November 21,
2008: Peacekeeping operations are often
triggered by hunger. Food aid usually goes in first, but this soon becomes a
target for bandits and warlords. As a result, good intentions often have
horrible consequences. In Chad, Congo, Iraq, Kenya, Somalia, Gaza, Sri Lanka
and Sudan, the rebels live off food aid, and often plunder the aid workers as
well. It is this aggression against the foreign aid workers that often
motivates the UN the most, to bring in peacekeepers. That usually works,
although in Somalia, the UN is having a hard time getting nations to contribute
troops. That's because the last peacekeeping effort there, in the early 1990s,
ended with many dead peacekeepers, and eventual withdrawal of the foreign
troops. Many in the UN have since concluded that if you are going to go in, do
it in force, and forcefully. The problem will not go away, and will usually get
worse, if you just leave it alone.
