HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION IN AFRICA; A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF SOMALIA 1978-2004

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the main aspects of humanitarian intervention and its application to Africa. The desire to explore this area of study has been driven by the experiences in Somalia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Darfur where the concept and rationale of intervention has been put to question as whereas no action has been taken in some needy situations in others the response has been swift. To address these issues, this study provides an overview and justifies the place of humanitarian intervention in international law. It analyses Somalia under Siyad Barre’s rule, the clan system, the collapse of institutions and government and gross violations of human rights. It further analyses the civil war after Barre, its effect on society and the attendant gross human rights abuses. A discussion is made of possible interveners while the conclusion posits the future place of humanitarian intervention. The central argument of this thesis attempts to demonstrate that humanitarian intervention in a state that violates gross human rights, is a moral responsibility on other states. In Africa’s case, humanitarian intervention is of special significance since the level of human rights violations on the continent has been distinctly high. The study highlights Africa’s recent commitments of overturning its traditional posture of non-intervention in the internal affairs of states where governments are guilty of human rights violations. A retrospective study of Somalia has been chosen because the state has been a victim of gross human rights violations but humanitarian intervention was never undertaken. The study is optimistic that had humanitarian intervention been undertaken at the opportune moment, the crisis in Somalia could have been averted.