Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

getting it done 231recently been enhanced by the creation of UN expert panels mandatedby the Security Council to conduct independent investigations ofsanctions violations.The imposition of international trade sanctions on a multilateralbasis under the aegis of the United Nations is a relatively new phenomenon.During the cold war, the ability of the five permanent membersof the UN Security Council to veto any such resolution generallyprevented these measures. The only clear exception over that periodwas sanctions imposed in 1966 against “the illegal racist [minority]régime in Southern Rhodesia” with a view to secure the “freedom andindependence” of its population. 5 The UN economic sanctions againstIraq in 1990, aimed at securing Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait andthen disarmament of its weapons of mass destruction, opened a newera. Since then, UN sanctions or monitoring measures targeting naturalresources have been imposed on nine occasions (table 6.2). Timber,oil, and precious gems have been the most frequently targetedresources. Sanctions have been imposed generally in an effort to curtailthe financial means available to rebel factions or to entice thesefactions to sign or implement a peace agreement. When the commodityinvolved is already illegal on the international market, the SecurityCouncil has attempted to curtail items necessary for its production.For example, in the case of heroin in the Afghan conflict and internationalterrorism links, the Security Council attempted to curtail theprovision of chemicals used in the production process.Very few implementation measures have involved ground policingthrough military deployment by member states or UN peacekeepingmissions. However, there have been at least two cases of militarydeployment. First, between 1966 and 1975, the British Navy attemptedto enforce a naval blockade on the importation of oil by Rhodesia,mostly through the port of Beira. Although the high-profile blockadewas ineffectual, the British government did not end it until Mozambiquegained independence and assured the United Nations that no oil wouldreach Rhodesia through its territory (Mobley 2002). Second, immediatelyafter the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the Security Councilimposed a sanctions regime to block Iraqi oil exports. The MultinationalInterception Force led by the U.S. Navy acts under SecurityCouncil Resolution 665 (1990) to interdict all maritime traffic to andfrom Iraq to ensure the strict implementation of sanctions. Iraqi oilexports declined 90 percent between 1990 and 1995, crippling itseconomy. 6 Yet Saddam Hussein proved sufficiently resilient and unconcernedby the plight of his population to withstand sanctions that wereprogressively eroded by the Oil-for-Food Program and smuggling. 7 Bythe late 1990s, oil smuggling brought in annual revenues in excess of