... longer solely characterised by the involvement of several nation-states on the basis of international politics. Rather, many contemporary conflicts are fought for ideological power among neighbouring ethnicities. A common tactic of rebel factions in contemporary warfare is to target civilians as a way of placing pressure on the opposition forces for compliance. This tactic leads to undiscriminating violence, the conscription of child soldiers, in some cases genocide, and generally, the threatened security of entire populations inevitably creating refugee situations. Armed conflict, especially in regions of Africa, have taken on new socio-political significance and thus created refugee situations lasting, in some cases, over a decade. Crisp explains the reason behind protracted refugee situations: In many of these armed conflicts, moreover, the fighting has been sustained by the fact that various actors - politicians, the military, warlords, militia groups, local entrepreneurs and international business concerns - have a vested economic interest in ...

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