CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
As a collective security mechanism, the United Nations was established October 1945 at the end of the Second World War as a successor to the League of Nations. The United Nations has been charged with vast responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and security and also to check the use of force by individual states in the settlement of international disputes. The UN carries out these responsibilities under the United Nations Charter as a guide to resolving international disputes and also maintaining international peace and security. According to Article 1 of the charter, it is expected to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of peace.
Apart from regulating unilateral use of force by states, the UN has also played substantial roles in intra-state disputes across the globe since its birth. It has independently initiated peacekeeping operations in war-ridden states and has attempted to find lasting answers to these crises. These peace operations involve peacekeeping, peace building and peace enforcement; they consume several billions of dollars from the UN funds and are evidence to show the commitment of the UN in keeping the peace across the world.
Also, the UN has helped to resolve crisis and achieve peace in different parts of the world internationally, regionally and sub regionally, it continued to play the role of third party mediator in different crisis for example, in Iran, Indonesia, Greece, Kashmir, Palestine,
Korea, Suez, Hungary, Congo, Cyprus, Arab-Israeli war of 1967, Liberia, sierra Leone, Somalia to mention a few demonstrates the commitment of the UN.
In Africa, since the 1960‟s when African countries started gaining political independence, intra state crisis had become common occurrences particularly in the form of civil wars. Most of these crises could be attributed to the colonial and neo-colonial experiences of these countries, as colonialism created contradictions within these countries. However, efforts have been made to rectify these problems and bring about the needed peace in these countries.