• Religious perspectives

Religious perspectives

Religion appears to be motivating a growing number of people to participate in armed conflict. This paper examines the assumption that violence in East Africa is related to religion. It provides an overview of the history of religion and conflict in the region, subsequently it asses the present situation and the prospects for the future. Case studies of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are provided.

Some key findings include:

• no significant correlation between religion and conflict propensity or terrorism
• religious diversity does not gives rise to any 'clash of civilizations'
• the predominance of any one religion (e.i. Islam) does not make a country more prone to conflict or terrorism
• the region is not particularly prone to terrorism
• what is labeled as religious terrorism has more to do with nationalism than with religion
• available data does not support the assumption that Islamist terrorism is a serious problem

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