Learning From Somalia: The Lessons of Armed Humanitarian Intervention by Walter S Clarke

Author:Walter S Clarke [Clarke, Walter S]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780429967832
Google: TQDFDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 40000006
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusions

Operation Restore Hope demonstrated that when humanitarian peacemaking becomes a compelling necessity, interaction between the proposed military command and local militia commanders before physical intervention is a sine qua non; likewise, diplomacy must be carried out with full knowledge of local political, social, and cultural norms.

Operation Restore Hope also conveyed the message that however carefully the strategy for intervention is formulated, individual members of the intervention troops must be prepared to operate in an alien social and cultural environment. In this respect, the issuance to every U.S. Marine of a pocket-sized comprehensive booklet, covering both civil and military aspects of Somalia and including history and social norms, reflected on the professionalism of the UNITAF operation.

In contrast, UNOSOM II forces were inevitably composed of an ill-assorted number of foreign military personnel with disparate training methods and varying degrees of disciplinary control by their respective officers. This is no way to run a humanitarian peacemaking operation. Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali was right to advocate an exclusive UN peacekeeping and peacemaking force. But such a force should be a newly recruited multinational force with no previous military experience and trained by officers from the same military genre to ensure common standards of training, equipment, and discipline.

As for Security Council mandates on peacemaking operations, they leave much to be desired. Article 42 of Chapter VII needs redrafting to ensure that first, future enforcement provisions preclude the council from exercising any right to engage in a battle with local forces other than in self-defense and from exercising any right to establish a secure environment other than for the specific purpose of safeguarding UN troops on the ground. Second, foreign forces must operate within specific rules of engagement, a legal and judicial framework, and the UN Charter on Human Rights.

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