Deo Tumusiime
1 September 2008
opinion
When the United Nations came into place after the Second World War, many people thought it was the answer to the wars between countries and the road to peace in the world because they expected the world body to have power to quell any senseless conflict. However, events on the ground show the contrary because the US has assumed so much power that it intervenes in almost every country's affairs without the UN's approval.
The US invaded Iraq under the guise of destroying weapons of mass destruction that never existed. Imagine how many people have died as a result. Hundreds continue to die every day because of the US invasion of Iraq. Where is the UN in all this? Assuming the US was wrong in its invasion of Iraq, who should hold them accountable for their actions? Only God knows.
There are conflicts in Africa where we thought the UN should take the lead. In Somalia, thousands of civilians continue to die in a senseless war that has lasted over 17 years. When the Islamic Courts Union took over leadership at the end of 2006, relative calm followed and we thought Somalia was getting back to normal. Interestingly, the leaders were quickly labelled terrorists and the US threw few bombs on them while cementing its support for the toothless Transitional Federal Government. In all this, the UN does not surface anywhere and has never thought of sending a peace keeping mission to Somalia. Is it not the duty of the UN to bring the troubled nation of Somalia back to life? Is it not surprising that only a small country like Uganda can send peace-keepers to Somalia? Probably the UN cannot intervene where the US has vested interest.
The Russia-Georgia conflict has also exposed the supremacy of the US over the UN. The Georgian President made a provocative speech in the presence of US Secretary of State, Condolezza Rice. He must have been motivated by President George Bush's earlier remarks which could be interpreted to mean that had Russia not pulled its troops out of Georgian territory, it was going to be crushed.
In future, we are likely to see the US expanding its territory to include states that subscribe to its ideologies to form a strong power that no coalition can break. Then the US shall be recognised as the king of the whole world.
The writer is a journalist
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