” 2002 AR UNE FFP REPORTS 3, J W Century UMBER st N PERSPECTIVES FROM THE AMERICAS NTERNAL ON I MILITARY INTERVENTION TO Building Peace in the 21 CONFERENCE SUMMARY ESPONSES R EGIONAL The Fund for Peace “ The Fund for R The Regional Responses to Internal War program is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and is being carried out in partnership with the Stanley Foundation. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of The Fund for Peace. Future conferences will focus on similar issues, with perspectives from regional opinion leaders in Asia and Europe. ILITARY NTERVENTION IN NTERNAL ARS FFP REPORTS M I I W ADVISORY COUNCIL REGIONAL RESPONSES TO INTERNAL WAR PROGRAM Chair: Major General (retired) William L. Nash The Honorable Morton Abramowitz Lt. General (retired) Nicholas Kehoe The Century Foundation Board of Trustees - The Fund for Peace Elizabeth Andersen Susan King (ex officio) Human Rights Watch Carnegie Corporation of New York Kenneth Bacon Dr. Robert Legvold Refugees International Columbia University Nina Bang Jensen Dr. R. William Liddle Coalition for International Justice Ohio State University Elizabeth Becker The Honorable Princeton Lyman New York Times The Aspen Institute Roberta Cohen Susan Collin Marks The Brookings Institution Search for Common Ground Karen DeYoung The Honorable Robert B. Oakley The Washington Post National Defense University Stephen J. Del Rosso, Jr (ex officio) Dr. Michael O’Hanlon Carnegie Corporation of New York The Brookings Institution Dr. Francis Deng The Honorable Thomas Pickering The City University of New York Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Dr. William J. Durch John Prendergast The Henry L. Stimson Center International Crisis Group Dr. Donald Emmerson David Shorr Stanford University The Stanley Foundation Michele Flournoy The Honorable Richard H. Solomon The Center for Strategic & International Studies United States Institute of Peace Dr. Allan E. Goodman Dr. Frederick S. Tipson Institute of International Education Markle Foundation Dr. Louis W. Goodman Kenneth D. Wollack American University National Democratic Institute for International Affairs The Honorable Lee Hamilton Casimir Yost The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Georgetown University The Reverend J. Bryan Hehir Dr. I. William Zartman Catholic Charities USA School of Advanced International Studies The Honorable H. Allen Holmes Georgetown University 19 FFP REPORTS MILITARY INTERVENTION IN INTERNAL WARS TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW 1 THE CONFERENCE 2 PROTECTING PEOPLE 5 A UN OBLIGATION 5 LEGALITY VS. LEGITIMACY 6 PREVENTION AS CURE 7 POTENTIAL TROUBLE SPOTS 10 ADVICE FOR THE UNITED STATES 12 CONCLUSION 13 CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS 14 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 16 INSERTS SHORT TAKES ON RECENT CONFLICT IN THE AMERICAS 3 PERSPECTIVES ON MILITARY INTERVENTION 7 BY DR. FERNANDO CEPEDA ULLOA A CONVERGENCE OF MEANS? 11 HEMISPHERIC SECURITY AFTER SEPTEMBER 11 BY DR. RAFAEL FERNANDEZ DE CASTRO MISSION STATEMENT The mission of The Fund for Peace is to prevent war and alleviate the conditions that cause war. The Fund promotes education and research for practical solutions. It is a consistent advocate of promoting social justice and respect for the principles of constitutional democracy. ILITARY NTERVENTION IN NTERNAL ARS FFP REPORTS M I I W OVERVIEW to address internal crises in the region. They placed significant hope in the ability of newly democratic In the Americas, it is unlikely though not governments to absorb civil unrest and manage the impossible that problems of fragile political systems tug and pull of internal political disputes. By the and weak economies will deteriorate into end of the conference, however, after participants had humanitarian emergencies requiring international discussed a number of hypothetical and ongoing military intervention. This is the conclusion reached trouble spots, the group called for a strengthening of by a group of distinguished regional opinion leaders regional mechanisms to address internal strife. The who met from April 7 – 10, 2002 at Airlie Conference conference ended with the group issuing an agreed- Center near Warrenton, Virginia. upon document entitled “Conference Highlights” (see Clear-eyed about the uphill battle the region faces page 14) that provides regional guidelines for against drug trafficking, corruption, the gap between intervention, which “although considered by most the rich and the abjectly poor, and the growing to be rare and exceptional, cannot be excluded from prevalence and lethality of urban crime, the group the spectrum of possible regional reactions to did not see any of these problems erupting into the humanitarian crises caused by civil war, collapsed kind of mass violence that has been seen, for example, states, or governments unable or unwilling to protect in Somalia, Rwanda, or East Timor. The international their citizens.” This shift in stance by the group community’s intervention in Haiti in 1994, in the wake suggests that sustained dialogue had the effect of of three to five thousand civilian deaths, was perceived sharpening the participants’ sense of potential risk as the exception that proves the rule. in the region. At the meeting, the group of leaders from Both the discussion and the “Highlights” that academia, government, the military, the media, and emerged were considered an important departure nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) added their from the past. A number of participants commented voices to the ongoing and immensely controversial that both internal crises and military intervention are global debate on military intervention for humanitarian extremely difficult to discuss in the region. Many purposes. For two days, the group probed the issue were surprised that an “emerging consensus” on of military intervention under the auspices of The anything related to military intervention in Fund for Peace program on Regional Responses to humanitarian crises could be achieved and that the Internal War. The meeting benefited from the discussion “had gone this far.” December 2001 release of the report of the The Fund for Peace conducts a number of International Commission on Intervention and State programs in the areas of conflict prevention, human Sovereignty (ICISS). The report recommended that rights and justice, and peace-building. In the the international community adopt the concept of “a Regional Responses to Internal War program, The responsibility to protect” civilians rather than pursue Fund is probing ways in which regions agree and a “right to intervene” in sovereign states in differ in their approach to the difficult problem of exceptional circumstances.1 how to react to internal conflicts when diplomatic Early in the conference, many participants argued and other non-military measures have failed to deter that the Americas had adequate existing mechanisms imminent or ongoing mass killing of civilians. In 1 FFP REPORTS MILITARY INTERVENTION IN INTERNAL WARS October 2001, The Fund organized and hosted a pursue a self-serving agenda. Some saw new similar conference of high-level African leaders.2 democracies in the Americas as more capable than In the case of the Americas, it was clear early on past dictatorial regimes of weathering internal that The Fund’s request that the group try to minimize problems while others saw them as fragile and consideration of the role of the United States and vulnerable to the burdens and stresses caused by concentrate on regional approaches would prove poverty, economic uncertainty, and globalization. difficult to fulfill. There was an instinctive reflex to Along lines that interestingly split different age glance north on almost every issue. And the desire groups, another gap was apparent. The younger to circumscribe unilateral US action in the region members of the group were more optimistic about was an obvious undercurrent in the group’s improved relations between the United States and its discussion and touched almost every guideline that southern neighbors while others felt that interests, the conference developed. experiences and perspectives would continue to After the closed sessions at Airlie Center, the divide the hemisphere between a wary and resentful group participated in an Open Forum at the Carnegie South and an independently acting, unilateralist Endowment for International Peace in Washington United States. DC on April 10, 2002. Members of the policy Without dampening the fervor of the discussion community, as well as the press and academic experts, or its complexity, co-chairmen Major General were invited to exchange views with the participants. (retired) William L. Nash and Chilean Ambassador This report is based on the proceedings of the to the United Nations Juan Gabriel Valdes found areas entire three-day meeting as well as a lengthy of agreement as the group worked its way toward the questionnaire completed anonymously by the compromise that is reflected in the Conference conference participants. The words and the attitudes Highlights. they reflect are the participants’ own. Interpretations At the beginning of the meeting, many spoke of of them in this report and the analysis of their the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs collective impact belong solely to The Fund for Peace. of one another. “It is so strong that we do not even want to give opinions on what is going on in our THE CONFERENCE neighborhood,” one participant commented. On disputes between nations rather than within nations, Differences