The question of armed conflicts in sub-saharan Africa and the International law of war

Abstract

The phenomenon of war has created within the international law a special attention especially within the period that followed-the outbreak of the Second World War. Nations have signed Peace Treaties to outlaw the application of war in the international disputes. Despite several attempts to abolish war, the world has not managed to stop nations from fighting. As the need for eradicating the application of war to disputes increases, the need to have the Rule of law to control its outbreak, is equally in progress. The International Law of War begins from the need to restore peace. The Peace Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the Congress of Vienna that settled the Napoleonic wars in 1815, the Paris Conference of 1919 that settled the Great First World War; the Treaty of Versailles', and finally the Conference of San Francisco in 1945 that settled the Great Second World War, are good exemplaries of international effort to maintain international peace and security world wide. W~r and peace appear as the key words in the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations as nations show their determination to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war which twice has brought untold sorrow to mankind". The same Members of the UN have reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person ... Likewise the study of the question of war in the Sub-Saharan Africa begins from the same motivation".