Ethnicities dont always live together peacfully. In lots of places they they compete in civil wars to dominate the national identity. In other places problems come from division of ethnicities among more than one state. Ethnic Competition In The Horn Of Africa: The Horn Of Africa has the countries of Djibouti, Etheopia, Eritrea, and Somalia, along with the country of Sudan. All of these places are having their own ethnic conflicts. Etheopia and Eritrea: The United Nations wanted Ethiopia to let Eritrea run itself basically, but Ethiopia pretty much killed the Eritrean legiislature and banned the use of their main language Tigrinya. So bagan a 30 year war between the countries. An estimated 665,000 Eritrean refugees fled to Sudan. In 1991 the Eritrean rebels defeated the Ethiopian army, then in 1993 Eritrea became an independent state. But then in 1998 war between the two states began again because of arguments for the location of the border. In 2000 Ethiopia defeated Eritrea and took possession of the disputed areas. Even without Eritea, Ethiopia is still a multi-ethnic state. Sudan: Since the 1980s an ongoing civil war in Sudan has raged between two ethnicities, the black christians and amnist rebels in the south and the arab-muslims in the north. The black southerners have been resisting attempts to convert the country from a multi-ethnic society to one completely focused on muslim traditions. So there were lots of laws to segregate the sexes. More than 2 million Sudanese have died in the civil war, and 1 million have been forced to migrate to the north. Somalia: It does not really seem like Somalia should have too many conflicts but it does. Somalia contains six major ethnic groups known as clans. The clans are, Isaak, Darod, and Dir in the north; Digil, Hawiye, and Rahawayn to the south. Then there were a bunch of splits within clans and alliances in the 1990s. The Isaak clan declared the north a separate state and developed their own flag and currency. With the fall of a government in Somalia, various clans claimed control over portions of the country. Over 300,000 people have died mostly from famine and warfare. The US sent troops over to give them food and take away weapons from the clans, but when the clans said they were not going to be peaceful we left. Ethnic Competition in Lebanon: Lebanon has been severely damaged by fighting amongst religios factions since the 1970s. No one really knows the precise distribution of religions since the last census was taken in 1932. we can estimate that about 60 percent is Muslim, 30 percent is christian, and the other 10 percent is other. Two-thirds of the muslims there come from one of several shiite sects. Lebanon also has non-christian and non-muslim groups, most important are the Druze who make up 7 percent of the population. When lebanon became independant they had to have each religion be represented in the Chamber of Deputies according to its percentage in the 1932 census. Lebanons religious groups are all in different regions of the country. Maronites in the west central parts, Sunnis in the northwest, and shiites in the south and east. Christians controlled the countries main buissness, but then the muslim population got larger and wanted more control. each religious groups formed their own militia and a civil war broke out. The Kurds: The kurds had their own country called Kurdistan but today they are split up in six countries. fifteen million live in eastern Turkey, 5 million in western Iran, 4 million in northern iraq, and smaller numbers in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Seria. Diviving Ethnicities in South Asia: Its pretty much fighting between India and Pakistan. The Hindus in India, and the Muslims in pakistan. The tension between the two was so great they had to give them their own countries. It started when Muhammad in 1000 led a raid on the Hindu temples to try and get treasures, but then it turned into a war between the two. Then later the damaged hindus were not able to stop another attack by the muslims. after the british control of India in the early 1800s a three way fight started. When the british said the region could have independence both religions started to fight over who would get the land. Mahtama Gahndi, the leading Hindu advocate of nonviolence and reconciliation with Muslims was assasinated in 1948, exterminating all possibilities of the Hundus and Muslims living together peacefully. Dividing Sri Lanka Among Ethnicities: Sri Lanka has been torn by fighting between the sinhalese and the Tamils. 60,000 people have died in the conflic between the two. Sinhalese moved to the island in fifth century B.C. occupying the southern part of the island. Tamils are Hindus, and the tamil language, in the dravidian family, is also spoken by 70 million people in India. The dispute between Sri lankas two ethnicities extends back 2,000 years but was suppressed durinf the 300 years Europe had control. The tamils feel they have suffered discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese and have recieved support for a rebellion.