Political Quotes

“the showdown in Sierra Leone between the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the United Nations peacekeepers they have taken hostage, robbed, killed and humiliated has enormous implications for the future of the United Nations. It is a sort of Midway Island for UN peacekeeping: a loss there could doom future operations across the continent, and possibly further afield. However, a frantic effort to salvage the UN operation there by reinstating the unjust peace accord may win the battle for peace keeping operations in the short run, but it could be devastating for the UN and for Sierra Leone in the long run. The Clinton administration and the United Nations have staked an unusual amount of capital on a successful UN mission in Sierra Leone. After the UN's shocking withdrawal from Rwanda in the days before the genocide began, a success in African peacekeeping became a must for the embattled Kofi Annan, who oversaw that withdrawal and later became Secretary-General. The Clinton administration's motives for backing a massive UN peacekeeping operation agreement is harder to understand beyond a history of making multilateralization itself a foreign policy goal. With an almost mantra-like regularity, they have touted 'African solutions for African problems.' Yet two 'African solutions' to the conflict in Sierra Leone were abandoned.”