Fear of people of a particular ethnicity is ethnophobia. It can overlap with xenophobia, which is fear of people who are from other countries. These fears of others sometimes force the migration of ethnic groups. Throughout history, ethnic groups have been forced to flee from other ethnic groups’ more powerful armies. In the most extreme cases, hatred of other ethnicities can result in ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Key Issue 4: Why Do Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide Occur?
Fear of a particular ethnicity is ethnophobia. Xenophobia is fear of people from other countries. These fears drive forced migrations and can result in ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide Past & Present Ethnic cleansing is defined as a purposeful policy by one ethnicity or religious group to remove by violence the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from a given area. Genocide is the mass murder of a group of people in an attempt to eliminate the existence of the entire group. Ethnic cleansing and genocide aim to remove every member of the targeted ethnicity— men, women, and children. Cultural geographers study the change in the spatial distribution of ethnicities as a result of these policies.
Past Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide: World War II Europe The population of Europe was affected by ethnic cleansing and genocide before, during, and immediately after World War II (1939–1945). The Nazis deported and then exterminated around 17 million people including 6 million Jews (one third of the world’s and two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population). As a result of national boundary changes following World War II, millions of ethnic Germans, Poles, Russians, and others were forced to migrate.
Contemporary Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide: Myanmar The Rohingya, an ethnic group living in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, is Asia’s most recent example of ethnic cleansing and genocide. The Rohingya are predominantly Sunni Muslims speaking an Indo-European language who migrated from present-day Bangladesh to Myanmar when both were British colonies. This is in sharp contrast to Myanmar’s population who are primarily Tibetan Buddhists who speak Sino-Tibetan languages. In 1982, the government of Myanmar revoked the Rohingya’s citizenship, land, and the rights to work and attend school. In response to a Rohingya attack on a police guard house, the Myanmar military launched an ethnic cleansing campaign. Villages were destroyed, and according to the United Nations more than one million Rohingya have been ethnically cleansed.
Ethnic Cleansing in Southeast Europe The most recent ethnic cleansing in Europe has been in the Balkans although not on as great a scale as the ethnic cleansing in Europe during World War II.
Multi Ethnic Yugoslavia After World War I, the allies created Yugoslavia to unite several Balkan ethnicities that spoke similar South Slavic languages. The President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, attempted to forge a national Yugoslav identity through acceptance of ethnic diversity in language and religion. The major ethnicities: Croat, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Serb, and Slovene, were allowed to exert control over the areas they inhabited. Rivalries among the different ethnicities resurfaced after the death of President Tito in 1980, leading to the breakup of the country into six small countries. The borders of these new countries did not reflect the distribution of ethnicities, leading to several episodes of ethnic cleansing.
Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo With the breakup of Yugoslavia, Kosovo became an autonomous region within Serbia. Over 82 percent of the population of Kosovo was ethnic Albanians and only 10 percent Serbian. Serbia had historic ties to Kosovo where they were defeated by the Ottoman Turks in 1389 and Serbian blood was spilled. With the breakup of Yugoslavia and the 610th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Serbia began a campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Kosovo’s Muslim Albanian majority. Serb initiated ethnic cleansing forced over 800,000 of Kosovo’s two million ethnic Albanian residents from their homes, to camps in Albania. NATO launched an air attack against Serbia and the Serbs eventually agreed to withdraw from Kosovo. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. Approximately 115 countries, including the United States, recognize the independence of Kosovo, but it is opposed by Serbia, Russia, and China.
Ethnic Diversity in Bosnia & Herzegovina The largest scale of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia occurred in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Between 1991–1992. Bosnia & Herzegovina was the most ethnically diverse republic of the Yugoslavia with its population comprised of Bosniaks (44 percent), Serbs (31 percent), and Croatians (17 percent). Bosniak is the term used to identify Bosnian Muslims, the predominant religious group. Serbs and Croats practiced ethnic cleansing of Bosniak Muslims in Bosnia & Herzegovina in hopes of unifying their respective regions with Serbia and Croatia. Ethnic cleansing ensured that areas did not merely have Serbs and Croats, but were ethnically homogeneous and therefore better candidates for union with Serbia and Croatia.
Bosnia & Herzegovina After Ethnic Cleansing Following the 1996 accords reached in Dayton, Ohio by leaders of the various ethnicities, Bosnia & Herzegovina was divided into regions. The map on page 260 shows the regions: Republika Srpska, controlled by the Serbs, the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina, a federation between the Croats and Bosniaks, and the small neutral Brčko District.
Balkanization The term balkanized is used to describe a small geographic area that could not successfully be organized into one or more stable states because it was inhabited by many ethnicities with complex, longstanding antagonisms toward each other. Balkanization is a process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among ethnicities. Balkanization led directly to World War I because the various nationalities in the Balkans dragged the larger powers that they had alliances with into a war. The Balkans were again balkanized after the fall of communism in the region. Peace has come to the Balkans as the tragic result of ethnic cleansing which was used to form ethnically homogeneous areas.
Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide in Africa The mass killing of a group of people in an attempt to eliminate the entire group from existence is known as genocide. In recent years, several areas of Africa have been affected by conflicts among ethnicities that have led to genocide. Other countries have been either unable or unwilling to stop genocides from occurring.
Ethnicities & Nationalities in Africa Ethnicity was traditionally the most important element of cultural identity in Africa – nationality was considered secondary to ethnicity. Several thousand distinct ethnicities are present in Africa, each with its own language, religion, and social customs. It is hard to precisely determine the number of ethnicities due to boundaries that may not accurately reflect their geographic distribution, and difficulties in defining what constitutes a “distinct” ethnicity. Conflict today can be traced to the European colonization of Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which divided up the continent into countries with little regard for distribution of ethnicities.
Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide in Sudan In Sudan, several civil wars have ravaged the country since 1983, resulting in genocide and ethnic cleansing. Ethnic diversity is at the core of Sudan’s conflicts. Sudan is 70 percent Arab and 97 percent Muslim. The remainder belongs to many other ethnicities descended from groups living in Sudan prior to the arrival of Arabs in the twelfth century. The non-Arab ethnicities are clustered in the west, south, and east of Sudan.
Darfur In response to discrimination and neglect by the Arab-led government in Khartoum, Darfur’s black African ethnicities launched a rebellion in 2003. Janjaweed, marauding Arab nomads, decimated Darfur’s black population. Roughly 300,000 people in Darfur have been victims of genocide and another 3 million victims of ethnic cleansing, many currently living in refugee camps.
South Sudan South Sudan was established as an independent country in 2011 following a war (1983–2005) between Sudan’s northern and southern ethnicities. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 2 million Sudanese and the ethnic cleansing of approximately 700,000. South Sudan’s ethnicities are the Christian Dinka and the folk religionist Nuer. Despite gaining independence, the ethnicities of South Sudan have been unable to cooperate to create a stable government.
Abyei An area along the border between Sudan and South Sudan known as Abyei is now the center of conflict among the two groups. Abyei contains ethnicities aligned with both Sudan and South Sudan. Its legal status as a part of either country was due to be settled by a referendum of its people although this referendum has since been postponed. People living in Abyei are citizens of both countries. In the meantime, a peacekeeping force from Ethiopia is preventing either country from seizing control of the territory.
South Kordofan and Blue Nile South Kordofan and Blue Nile are two other border areas containing large numbers of ethnicities aligned with both Sudan and South Sudan. A referendum was to be held in both territories for self-determination by its citizens, but both have been canceled, leaving their status unsettled.
Eastern Front Neighboring Eritrea has supported ethnicities in east Sudan in their conflict with Sudanese government forces. The disbursement of oil profits originating from resources in the area is the source of the conflict.
Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide in Rwanda & Burundi Ethnic conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis has occurred in Rwanda and Burundi. The two ethnicities speak the same language, hold similar beliefs, and practice similar social customs. Intermarriage has even lessened the physical differences between the two groups. The Hutus were farmers and the Tutsis were herders, and relations between settled farmers and herders are often uneasy. Hutus constituted a majority of the population of Rwanda and Burundi historically, but Tutsis controlled the kingdoms there for several hundred years and turned the Hutus into their serfs. During colonial times, the Tutsis continued to control the governments of both countries. After Rwanda became independent in 1962, the Hutus gained power and undertook ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Tutsis. In Burundi where the Tutsis remained in power, a civil war erupted with geocide committed by and against both the Hutus and Tutsis. After the airplane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, both Hutus, crashed the Hutus launched a genocide campaign killing 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda and 300,000 in Burundi. Today Rwanda continues to be governed by Tutsis, while Burundi has a democratically elected Hutu leader.
Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide in the Congo The mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the region’s largest most populous country, home to over 200 distinct ethnicities. During the ongoing civil wars during the last 70 years more than 5 million have died, many from malaria, other diseases and malnutrition. But conflict among the country’s ethnicities continues.
7.4
Balkanization The process of a country breaking into smaller countries because of centrifugal forces
Xenophobia Fear of people who are from other countries.