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Just war theory 1

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Western Intervention on the Somali Civil War

Introduction

This term paper will examine the conditions under which the western military forces led by the U.S. intervened in the Somali civil war in 1991. By looking at the principles of the just war theory it will be shown that the intervention was a just war.

The Region Background Information

According Reagan (1996) the territory of Somaliland is located on the Horn of African. The author is using the territory because it can not be considered as a country because of the many factions of independent leadership which govern themselves. The region has experienced instability for a long time and has never been united as a single region since the break down of the civil war back in 1992 (Reagan, 1996).

The region is located in the easternmost part of the African continent. Its inhabitants are homogenous groups (Somalis) who become Muslims during the first millennium of the Christian era. The region was colonized by three colonial masters. Great Britain occupied the central region, France the northern region while Italy was left with the Southern region. The region gained its independence in 1960 with the British and Somali land merging to form the republic of Somaliland (Rohloff & Pfetsch, 2000).

The Somaliland republic is a hot desert like with low plateau and covers an area of 246, 199 square miles. The north and northeast region is mountainous. Reagan (1996) wrote that at the beginning of 1991 the population of Somaliland was eight million. The Somali people are divided into clans and sub clans. Islam is the dominant religion with 99.9 per cent of the population being Muslims. On economic terms, the region is underdeveloped with mostly depending on nomadic livestock. Agricultural takes place mainly planting of bananas and sugar cane (Rohloff & Pfetsch, 2000).

The Governance after Independence

After independence in 1960 the region was under parliamentary rule up to 1969. The government was dominated by the Somalian Youth League. The government at this time had links with the Soviet Union which provided it with some arms. However after election in 1967 the leadership shifted their interest to the west however a military coup soon followed which returned the focus of interest back to the Soviet Union. The coup was led Major General Mohammed Siad Barre who went forth to establish a military government (Reagan, 1996).

There has been a dispute between Somaliland and Ethiopia over the Ogaden region. This is a region which is to the north of Somali. In 1977 a conflict erupted between Ethiopia and Somaliland. The Soviet Union supported Ethiopia in this conflict and as result the Somali government cut links with the Soviet Union and turned to the United States for support (Reagan, 1996).

The Start of the Civil War

The military government led the country throughout the 1980s. Reagan (1996) wrote that the entrepreneurs from the Northern Somali become disgruntled with the military leadership. This group gave support for the Somali National Movement started its operation in the Northern region operating from across the Ethiopian border. Reagan claimed that by 1988 the northern part rebellion became a full scale war. In 1989 there was trouble brewing in then south parts. The Somali Patriotic Movement was responsible for the unrest in the Southern region. The central region was equally blown into this unrest by the United Somali Congress. With the north, central and south inhabited by rebels the region was about to step into a full scale civil war (Reagan, 1996).

In the early 1990, the government of U.S.A. stopped supporting the Somali government militarily. The military government turned to Libya for support. At the time the rebel activities had intensified and most of the country was under the control of the rebels. The northern region was controlled by the S.N.M. the central region was controlled by U.S.C which was mainly composed of military deserters while the southern region was under the S.P.M.

General Siad Barre fled the capital in 1991 on January 26th. The U.S.C. rebels who controlled the central region assumed the leadership and proclaimed an interim government to be led by Mohammed Ali Mahdi. However this was not accepted by the rebel party chairman General Mohammed Farah Aidid. Other groups also refused to recognize the interim government. This meant that the central region was not at peace. In the north region the rebels there declared the region an independent region. The south region was even more unstable as wars between clans and sub clans continued. There was sharp violence recorded between the groups of Mahdi and Aidid. At this time the region was in full scale civil war (Reagan, 1996).

UNISOM

In 1992 precisely on January 23, the U.N. Security Council imposed an embargo on the shipment of weapons to Somali. On April the same year, the U.N. voted for an operation to be carried out in Somali region. The purpose of the operation was to, "facilitate and maintain an immediate ceasefire, to promote a political settlement, and to carry out a ninety day plan of action for humanitarian assistance" (Reagan p. 181). This plan was to be undertaken by U.N.  Fifty observers and five hundred member escort for security purpose. The relief was to be distributed to the centre in and around the capital (Reagan, 1996).

The intervention was not enough and was irregular. There was a severe famine at this time putting millions of people at the risk of starvation. The condition was made worse by attacks on relief airlifts. The relief which was stored was looted. The transportation of relief suppliers over the land became hard because of the looting and extortion which took place. By the month of July, it was clear that the relief supply was not reaching the needy Somalis but feeding the rebels. As a result it was necessary for steps to be taken to ensure that the needy Somalis were reached. This led to the U.S. in coordination with the U.N. undertook a military airlift of the suppliers to Somali (Reagan, 1996).

On august, the U.N Security Council allowed the deployment of peacekeeping forces in the region. This was particularly to offer protection of the relief suppliers. In September U.S. aircrafts and U.N. conveys carrying relief food were attacked. This prompted a reinforcement team which was not allowed because the airport and seaport were still under the control of the rebels. In October the Southern town of Bardera was occupied by some rebel groups forcing some U.N. and other relief agencies to evacuate it. According to Reagan (1996) the death toll at this particular town was two hundred heads per day (Reagan, 1996, p. 182).

The same month of October saw some group of rebels in the southern part closing the southern seaport of Kismayu the second largest in Somalia. Towards the end of the month some other rebel group forced the closure of the seaport of Mogadishu the largest in Somali. By the month of November the looting was serious that only 20 percent of the relief supplies were reaching needy Somalis. By the month of November statistics from observers showed a total of 300, 000 thousand Somalis had died from famine and violence since 1991. More 100,000 were estimated to have died in 1992. The famine was ended in 1992 and reduced cases of starvation (Reagan, 1996).

The northern part of Mogadishu was under the control of Mahdi while the southern part of Mogadishu was under the control of Aidid. There were irregular gangs which were neither controlled by Mahdi nor Aidid which also caused unrest. In the southern part Bardera was under the control of Morgan while Kismayu was under the control of Colonel Omar Jess. The northern region was relatively stable under the control of S.N.M. which had declared the north region independent (Reagan, 1996).

A U.N. ship carrying relief suppliers was attacked as it tried to dock at the seaport of Mogadishu. This led to the establishment of a secure environment for humanitarian relief. More peacekeeping troops were sent to the region.

Resolution 794

Reagan (1996) wrote about resolution 794 which was agreed by Security Council. He observes that,

resolution 794 noted the unique character of the situation, the need for an immediate and exceptional response, the threat to international peace and security constituted by the magnitude of the human tragedy, the deterioration of the situation and need for prompt humanitarian assistance, conditions that continued to impede the delivery of such aid and inadequacy of UNISOM alone to respond to the tragedy (Reagan, 1996, p. 183-184).

This resolution also had an objective of facilitating the process of political settlement. All the factions were to ceased fire and hostilities. The resolution condemned humanitarian law violations especially the obstruction of the delivery relief suppliers. This resolution led to the intervention of the U.S. in Somali. It should be noted that this intervention had the support of the Congress leaders of course, government of other nations and the two chief war lords (Aidid and Mahdi) (Reagan, 1996).

The Intervention

The U.S. forces landed in Mogadishu on December 9th. The air port and the seaport were secured without any incident. The U.S. forces were joined by other forces from other nations. Looting was stopped as the intervention forces secured more ground interior. The two war lords agreed to cease fire on 11th December. Order was restored in the capital Mogadishu. On January 4, 1993 there was a conference of leaders of the 14 warring clans in Addis Ababa. The conference led to an agreement for disarmament of the warring clans and the setting up of an interim government (Reagan, 1996).

The Just War Theory

This section will look at the just war theory and try to examine whether the western intervention which took place in Somali can be justified in the light of the theory. To accomplish this, the definition of the theory is given and its principles. A cross checks with reference to the above case study will be done and later a conclusion made on whether the intervention can be justified or not. According to Walzer (2006) a just war theory can be viewed as an explanation with an intent of justifying why some wars should be fought. This means not all wars can be justified. The theory therefore examines the justification of how and why wars are fought (Walzer, 2006). This theory is based on some principles which have to be fulfilled for the war to be considered a just war.

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy the principle are as follows:

A just war can only be waged as a last resort

This means that for the war to be fought all the possible solutions should have been exhausted. For our case study this is very clear because the U.N. had tried not to military forces including up to a time when almost 80 percent of the relief supplies were moving to the warring groups instead of to the needy Somalis. Ship which was to deliver relief suppliers was attacked. This showed that it could not be possible any more to supply relief suppliers to the Somalis and thus an action in of intervention had to be undertaken to ensure that the relief supplies are not obstructed (Reagan, 1996).

A war is just only if it is waged by a legitimate authority.

The intervention was carried with the authorization of the U.N. Security Council which is a legitimate body recognized by all the nations (Reagan, 1996).

A just war can only be fought to redress a wrong suffered

According to the resolution 794 of U.N Security Council the intervention was aimed at bringing political stability and an end to humanitarian suffering. It should be noted that this was made possible as the war lords agreed to disarmaments (Reagan, 1996).

A war can only be just if it is fought with a reasonable chance of success

Success chances for the intervention were evident. At the start of the intervention the airport and seaport were capture easily without any much incidence. This ensured that supplies could flow into the region without much obstruction at the points of entry. Though causalities were met it is expected of war zone (Reagan, 1996). 

The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace

This is very evident of the intervention which took place in Somali. Hundreds of people were dying on a daily basis and the intervention brought a stop to this.

The violence used in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered

There was no excessive use of force in of sophisticated weapons or weapons of mass destruction. This was to ensure the innocent people were not caught in the cross fire (Reagan, 1996).

Conclusion

As Orend (2000) claimed, just wars save the lives of many innocent people. The case of Somali intervention by the western forces led by U.S. was a case of just war aimed at saving the lives of thousands of people facing starvation and sharp violence.

References

Orend, B. (2000). War and International Justice: A Kantian perspective. USA: Wilfred Laurier University.

Reagan, R. (1996). Just War: principles and Cases. New York, NY: CUA Publishers.

Rohloff, C. & Pfetsch, F. (2000). National and international conflicts, 1945-1995: New empirical and theoretical approaches. New York, NY: Routledge.

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2006). Just War Theory. Retrieved on January 28, 2010 from: http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/j/justwar.htm

Walzer, M. (2006) Just and Unjust wars: A moral argument with historical illustrations. London, UK: Basic Books.

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