Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

236 philippe le billonlonger enforcing them, and this relative success resulted instead frompressure by the nongovernmental organization Global Witness anddonors on the Cambodian and Thai governments, as well as sustained,although not decisive, military action on the part of the Cambodiangovernment. In the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo, nosanctions regime was imposed as such, only “naming and shaming”through UN expert panel reports, whereas negotiations and donorpressure were key to resolution of the conflict. The two unresolved“conflicts” are Iraq and Liberia. The case of sanctions on Iraq—a mixedregime including both comprehensive and targeted sanctions—iswidely seen as a failure, although some analysts point to its success as acontainment measure (see O’Sullivan 2002; “When Sanctions Don’tWork” 2000). Some success has been registered in the case of Liberia,but the weakening of the government has further prolonged the conflictwith a rebel movement (Liberians United for Reconciliation andDemocracy), and President Taylor is alleged to remain involved in criminalactivities.Judging by the record in the 1990s, military interventions are moreeffective than commodity sanctions at ending conflicts. Advocates ofsanctions point out, however, that they often weaken the targetedgroups. In the case of Angola, following the killing of Jonas Savimbiin February 2002 and the end of the conflict, the highest-ranking UNITAofficial stated, “Sanctions weakened UNITA tremendously; theyplayed a decisive role.” 13 No such statement has come out of the RUFin Sierra Leone, although the UN expert panel on Liberia indicated thatTaylor had limited some of its assistance to the rebel group as a resultof targeted sanctions (Doyle 2002: United Nations 2000a). Successivesanctions have curtailed the purchasing power of targets for rearmamentor deployment, addressed the economic motivation of belligerents,and created tensions within the chain of command of the targetedgroup as a result of financial and logistical difficulties. In Cambodia,the interdiction of transborder timber trade, which had sustained theKhmer Rouge during the early 1990s, contributed to the demise of themovement.With regard to the institutional structure and practices of theUnited Nations, there are several barriers to more effective enforcement.The composition and voting rules of the Security Council andthe powers it grants to its five permanent members at times have jeopardizedthe legitimacy of its decisions, leaving dissenting states to useinadequate or limited enforcement as a way to express their views andprotect their interests.Regarding state-level enforcement, while states may themselves besanctioned for noncompliance, there is a general reluctance to multiply“secondary sanctions.” Furthermore, the lack of adequate national