The year 2023 was the year that saw the most armed conflicts since 1946, although, paradoxically, the number of States affected by the conflicts decreased. wars, according to a Norwegian study published Monday.
Last year, 59 war conflicts were recorded in the world, 28 of them in Africa, explains in a study by the Oslo Peace Research Institute (Prio, for its acronym in English).
The number of countries affected by a conflict has decreased, from 39 in 2022 to 34. Likewise, the number of deaths in combat has been reduced by half, to around 122,000, according to data collected by Uppsala University in Sweden. , and coming from international organizations and NGOs.
However, these figures are the third highest since 1989, due, in particular, to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement.
“The level of global violence has not been this high since the Cold War”declared Siri Aas Rustad, Prio researcher and lead editor of the study that evaluates war trends between 1946 and 2023.
“The figures suggest that the conflict situation is much more complex, with a greater number of belligerent actors active within the same country,” he added.
According to the institute, the increase in the number of conflicts is due, in part, to the spread of the Islamic State, a jihadist group, in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and the growing involvement of non-state actors, such as the Jama’at jihadists. Nusrat al-Islam Wal-Muslimin, who describe themselves as the official branch of Al Qaida in Mali.
“This evolution makes the work of other actors, such as humanitarian groups or NGOs, difficult, who try to improve the lives of others,” Rustad explained.
If the number of combat deaths fell last year, the total for the last three years is the highest in the last three decades. After Africa, the regions of the world most affected by armed conflicts were Asia, with 17, the Middle East, with 10, Europe, with 3, and the Americas, with a single conflict.
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Source: Gestion
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