SOMALIA HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION 1992-1993 by G. P. ...

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628 G. P. Valladares After the fall of the octogenarian dictator, and without the needs which the Superpowers had during the Cold War, Somalia's Civil War posed a complex problem to the International Community: the struggle between factions in a country overflooded with weapons, refugees, outcasts and hunger (starvation) which almost hit half the population. There are those who believe that in cases similar to Somalia, the prospects of effective action on behalf of the United Nations will depend on new ways of perceiving sovereignty and the responsibility of States, on the International Community's ability to avoid the breach of hostilities through preventive policies and on the States' failure to follow the Principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Others consider that the Security Council's Operation is not legitimated and, though they acknowledge that the United Nations' role in matters concerning the maintenance of International Peace and Security has never been so important as it is today, they assert that it has also never before been ground for so much questioning. Besides, with the Somalian case, specialists in international issues have got around tackling the issue of humanitarian intervention again. It is our purpose in this paper to analyze both the historic basis as well as the legal framework and legitimacy of the United Nations Operation in Somalia. We firmly believe that Somalia is a complex case which forces us to reflect deeply about whether the organization which the International Community enjoys at present proves to be useful for providing legitimate solutions when confronted with similar situations. Therefore, in an attempt to counteract the habitual short-sightedness typical among some observers who are not very confident about the progressive development of Public International Law, we will be pleased if, being our reflections on the matter a starting-point, we at least encourage the reader to discover that this period known as the "New World Order" (a term which has not yet been accurately defined) is a good chance to review, reformulate and discuss terms such as sovereignty, intervention for humanitarian assistance needs, collective security system and others, as well as to define the United Nations' role and that of the Peacekeeping or Peacerestoration Forces in times of internal crises which affect International Peace and Security.
Somalia - Humanitarian intervention 1992-1993 629 PART A SOMALIA'S HISTORICAL BACKGROUND BRIEFLY PRESENTED. RELEVANT LEGAL ISSUES 1. SINCE THE FIRST NOMADS UP TO SOMALIA'S INDEPENDENCE l.a. Introduction Somalia is a sickle-shaped and arid expanse on the Horn of Africa. For centuries nomads have crossed and recrossed the territory in search of food and water. This homogenous people, who have the same religion and language, have never achieved their stability due to their limited natural resources and internal disputes by its clans, which have taken the crisis of the political system to a state of anarchy. This situation has got to such a critical point - starvation, destruction, huge numbers of refugees, death and looting - that the survival of the Somali people is at stake and, there is a threat that this conflict can probably spread into neighbouring countries, standing as a menace at international peace and security. The hatred seems ironic in a people steeped in the unifying belief that they are all descended from one man: the mythical Samaale. From his sprang a vast genealogical tree of clans that form the basis of the social system. (i) However, since those times a sharp divisiveness has infected them, when rival groups laid claim to the same wells and grazing lands. Nowadays this kind of conflict still prevails with certain changes though. l.b. From colonialism up to independence Colonialism came to Somalia in the late 19th century, when Britain took the northern third and Italy the south. To avoid the conflicts sprang from the irruption of the European power in Africa, the Berlin Conference (November 1884 - February 1885) regulates by rules the colonization of the continent. (ii) Within the resolutions made by the Conference and, especially since 1890, there were many treaties of distribution that were signed, but unfortunately, without taking into account the unity of the different ethnical groups, which harmed the Somali people seriously - their homogeneity was not respected when the time came for the scramble. (ii)
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SOMALIA HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION 1992-1993 by G. P. ...

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