AFRICA: Africa World Press Guide

compiled and edited by WorldViews

FOREIGN INTERVENTION
Case study: Somalia

Foreign "humanitarian" intervention in the crisis in Somalia in the early 1990s brought to light numerous questions about the developing role of various actors in international relief efforts, among them the United Nations, the milit ary forces of countries such as the United States, and the nongovernmental (NGO) community. These questions were much on the minds of many in the fall of 1996 as the United Nations and the governments of Canada, the United States, and other nations contem plated whether or not to intervene in the desperate refugee situation in Zaire and Rwanda.

"Somalia during 1991-93," a November 1994 African Rights discussion paper states, "was the apogee of humanitarianism unbound; an episode when NGOs were groping in the dark to find their role, and testing the limits of their abilities and mandates. Late r, the United Nations and the U.S. military found themselves in a similar position, and Somalia became, quite explicitly, a guinea pig for 'humanitarian intervention' in the 'new world order.' Even though the military-humanitarian intervention failed, the precedents in international practice that it set still stand, and there are many who now seek to return to the ideas of a more aggressive international policing role for the United Nations." (Humanitarianism Unbound? Current Dilemmas Facing Multi-Mand ate Relief Operations in Political Emergencies, p. 17)

The resource materials in this chapter analyze the nature and extent of foreign intervention in emergency situations in Africa and outline the lines of debate regarding the role of the United Nations and other international bodies in such emergencies. Foreign intervention in Somalia from 1991 to 1993 is offered as a case study.

Humanitarian intervention

Two organizations that are playing pivotal roles in focusing critical attention on issues related to humanitarian intervention are African Rights (London) and Brown University's Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies (Providence, R.I.).

The Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute was established in 1986 to provide "a university-wide focus for teaching and research on international relations and foreign cultures and societies." The associate director of the Institute, Thomas Weiss, together wit h Larry Minear, codirector of Brown University's Humanitarianism and War Project, have been involved in a number of publishing projects that embody the institute's objectives. See, for example:

Other publications that examine issues related to humanitarian intervention--be it military or economic--are

Article-length discussions of interventionism in the post-cold war era are found in

For titles of other articles on this topic consult the Alternative Press Index (Baltimore, Maryland)--print and CD-ROM versions--and The Left Index (Santa Cruz, California).

United Nations intervention

The UN's own study of its involvement in Somalia in the early 1990s is found in Volume 8 in the United Nations Blue Book series, The United Nations and Somalia, 1992-1996 (United Nations, Department of Public Information 1996).

The years since the beginning of UN involvement in Somalia have seen an outpouring of critical evaluations of the international organization's intervention in complex militarized situations around the world. See, for example,

Jonathan Moore uses Somalia as a case study of UN efforts to rehabilitate war-torn societies in his 106-page booklet, The UN and Complex Emergencies: Rehabilitation in Third World Transitions (Moore 1996).

For a chart of "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations Past and Present" contact the Project on Peacekeeping and the United Nations, Council for a Livable World Education Fund, 110 Maryland Ave., NE, Ste. 201, Washington, DC 20002 USA.

Case Study: Somalia

Studies that focus on the period of foreign humanitarian intervention in Somalia include:

Books that provide background on Somalia and Somali society include: