How could the implementation of the four principles Boutros-Ghali articulated in Agenda for Peace have avoided the first Battle for Mogadishu?
The First battle of Mogadishu took place in 1993 as a result of increased tension over the conquest to create ‘Greater Somalia’ that led up to the battle. These tensions were escalated by the ensuing power struggles that were happening in Somalia between the existing rebel groups of Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM) and Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) and the United Somali Congress (USC) which later divided into two groups. Then increasing loss of life prompted foreign intervention under Operation Restore Hope, however when the foreign intervention turned militant it led to the battle between the forces of United States supported by United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II) and the Somalian militiamen and the armed civilians led by the then self proclaimed president of Somalia mohammed farrah aideed (). The ideal that there could have been any measures put in place to ensure that this could have been avoided is difficult to ascertain. This is because since the creation of the United Nations in 1945, over 100 major conflicts around the world have left 20 million dead, because the United Nations was unable to ensure peace due to lack of resources(). However according to Agenda for Peace by Boutros Ghali there are certain measures that could have been taken by the United Nations to either reduce the effects of conflict or contain conflict or eradicate the possibility of conflict altogether, namely peace-keeping, peace-making, peace-building and preventive diplomacy (). Furthermore he stated that although the sovereignty of a state must be maintained, it must be completely taken into regard because ‘its theory never matched reality’ and states need some kind of external guidance to function efficiently ().
The first principle outlined by Boutros Ghali is preventive...
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