The liberal democracies of the industrialized countries cannot live in a fortress isolated from history,' said Ambassador Mohammed Sahnoun, Deputy Secretary General of the UN. Some spoke of the 'end of history', following the victory of liberal capitalism over communism. But this offered 'an apartheid vision', if it meant leaving Third World countries 'as targets and battlefields for years to come,' while the liberal democracies lived in safety.
Sahnoun, an Algerian who suffered torture and solitary confinement during his country's struggle for independence, said that, since the end of the Cold War, there had been few conflicts between states but over 40 internal conflicts, springing from ethnic, religious, tribal, language and political differences, and social injustice. Expatriates, living in the West, often provided finance, arms and propaganda support.
Sahnoun, who had been on UN peace missions in Africa, called for preventive diplomacy and an early warning system to defuse conflicts. 'The enemy is nowhere and everywhere. It is as if we have to fight against forces both in ourselves and around us.'
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