Armed conflict in Africa overall seems to have eased a bit in recent years but obviously still rages in certain pockets, primarily now in Darfur, Somalia, and the Congo. Conflict in Africa festers immediately in the current environment, lacking democracy, development, control on human rights, and proper governance. Really, the fundamental peacekeeping I would think should lie with Africa itself, and in fact some African governments have contributed to facilitating negotiations (such as I believe the Congo negotiations in Nairobi currently.) In reality though, Africa lacks sufficient capacity both financially and militarily, and does require the assistance of other countries beyond the continent. Other countries may provide assistance in many ways: training, intelligence, deployment, diplomacy. Why do we provide this assistance? What is Africa to us? If we were to look at this as simpl
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