CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE _____________________________________________________________________ caused by removals, erupt mostly as a result of a lack of information provided by public authorities or owing to individuals or groups with opposing interests engaging in manipulation or the spreading of rumours. The protagonists are municipalities and individuals, particularly those in peripheral areas affected by the planned subdivision or development of commercial spaces. The protagonists may also be populations that have an interest in the demarcation of land or communal spaces. Leadership conflicts can also erupt among supporters of rival religious authorities contesting the control of religious spaces, and also among leadership contenders vying for the position of traditional chief. Nowadays, the latter has become a very important issue of power. Nor is it uncommon to find conflicts between political leaders and party activists, mostly as a result of the fundamental renewal of the structures pertaining to political parties, elections and electoral campaigns. 143. From the point of view of the CSAR, community conflicts occur mainly between farmers and livestock breeders regarding the issue of land. In fact, there is no clear distinction between the corridors of transhumance, that is, between cultivable land reserved exclusively for agriculture and that reserved exclusively for grazing in rural areas. In rare cases where these boundaries do in fact exist, they are not respected by farmers and livestock breeders, with the result that clashes often occur between the two socio-professional groups. Community conflicts can also be explained by coexistence issues related to population movements towards more suitable land or to gold deposits in a given area. Usually, these gold deposits are located in farmers’ fields. The discovery of a deposit therefore means that the field concerned will be destroyed, with the farmer no longer being able to exploit it. This then triggers conflicts among farmers and those seeking and digging for gold. Cross-border or interstate conflicts 144. From the point of view of the CSAR, respect for the principle of the inviolability of borders has not served to prevent African conflicts. For example, Burkina Faso and Mali clashed in 1974 and 1985 over control of a border strip. A final solution to the conflict was found when the two countries appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), following which the borders of the two countries were marked. However, there are still border disagreements between Burkina Faso and two of its neighbours, Benin and Niger, regarding which negotiations are under way. However, the goodwill shown by state authorities in settling their disputes peacefully is not always matched by peaceful coexistence between communities on both sides of the borders. Regarding management and conflict-prevention mechanisms 145. From the point of view of the CSAR, mechanisms for the management of internal conflicts in Burkina Faso are mainly of an administrative and judicial nature. These mechanisms are described thus by an administrative authority: “There is no formal framework as such, but we try to manage conflicts at the local, county, provincial and regional levels. When conflicts erupt, the prefect 87