who are facing similar problems with an added on of political unrest. Political unrest and civil wars do not leave room for the preservation of native cultures as groups only have eyes on domination through power.

Sources:

https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Fulani/324049#:~:text=The%20Fulani%20people%20live%20in,are%20a%20primarily%20Muslim%20people.

https://www.africanbudgetsafaris.com/blog/african-tribes-african-culture-and-african-traditions/

https://www.101lasttribes.com/tribes/toubou.html

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/africa-human-geography/

https://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_culturesLinks to an external site.

globalscholarsblog was created with the goal of informing readers upon current events in all regards to society about Northern Africa. We intentionally selected this region of the world as it is an under explored and underrepresented part of the world in world news and we ourselves lacked even basic knowledge of the countries located there. We post a series of blogs that relate to a nation within the region and an important current event going on there as well as the interworkings of trade and relations between the nations. We also host group discussions where we dive more deeply into questions posted and apply them to our specific part of the world. This gives us the opportunity to discuss events in a less formal research way that allows us to be more involved and knowledgeable.

Welcome to our blog!

Richard Anderson and Tim Mullen.

Hi, my name is Tim and I am from the Portland area. Most of my family has at least some interest in learning foreign languages, with myself being no exception. No foreign language classes were offered throughout elementary and middle school, which meant I came into high school with increased curiosity and motivation. It is because of this interest in both languages and foreign affairs that I joined the Global Engagement ARC.

I am from Portland, Oregon and have had a passion and interest in travel. I have been able to travel to multiple countries around the world with my family and will likely continue to do so as I get older. I find differences in culture, social mindsets, and terrain to be worth engaging in, hence why I joined the Global ARC. 

Burkina Faso and Power Struggles

Burkina Faso is a nation in West Africa that has had a long history of power struggles, coups, and violent transitions of power, but unlike Nigeria, they have not yet shifted toward democracy enough. The most recent coup attempt failed as it was blocked by the military government headed by president Ibrahim Traoré. 

Burkina Faso, like many other nations in Africa, was conquered by a European power, in this case France, that dominated the landscape and influenced the culture for decades. That is until they gained their independence in 1960 as apart of the decolonization era. The state set up a true government in the 1990s holding its first by popular vote and reforming the governmental structure to a semi presidential system. Other notable changes was the changing of the name from Upper Volta (for the river they lived beside) to Burkina Faso which literally translates to ‘land of the upright men.’ 

Burkina Faso on a map

President Blaise Compaoré was elected without much opposition in 1987 and held the office until protesting and demonstrations forced him to resign in 2014. This lead to a power struggle that ultimately culminated to a military coup that lead to the current president’s rule since September 2022. Historically, any country that is headed by the leader of the military is typically not a good sign and in this case it is no exception. 

President Ibrahim holding a press conference 

Just from the picture alone you can likely interpret that the nation is under strict control form the military and any demonstrations or protest will be met harshly. Even so far as to hit civilians with live artillery and injuring and killing many during protests. The most recent attempt was sparked internally by a few chief officers within the military. They have since been stopped by being captured or put on the run with bounties on their heads.

Overall, Burkina Faso is in a state of turmoil and extremely weak leadership and growth opportunities for the nation. Unfortunately, the nation does not seem to have even a brighter distant horizon and it will take the resistance of the population and the complete reconstruction of the government to get on the right track. Politically they are in a struggle which ultimately trickles down to the quality of life and safety of the citizens. Africa as a whole is in the limelight of the world for developing nations and hopefully they can learn from one another and the world to improve their nations together.

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/28/burkina-fasos-military-rulers-say-coup-attempt-foiled-plotters-arrested 

https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/burkina-faso#:~:text=A%20former%20French%20colony%2C%20it,a%20popular%20uprising%20in%202014. 

https://www.britannica.com/place/Burkina-Faso 

https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20221015-burkina-faso-coup-leader-ibrahim-traore-named-transitional-president