ABSTRACT
The occurrence of civil wars in Africa has often involved cross-border characteristics, whether as causes or effects. One cannot therefore practically delink the causes of territorial (inter-state) wars from those of intra-state (internal/civil) wars, as even civil wars have the potential of degenerating into inter-state wars. The chapter proposes that causes of conflict can be viewed in two dimensions. Firstly, as underlying (or core/root) causes and secondly as proximate causes. It explains how external (spatial) proximate events in one country can merge with internal (core) factors of instability in another country to trigger a conflict irrespective of barriers such as physical borders. The argument put forward is that the spatial nature of proximate causes does not necessarily depend on physical proximity of countries (although this matters in exacerbation of conflict) for proximate causes to trigger a conflict. The chapter uses the occurrence of the civil war that took place in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo – DRC), to illustrate this thought. It analyses how pre-existing internal structural weaknesses (or root causes), the effects of the Rwandan civil war served as proximate causes (or triggers) to the war in the DRC and transformed it into a regional one.
