Will the world ever be peaceful?

A GNA feature by Esi Barko

Accra, March 27, GNA - All over the world peace is something, which is cherished by individuals and countries because it is through its maintenance that nations thrive.

For this reason when something is done to hijack the existence of peace, chaos sets in, prosperity becomes stagnant, people are displaced and sadly, lives are lost.

Because man has come to cherish the importance of peace, organisations are set up with the main aim of helping to ensure its existence. Some of these are the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU) the Arab League, European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Regardless of the fact that all these organisations are there for the maintenance of peace, many parts of the world are still in turmoil. These have come about due to the marginalisation of some tribes and races and the selfish desires of some people who have found themselves at the helm of affairs.

Recently there has been a lot of debate about Iran and its desire to become a nuclear power.

Although the country has stated on several occasions that its desire to enrich uranium is for peaceful purposes such as the production of electricity, it has not gone down well with the Western countries and Israel, which feel its security is threatened.

These Western countries led by the United States have called on Tehran on several occasions to abolish its uranium enrichment programme but to no avail.

In December last year the Security Council imposed limited sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to freeze its nuclear enrichment programme.

This led the Security Council to order all countries to stop supplying the country with materials and technology that could contribute to its missile and nuclear programme.

Moreover, all assets belonging to key Iranian companies and 12 key individuals who are related to the programme were frozen. Just last week, the UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution authorizing expanded sanctions against Iran for its continuing failure to halt uranium enrichment. The resolution broadens sanctions imposed on Iran in December for ignoring repeated demands to suspend its sensitive nuclear fuel work.

After the vote, Iran dismissed the resolution as "unnecessary and unjustified."

The Security Council, especially the US, is afraid of Iran becoming a nuclear-armed state because it fears Israel, its "baby" could be easily attacked when the need arises. The question that needs to be answered is why can Iran not be nuclear armed when both the US and Israel have such weapons in their arsenal.

North Korea is also another country, which has become a thorn in the flesh of western countries, especially the US, as it also desires to become a nuclear-armed state.

Although there has been a promise of economic support by the West in return for dropping the nuclear programme, this has not caused the country, which President George Bush once described as a rogue state, to abandon its nuclear programme completely. All these countries want to become nuclear-armed states because they feel their security is threatened.

About a year ago Israel, which seeks to become the super power state in the Middle East due to its activities against its Arab neighbours, launched a fierce attack on Lebanon when Lebanese militants abducted its soldiers.

Israel armed with sophisticated ammunitions and backed by their "Big Brother", the US, launched a fearsome attack on Lebanon destroying infrastructure and killing innocent people.

Up to now Lebanon is still in the process of repairing the destroyed infrastructures. The country paid dearly for kidnapping those soldiers.

Day-in-and-day-out the Palestinian people come under attack from the Israeli army. These Israelis attack the Palestinian people when they come under attack from the militant groups operating in the country. The Hamas-led administration in Palestine, which has decided not to recognise the existence of Israel in that region and also forego violence in its quest for self-determination, has also compounded the problems of the Palestinian people since this caused the Western countries to freeze all the aid and assistance that it use to give to the Palestine government.

Due to this reason, civil servants in Palestine go without pay for long periods. Every day the Palestinian people are humiliated by the activities of the Israeli army.

Recently the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on the international community to continue boycotting the newborn Palestinian national unity government, which is still led by Hamas. He also stressed Israel's refusal to deal with the Palestinian power sharing government. The word terrorism became familiar to many people in the year 2001 when the United States came under attack from al Qaeda militants. This caused the United States to declare war on terrorism.

After accusing Iraq of masterminding plots against it, the US invaded Iraq, ousted Saddam Hussein, captured him and finally executed him. Since the invasion there has been a lot of attacks on both civilians and foreign troops stationed in the country. The invasion has also sparked tribal and sectarian sentiments as well as a series of abductions.

When it comes to kidnapping, Africa has also not been spared. In the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria, for example, the method that has been adopted by militants who feel that although their region produces the bulk of the nation's oil, yet it has been neglected in term of development, is kidnapping.

These militants usually kidnap foreign oil workers and sometimes demand ransoms before they are released. Just recently four Britons, one French and their eight Ethiopian guards and guides were also kidnapped when the foreigners were on tour of Ethiopia.

The world has not known peace due to injustices and marginalisation and until all these are rooted out, the aggrieved will continue to fight for their rights. 27 March 07