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1 Afr. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 85 (1989)
International Law and Wars of National Liberation: Use of Force and Intervention

handle is hein.journals/afjincol1 and id is 111 raw text is: INTERNATIONAL LAW AND WARS OF NATIONAL LIBERATION: USE OF FORCE AND INTERVENTION JULIO FAUNDEZ* In recent years the United Nations General Assembly has unequivocally supported certain national liberation movements in their struggle to achieve self-determination and independence. By a series of Resolutions dating back to the mid-1960s, the General Assembly has confirmed that their ultimate goal is consistent with international law and has declared that the armed struggle is a legitimate means of achieving it. Accordingly, the General Assembly has called upon all States to assist national liberation movements, it has strongly condemned States that directly or indirectly contribute towards suppressing them and has granted some of them special Observer status within the United Nations system. On the face of it, these resolutions seem to contradict two essential rules of the contemporary international legal system: the rule prohibiting the use of force and the one prohibiting intervention in the affairs of another state. Alternatively, these Resolutions could be regarded as consistent with international law on the exceptional ground that national liberation movements are using force to secure self-determination. What then is the legal status of General Assembly Resolutions in support of national liberation movements? Are they simply null and void or do they reflect the international community's capacity to adapt its law to changing political circumstances? The foregoing questions raise many issues of great intellectual interest such as how international law is made and whether, and if so how, it adapts to historical changes. But apart from these mainly academic issues, an analysis of the legality of General Assembly Resolutions in support of wars of national liberation is of immediate practical interest. For these Resolutions could give the impression, albeit false, that the General Assembly is undermining the foundations of the international legal system, that it is supporting terrorist organisations bent on causing death and destruction for their own sake and that, in any event, the General Assembly is introducing a further element of instability to the already fragile framework of international relations. Not surprisingly, this view of * Lecturer in Law, University of Warwick. I-RADIC (1989)

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