One reason is that the United
Nations was designed to deal with international conflicts, and almost all the
current ones are civil wars in developing countries. This creates a peacemaking
vacuum that is most often filled by powerful nations that concentrate their attention
on conflicts that affect them, like those in Iraq, Bosnia and Serbia. While the
war in Kosovo rages and dominates the world's headlines, even more destructive
conflicts in developing nations are systematically ignored by the United States
and other powerful nations.
One can traverse Africa,
from the Red Sea in the northeast to the southwestern Atlantic coast, and never
step on peaceful territory. Fifty thousand people have recently perished in the
war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and almost two million have died during the
16-year conflict in neighboring Sudan. That war has now spilled into northern
Uganda, whose troops have joined those from Rwanda to fight in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). The other Congo (Brazzaville) is also ravaged
by civil war, and all attempts to bring peace to Angola have failed. Although
formidable commitments are being made in the Balkans, where white Europeans are
involved, no such concerted efforts are being made by leaders outside of Africa
to resolve the disputes. This gives the strong impression of racism.
Because of its dominant role
in the United Nations Security Council and NATO, the United States tends to orchestrate
global peacemaking. Unfortunately, many of these efforts are seriously flawed.
We have become increasingly inclined to sidestep the time-tested premises of negotiation,
which in most cases prevent deterioration of a bad situation and at least offer
the prospect of a bloodless solution. Abusive leaders can best be induced by the
simultaneous threat of consequences and the promise of reward -- at least legitimacy
within the international community.
The approach the United States
has taken recently has been to devise a solution that best suits its own purposes,
recruit at least tacit support in whichever forum it can best influence, provide
the dominant military force, present an ultimatum to recalcitrant parties and
then take punitive action against the entire nation to force compliance.
The often tragic result of
this final decision is that already oppressed citizens suffer, while the oppressor
may feel free of further consequences if he perpetrates even worse crimes. Through
control of the news media, he is often made to seem heroic by defending his homeland
against foreign aggression and shifting blame for economic or political woes away
from himself.
Our general purposes are
admirable: to enhance peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and economic progress.
But this flawed approach is now causing unwarranted suffering and strengthening
unsavory regimes in several countries, including Sudan, Cuba, Iraq and -- the
most troubling example -- Serbia.
There, the international
community has admirable goals of protecting the rights of Kosovars and ending
the brutal policies of Slobodan Milosevic. But the decision to attack the entire
nation has been counterproductive, and our destruction of civilian life has now
become senseless and excessively brutal. There is little indication of success
after more than 25,000 sorties and 14,000 missiles and bombs, 4,000 of which were
not precision guided.
The expected few days of
aerial attacks have now lengthened into months, while more than a million Kosovars
have been forced from their homes, many never to return even under the best of
circumstances. As the American-led force has expanded targets to inhabited areas
and resorted to the use of anti-personnel cluster bombs, the result has been damage
to hospitals, offices and residences of a half-dozen ambassadors, and the killing
of hundreds of innocent civilians and an untold number of conscripted troops.
Instead of focusing on Serbian
military forces, missiles and bombs are now concentrating on the destruction of
bridges, railways, roads, electric power, and fuel and fresh water supplies. Serbian
citizens report that they are living like cavemen, and their torment increases
daily. Realizing that we must save face but cannot change what has already been
done, NATO leaders now have three basic choices: to continue bombing ever more
targets until Yugoslavia (including Kosovo and Montenegro) is almost totally destroyed,
to rely on Russia to resolve our dilemma through indirect diplomacy, or to accept
American casualties by sending military forces into Kosovo.
So far, we are following
the first, and worst, option -- and seem to be moving toward including the third.
Despite earlier denials by American and other leaders, the recent decision to
deploy a military force of 50,000 troops on the Kosovo border confirms that the
use of ground troops will be necessary to assure the return of expelled Albanians
to their homes.
How did we end up in this
quagmire? We have ignored some basic principles that should be applied to the
prevention or resolution of all conflicts:
Short-circuiting the long-established
principles of patient negotiation leads to war, not peace.
Bypassing the Security Council
weakens the United Nations and often alienates permanent members who may be helpful
in influencing warring parties.
The exclusion of nongovernmental
organizations from peacemaking precludes vital "second track" opportunities for
resolving disputes.
Ignoring serious conflicts
in Africa and other underdeveloped regions deprives these people of justice and
equal rights.
Even the most severe military
or economic punishment of oppressed citizens is unlikely to force their oppressors
to yield to American demands.
The United States' insistence
on the use of cluster bombs, designed to kill or maim humans, is condemned almost
universally and brings discredit on our nation (as does our refusal to support
a ban on land mines).
Even for the world's only
superpower, the ends don't always justify the means.
###
Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, is chairman of the
nonprofit Carter Center, which seeks to advance peace and health around the world.
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
