The UN Security Council and Gulf War - Essay Example

number: The UN Security Council and Gulf War United Nation Security Council The United Nation Security Council(UNSC) is among the principle organs of the United Nations (UN) its main function being the establishment and maintenance of security and peace in international arena. Its governing powers as postulated in the United Nations Charter include establishing peacekeeping operations, developing international sanctions, giving of authoritative measures to the military to take action, just to mention a few. All the activities carried out by the UNSC are facilitated by the United Nation Security Council Resolutions. The Security Council was founded on 17th January, 1946 where it held its first meeting in London at Church House. Since then, the council which is considered to be continuous has been holding meetings all round the in various cities of the world including Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Paris in France, Tokyo in Japan and New York in the United Nations Building among others (Malone 253) . The council according to Malone is comprised of 15 members in total of which five of the members are the veto-wielding permanent members from Russia, China, France, United States, and the United Kingdom. The rest (ten members) of the council are the non-permanent members who are elected to serve for a period of two-year terms within the council. The ruling statute of the council is documented in the UN Charter chapter five. The council members are always expected to be at the headquarters of the United Nations situated in New York as proposed in the United Nation Charter in order to facilitate quick response to any crisis, a policy that League of Nations failed to adhere. The permanent veto-members are also known as the big 5 or the P5 and they are in possession of power to veto any resolution that requires subtraction. The five veto or permanent members are from France, China, Russia, United Nation, and United Kingdom. These members were appointed from the Second World War powerful and victorious nations during the year of founding (1946). Since the time the council was established, it has undergone some reformation on two seats which are the china seat that was originally held by the republican of china. The second seat is the Russian seat that was initially held by the Soviet Union which ended up collapsing in 1991. These five countries represented in the United Nation Security Council are believed to be the nuclear-weapon wielding states under the shade of Non-Proliferation Nuclear Treaty. Their nuclear-weapon stature is based on the fact that they were the first countries to test the nuclear weapons as early as 1967 thus not linked to the united nation security council because the council rarely depends on the weapons. The ten non-veto members are confirmed by the general assembly of the United Nations after being elected by the regional groups. Three members are chosen from the African bloc, two members are chosen from each of the following regions: Western Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia among others. One member is expected to come from the Eastern Europe and also one of the Arab countries basically from the African or Asian bloc has to produce one member to serve the council. The United nation Security Council has got the president whose functions are overseeing the arising crisis, setting agendas to be discussed in the meetings, and finally presiding over the meetings. The president of the United Nation Security Council has a mandate to authorize issues both notes and presidential statements to be circulated among council members (Hurd107). Functions of the United Nation Security Council The United nation Security Council ensures that there is long lasting peace between the torn countries by conflict. The first peacekeeping mission to be established by the UN was in the year 1948 a time at which the UN Security Council authorized immediate deployment of the UN military to monitor the conflict that was prevailing between Israel and Iraq in the Middle East a total of 64 UN peacekeeping operations have been reported worldwide. The strategic context of the UN peacekeeping operations has greatly changed a factor that has cropped up as a result of the cold war. This has led to the reforms in the operational mode of the UN thus adopting the complex multidimensional operational design instead of the traditional operational missions that were used before. Today, the UN peacekeepers undertake their tasks in such a way that they aim at helping to build the institutional governance that is sustainable, monitoring human rights, and ensure reforms in the security sector. This also ensures disarmament, reintegration of the former combatants and finally demobilization of the conflicting nations (Prantl33). The UN peacekeeping is currently undergoing evolution in the operation and conceptual aspects to counteract political realities and new challenges that are faced on daily basis. The UN organ of peacekeeping has been frequently experiencing a complex high-rise in the peacekeeping operations thus forced to stretch more than ever before. In order face out these challenges, the organization has been working tirelessly to strengthen its capacity to harden up in management and sustenance of field operations. This hardening up has led to effective performance of the United Nation Security Council role of maintaining international security and peacekeeping. The United Nation Security Council and the Gulf War The Gulf war or Persian Gulf War was an armed conflict waged thirty-four coalition forces led by the United Kingdom and the United States against Iraq, authorized by the United Nations. The war begun on 2nd August, 1990 to 28th February 1991 and was considered to be the mother of all battles as stated by Saddam Hussein the former leader of Iraq. The Operation Desert Storm, as famously known, was introduced in the first phase as the first gulf war characterized by the attack of Kuwait by the troops of Iraq. Causes of the first gulf war There are three major causes that led to invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990. First Iraq, used to consider Kuwait as part of it. This sense of owning Kuwait led to several confrontations over several years. The attempt by Saddam Hussein to attack Iran failed hence he opted for the conquest of weaker southern neighbors like Kuwait. The second cause was as a result of rich oil deposits existing on the border of the two countries - Kuwait and Iraq. Iraq used to claim that the Kuwait oil rigs were tapped from the oil fields of Iraq. This led to hardships and delineations that were exerted by the Middle Eastern Deserts border which led to conflict among the involved parties (Kuwait and Iraq). The final cause was as a result of the Iraq-Iran fall-out which strained the relationship between Kuwait and Baghdad. The war began by Iraq attacking Iran and slowly driving the armies of Saddam Hussein back into Iraq an action that led to degeneration of the status into the trench warfare. Most of the Arab countries and Kuwait supported Iraq against the revolution of the Islamic government in Iran. This created a fearful tension that the defeat of Saddam could create a wave of Iranian revolution in the entire Arabic world. The relationship between Iraq and Kuwait deteriorated at the end of the war (Latmer117). Involvement of the UN in the Gulf War The tension that grew in between the two Persian Gulf neighbors made Saddam Hussein to declare that the United Nations and the rest of the world should keep off from defending Kuwait. In 1990, the forces of Iraq attacked Kuwait and rapidly seized the control that emerged from other small nations in the neighborhood. The UN Security Council and the United States got involved in the action after a few days by demanding immediate withdrawal of Iraq from bothering Kuwait. This was achieved by the deployment of the troops by the UN members in Saudi Arabia and the entire world. By 1991 January, more than a half a million allied army forces were deployed in the gulf region and Saudi Arabia by the United Nation Security Council in authority. Both the UN Security Council and the United States tried to apply intense diplomacy in facing Iraq. However, the two parties failed to bring Iraq to a halt in its hostile endeavors and in the essence, the allied troops initiated devastating bombings of the Iraq troops. The bombings were purposely meant to destroy the infrastructure of Iraq with the aim of hindering her ability to withstand war and hurt both civilian and military morale (wright 91). To counteract the massive attack of Iraq by the UN Security troops, Saddam Hussein demanded the launching of the fearful SCUD missiles in Saudi Arabia and Israel. This was meant to provoke the Israelites in the deal to strike back Iraq in order to split the Arab nations from the coalition of the anti-Iraq nations due to the conflict that existed between the Arab world and Israel. Israel responded to this by rapid retaliation and later the UN Security Council headed by the former president of the US, George Bush, pledged to protect the cities of Israel from the SCUDs attacks. This was achieved by UN and US deploying the patriot missile batteries in Israel to counter attack and destroy the SCUDs. On February 23rd, the Allied troops established the underground war system whereby the Iraqi interest for Iraq to get her way into Kuwait was defeated by the UN Security Council troops. The UN decided to cut off their supply of air both at the headquarters and the base level. This led thousands of Iraqi forces to give up the fight, a solution that led the allies to push through the defenses of Iraq with much simplicity. However, in cases where there were more Iraq elite forces, like the Guard of the Republican, she often stood and fought back. Superior American forces, British and French training and equipment justified the Soviet-equipped Iraqis underperformance (Sifry andCerf59). The UN Security Council in connection with the resistance underground forces of Kuwait controlled the allied air forces and the city of Kuwait from pondering allied the forces of Iraq that was retreating in early 1991. In southern Iraq, the Allied forces well armored were steadily positioned adjacent to the Euphrates River in Basra, which led to breakdown of the internal rebellions against the regime of Saddam Hussein. On February 27, 1991 President Bush ordered a cease-fire which led to escape of the surviving Iraqi armies who went back to southern Iraq. Iraq accepted the terms of cease-fire that were concluded by the UN Security Council through the US former president Bush and announced the end of the Gulf War on March 3, 1991. Effects of Gulf War The Gulf War conflict led to retaining of the strong grip of the power by Saddam despite the subsequent and crushing defeat of the Kurdish and Shiite rebellions. The cease-fire terms led to the acceptance of defeat by Iraq an effect that greatly contributed to imposition of the no fly zones over her kingdom and the United Nations team of inspecting weapons raved through her nuclear and other programs related to weapon development. The war also led to trade and economic sanctions a factor that existed since the time of war to-date (Latimer 121). The gulf war also led to economic hardships in Yemen as a result of the Yemen-Saudi border conflict. This occurred when Yemen declared a sympathy for Iraq and instinct that led to dismissal of the Yemen workers in large numbers from Saudi Arabia resulting to increased tension between the two neighboring nations. During the time of Gulf War, the entire world particular Europe and United States used to concentrate on Iraq. This period is when Syria emerged and moved to her de facto control against Lebanon and this marked the last solution to the conflict as a result of the civil war in the country. During the period of war, Assad the president of Syria was given a mandate by the UN to deal with Lebanon with the aim of joining the conflict that existed in Kuwait. Works cited Hurd, Ian. After Anarchy: power and legitimacy in the united nation security council. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. (2007). Latimer, John. Deception in War. London: John Murray publication. (2001). Malone David. The UN Security Council: From the Cold War to the 21st Century. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, (2004) Prantl, Jochem. The UN Secretary Council and information groups of states: complementing or competing for governance. Oxford: Oxford university press. (2006). Sifry, Micah & Christopher, Cerf. The Gulf War Reader. New York, NY: Random House. (1991). Wright, Steven. The United States and Persian Gulf Security: The Foundations of the War on Terror. Washington DC: Ithaca Press. (2007). Read More