Abstract
The use of ethnicity concept over last decades has been linked to the multiplication of conflicts between ethnic groups in the wake of decolonization process. The existence of ethnic conflicts in many new independent states is a contemporary issue which underlines the complexity of former colonial societies, generally organised along to ethnic lines to serve the interests of colonial powers. The organisation of indigenous societies on such basis has had strong influence during the decolonization period and was a key feature in the collusion of concepts of ethnicity and politics through the "politicization of ethnicity"; whose emergence results in the interweaving of various internal and external factors.
This notion may be seen as core in the explication of ethnic conflicts in new third world countries, but it must be put into perspective with the role played in this process by ex-colonial powers.Since then, to what extent should colonial powers be considered as liable for the apparition of ethnic conflicts within their former respective colonies? This question sheds light on the weight of the colonial factor in the outbreak of ethnic conflicts; even if this vision should be nuanced by various external features which have played a certain role in this process.
