UNITED NATIONS RESPONSE TO EMERGENCY SITUATIONS A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AFRICA AND NORTH AMERICA

Abstract

This study is an attempt to account for the manner United Nations have responded to emergency situations in continents of North America and Africa. The inspiration for this research was drawn from the author’s participation in a number of United Nations conferences especially the 2007 Harvard National Model United Nations Conference in Boston, USA in which the shape of our present world since 1945 was reflected. This study was predicated on the following questions: is there any difference in the rapidity of UN response to emergency situations in North America and Africa? Does UN have any better future in the light of her response to emergencies today? We used Marxian political economy theory in our framework of analysis and argued that United Nations response to emergency situations in North America and Africa has shown lots of discrepancies. There appear instances of inadequate United Nations presence during emergencies in African countries like Rwanda, Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Chad, Liberia, Angola and Sudan to mention the least on the one hand and instances of adequate UN response during emergencies in North American countries like USA and CANADA, on the other.