Instead of the usual depiction of conflicts
as countrywide and defined by national boundaries, this map displays distinct
conflict-affected areas in Africa as sub-national and transnational pockets
of insecurity, violence, and armed aggression. Areas of conflict
were drawn around locations of reported conflict incidents in 2007 and
2008, as well as concentrations of internally displaced persons and cross-border
rebel bases and refugee camps in neighboring countries. This depiction
of areas of conflict more accurately displays where conflict has been occurring
in Africa and the sub-national and transnational nature of these conflicts.
In a follow-on project, this new visualization will be used to analyze
the relationship between conflict and geo-spatial factors that are also
not related to national boundaries, such as topography, natural resources,
demographic distributions, and climatic hazards .
The map categorizes conflict-affected
areas into three types of conflict: Armed Conflict, Inter-communal Strife,
and Political Violence. In many cases, armed conflicts and political
violence are based on inter-communal strife. The locations of violent
food riots, pirate attacks and targeted attacks associated with terrorism
during 2007-2008 have also been plotted on this map. Disputed border
conflicts are also identified on this map.
This map is intended for poster sized
printing.
