Intra-states armed conflicts, violence, disturbances and international hamanitarian law : call for and additional protocol

• Author: O. B. Adegbite,O. S. Oyelade
• Pages: 75-111
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC-e9ddadec0
• Record Number: lesotho_v25_n2_a3
• Published date: 31 May 2017
• Date: 31 May 2017

INTRA-ST ATES ARMED C ONFLICTS, VIOL ENCE,

DISTURB ANCES AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANIT ARIAN

LAW: CAL L FOR AN ADDITIONAL PR OTOCOL

Oyelade, O. S.*

1

& Adegbite, O. B.**

2

Abstract

The term I ntra-State Armed Conflict is today s ynonymous

with Africa, given that no con tinent, has suf fered so much

calamity in terms of wars, as the continent. Yet the s un of

these unfortunate conflicts has refused to set. From West

Africa to the North, down t o Eastern Africa, the story is

the same. So frightening is the situ ation that even at the

time of wr iting this paper, hundreds of A fricans are still

being massacred in various nooks and crannies of the

continent, caught helplessly in one carnage or the other.

This is not leaving out the new vestige of violen ce and

disturbances just rearing its ugly head, suc h as

insurgencies , militancy, kidnapp ing, ant i-government

protests, and other shades of violent behaviours that now

permeates a l arge perimeter of the C ontinent.

This paper examines the interplay of forces between the

enforcement of the principles of Internati onal

Humanitari an Law and its success or otherwise in conte xt

of Intra-State Armed Conflict and other new regime of

*LL.B ( Hons), L L.M, Ph.D, BL, Senior L ecturer, Depar tment of

Internatio nal Law , Facult y of Law, Obafemi Awolowo Univer sity, Ile -Ife,

Nigeria. Te lephone: +234 (0) 8037187790.

**LL.B (Hon s) Ife, LL.M, Ife, B.L ., Lecturer, Depar tment of Public La w,

Faculty of Law, Oba femi Awolow o Universit y, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Mobil e

Telephone: +234 (0) 8036734396, 8050515115, 8116198916. E- mail:

oadegbit e@oauife.ed u.ng,

olusolaade gbite@ gmail.com , solar9n g@yaho o.com.

76 LL J Vol. 25 No. 2

conflicts s uch as mentione d above, w ith a view to

outlining the abiding shortcomin gs. Even as the body of

law grows, it seems t o appear as if its weaknesses are the

more exposed. This paper therefore e xplores the gaps in the

current legal framew ork, while canvassing strong

arguments for an additional prot ocol to cover these

loopholes. It is hoped that a new vista would have been

opened at the end of this d iscussion.

INTRODUCTION

The r elations between groups, communiti es and even states

traditionally have b een regarded as operating more at the anarchic

(conflict) end of this spectru m, t han t hrough conformity t o rules of

behaviour.

3

It is to this end t hat conflict has been part of several

movements in history, and regar ded as an intrinsic and inevitable

part of human existence which is always marked by the pursuit of

incompatibl e i nterests and goals by different groups .

4

The nooks

and crannies of the world today is saturat ed with countless and

mindless spat es of violence, disturba nces and armed confli cts of

varying magnitude. The w orld in its recent history has witnessed

331 episodes of armed conflicts, wit h 3 2 currently ongoi ng.

5

The

scenario is a tragic phenomenon, s o much s o that nearly every

3

Gyong.J.E. and Ogba doyi.C., “Public Per ception of the Proliferation of

Illegal Small Arms and Ethno -Religious Conflict s in Kaduna met ropolis,

Kaduna- state, Nigeria”, (2013) Vol.3 (1), American Journal of Contemporary

Research, pp.38-39.

4

Ibid.

5

See gener ally Monty.G. , “Major Episo des of Political Violence 1946 -2013”,

Centre for Systemic Peace, available onli ne at

www.sy stemicpeac e.org/w arlist.ht m, acce ssed 22/05/20 14. Notable

amongst t hese 32 ongoin g conflicts incl ude armed in surrection in co untries

such as A fghanistan, Centr al African Re public (CAR), Colombia, Cong o

DR, Egy pt, Iraq, Kenya, L ebanon, Libya, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakista n,

Somalia, South-Sudan, Syria, Turkey, U ganda, Ukrain e, and Yemen.

77

corner yo u turn, violence st ares you in t he face. From the more than

six years S yrian Civil war, to the calamitous armed conflict between

the Islamic State of Iraq a nd the Levant (ISIL) the Iraqi Army, to

renewed outbreak of hostilities b etween t he different fa ctions in the

South-Sudan crisis, very ugly episodes of violence appear t o

continue unabated, while the law stares on bl eakly whimpering in

seeming helplessness.

In the midst of this debilitating sit uation, the African conti nent

remains a notorious hotspot. There is no doubt that the c ontinent

has not b een at pe ace upwa rds of a century, with conflicts

remaining a recurri ng decimal both betw een various countries a nd

within countries that make up the contine nt.

6

As a matter of fact, if

the truth be told, the menace of armed conflicts and its attendant

wave of bloodshed is perhaps the most challenging issue that

confronts t he continent in her c ontemporary histo ry.

7

Territorial

disputes, ar med conflict, civil wars, violence, the collaps e of

governments and failure of the Nation-Stat e have come to represent

the greatest challeng es to peace, security and stability on the

continent.

8

These threats hav e been much more pronounced an d

indeed have taken on a scale, inte nsity and freque ncy t hat have

6

Gyong.J. E. and Ogbadoy i.C, supra, not e 1.

7

From the North to the South a nd from the West to th e East of th e

continent , conflicts ha ve become more or less the no rm. The countries that

have suffered most from these wars incl ude Uga nda, Rwanda, Burundi,

Democrati c Rep ublic o f Congo , Central Africa n R epublic, Liberia, Sierra-

Leone, Senegal, Guin ea, Su dan, Et hiopia, Eritrea, Somali, Zimbabw e,

South Africa, and of cour se Nige ria. Mo st of these wars have been

characteriz ed by extr eme brutality. In Rwanda alone, in a matter of 100

days, abo ut a million peo ple were massacred ; a scale of killing t hat is

almost u nprecedented in world history.

8

Ikejiak u, Brian-Vin cent, “The R elationship b etween Pover ty, Conflict a nd

Develop ment”, (2009) V ol.2 (1), Journal of Sustainable De velopment, pg.16.