humanitarian intervention

• Bosnia - UN intervention (1992-1995)

  Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) proved to be the conflict’s real aggressors. Indecision and conflict within UN, EU and US enabled VRS atrocities. UN peacekeepers created 6 ‘safe-haven’ enclaves (United Nations Protected Areas). Not adequately protected - Srebrenica was one of the enclaves, and by the end of the war the VRS had attacked every enclave. 
• Bosnia - NATO bombing campaign (1995) 

  Srebrenica massacre (1995) precipitated NATO airstrike campaign on 338 strategic Serbian VRS locations under ‘Operation Deliberate Force’. This weakens the VRS and leads to the Dayton Accords ceasefire in 1995. 60,000 peacekeepers were transferred to Bosnia after the war. $1.65bn American civilian aid means US can assist in rebuilding Bosnian institutions. 
• Rwanda (1994)

  Two months before the genocide, Jacques-Roger Booh Booh, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), sent a cable to UN headquarters in New York. 

  "increasingly violent demonstrations… political and ethnic killings.” The US and the UK refused aid to support the peacekeeping mission at a crucial time in February 1994 for reasons of economy and focus on Bosnia. 800,000 Tutsis murdered by Hutu militias. 
• East Timor (1999)

  East Timor: Australian-led UN force able to operate in more robust terms of engagement. 

  ANZAC troops trained in counter-insurgency and prepared to engage in aggressive policies against criminal gangs, establishing conditions necessary for free elections. 5500 Australian troops deployed, without which UN involvement would not have been successful. 
• Kosovo (1999)

  Serb atrocities were committed against Kosovar Albanians to suppress calls for independence. NATO bombing, combined with threat of NATO ground offensive, forced Milosevic to hand over Kosovo to NATO. Amnesty accuses NATO of war crimes due to indiscriminate bombing. 
• Sierra Leone (2000)

  Brutal civil war which the Revolutionary United Front was responsible for, which involved numerous atrocities including mutilation which was backed by the President of Liberia, Charles Taylor,  in return for ‘blood diamonds’. In May 2000, the Blair government sent a military force to help evacuate foreign nationals and to back up the failing UN intervention. This effectively crushed the rebel forces and went a long way to ending the war. 
• Afghanistan (2001 - 2021)

  Western intervention, starting in 2001, included the humanitarian justification of establishing the conditions for a liberal democracy against the Taliban’s brutal rule. The UNSC authorised action and NATO invaded. Afghanistan collapsed in 2021 with unilateral US withdrawal, followed by the rest of NATO, leaving the country once again under Taliban rule. Western forces were unable to successfully engage in nation-building in a nation where they often did not understand underlying religious, ethnic and tribal tensions. 
• Darfur (2003)

  Darfur claims independence from Sudan. Government forces sent in to crush separatists. Accusations of genocide followed with 300k dead and 5 million displaced. UNSC dithered. China wary of condemning Sudan for genocide due to significant economic interest in the country. UN/AU peacekeeping mission followed in 2007 but Darfur’s size, remoteness and lack of infrastructure hampered operations. 2001, Sudan govt condemned UN/AU attempts to ‘interfere in the internal affairs’. Still no clear agreement on the future status of Darfur.
• Iraq (2003 - 2011)

  2003 invasion, led by the US with backing of NATO members including the UK. This was to enact regime change - overthrowing dictator Saddam Hussein and installing a Western-friendly democracy. Hussein had engaged in war crimes against the country’s minority Kurdish population and was alleged by the US and UK to possess weapons of mass destruction, which later turned out to be false. The new government has been dysfunctional and Iraq became occupied by Islamic State between 2014 and 2017. 
• Côte D’Ivoire (2011)

  President Gbagbo refused to accept general election results, provoking a political crisis and pushing the country toward civil war. UNSC mandated the French Army to destroy Gbagbo’s military capabilities. UN observers to the general election provided legitimacy to the UNSC resolution. Cote d’Ivoire = relatively compact and easily accessible to French troops by coast line. Gbagbo arrested, legitimate government took power, peace and stability created.
• Libya (2011-2014)

  Arab Spring triggers uprising against dictator Gadaffi. Bloodshed followed as Gadaffi repressed political opposition. UNSC resolution 1973 to protect Libyan civilians. NATO bombings followed. Gadaffi captured and killed. However, resultant power vacuum filled with Islamists (inc ISIS) and other rebel groups. Libya collapses into a failed state by 2016.