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Content:
> The Situation in Sri Lanka
> Combating Terrorism, Drug trafficking, and Guerrilla Warfare: Solving the Crisis in Colombia
> Resolving the Civil War in Uganda
Security Council
Contact: sc[at]bermun.de
Most honourable delegates,
Welcome to the Security Council 2007!
Our names are Robert Wiedenmann, Nicholas Erb and Isra Shah and we will be this year’s Presidents of the Security Council. It is our great honour and privilege to serve in these important positions and we are looking forward to the conference in November with much anticipation. As the Security Council is the most powerful organ within the United Nations, we expect you as delegates of the mock Security Council to perform accordingly. Please keep in mind that you are the representatives of countries that have the responsibility of taking immediate actions in global conflicts in which world peace is at risk.
To make the BERMUN experience the best it can be, we want every single delegate to contribute, not only to the debate, but also during lobbying. As you will be working in teams of two, we expect all delegations to come to BERMUN with fully-written resolutions on all three topics. The resolutions will provide as a draft to merge with other delegates and to formulate resolutions for debate.
At this year’s BERMUN conference, we, the Presidents of the Security Council, chose topics that might not seem to affect many of us living in the Western world, but nevertheless are of an extremely high importance.
Let us now open your eyes to crises in the world, which you may never have heard about:
The Situation in Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka is a country that has been distorted by civil war ever since declaring its independence from Great Britain in 1948. Shortly after gaining independence, the Sinhalese gained political power - a group that consists of roughly 82% of the Sri Lankan population. Due to the fact that the British favoured the Tamil minority of 5.1% during colonial times, the Sinhalese began an upsurge of nationalism and rising oppression of Tamils. There are Tamil dominated areas of the country, especially the northeast, in which tensions started to arise because they would not accept this cultural oppression. Thus the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam group was founded in 1976 - a group that fights for an independent Tamil state in the northeast of Sri Lanka, which they call Eelam. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are a certified terrorist organisation in many countries, especially for those in the European Union. The civil war can be divided into three parts, the First Eelam War, Second Eelam War, and Third Eelam War. Between the single civil wars there were always brief ceasefires, each holding about a maximum of 7 years, but in the end the fighting always broke out again. The last ceasefire was signed in 2002, after which there really was no fighting for a while. However, that only lasted until 2004, when the first suicide attack struck Sri Lanka again. Since then the conflict has been growing fiercer every week and the ceasefire no longer reflects the current situation in the country, as the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are both openly offending against it. It is only a matter of time before the Fourth Eelam War will break out. That is why it is our mission to resolve the situation in Sri Lanka, so that the killing can finally stop. Sri Lanka is a country with massive tea plantations and a big industrial and agricultural sector. This has been intensely harmed by the civil war; soon the economy will not be able to hold out anymore. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam however are a rich terrorist organisation as well as a paramilitary group due to the high-tech technical equipment they are in possession of. Ever since the beginning of these civil wars, neither side ever appeared to be winning. It is questionable if such a civil war can ever be won by one of the sides. Therefore, it is our job to resolve the conflict peacefully, especially as there has never been a resolution from the Security Council on this conflict, and neither a resolution in the General Assembly.
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Combating Terrorism, Drug trafficking, and Guerrilla Warfare: Solving the Crisis in Colombia:
As the name of the topic suggests, the crisis in the Republic of Colombia, is surely one of the most multifaceted conflicts worldwide. To combat the crisis most effectively, an understanding of the nation’s recent history is by no means sufficient. On the contrary, the crisis finds its routes in the year 1819, the year in which Colombia gained its full independence from Spain. Even though Colombia is famous for its sunshine and cigars, Colombian politics and citizens have not seen many sunny days since 1819. The decades since Colombia’s independence have been marked by terrorism, warfare, and, recently, by drugs. Even though you may not have the ability to change Colombia’s history, you now do the power to impact the republic’s future.
In your research, please always be aware of the fact that the situation in Colombia is extremely complicated due to its multifaceted nature. It is therefore of utmost importance to not just consider one side of the problem and come up with a solution but to keep in mind that all sides are intertwined and therefore must be solved simultaneously. Naturally, please inform yourself of the positions of the Conservative and Liberal Party, as these are the two predominant parties in Colombia. Furthermore, please pay special attention to the guerrilla organizations. These organizations (such as the ELN, EPL, M-19, MAQL, and especially FARC) have strongly impacted Colombian politics in these past decades. According to a United Nations report, Colombia has suffered the highest number of terrorist acts worldwide since 1945. Also please consider your countries position the Government security forces, namely the Colombian Defence Ministry.
Aside from the militaristic and political side to the conflict, there is also a financial side to it. Unfortunately, the financial resources needed to fund the opposing parties are not earned legally. Drugs, especially cocaine, play a major role in the Colombian conflict. The FARC for example make at least $300 million from the drug trade each year, and is therefore possibly the richest insurgent group in the world. Please identify a solution on how to counter the acts of drug traffickers such as Cali Cartel or Medellín Cartel. Finally, please consider whether or not human rights are being adhered to as outlined in the Human Rights Declaration.
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Resolving the Civil War in Uganda:
One of the many countries that is suffering from the consequences of colonialism, Uganda is home to a civil war that has been raging on for nearly 30 years. Since gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1962, Uganda has been through a lot of political change and political parties. The conflict first began officially, when Idi Amin Dada took over the government in 1971 and appointed himself president of Uganda. Under his rule, there was a detrimental amount of human rights abuses, as well as political enemies that were exiled, and discrimination against Indians, Israelis, and the British. This didn’t make Dada very popular nationally and internationally, which ultimately lead to his exile. However, this was only the beginning of the conflict, leading to a succession of new presidents - or rather, dictators. Whenever a political party came to power, it was only a matter of time until political enemies within the countries would overthrow the government. In all the following years, there were more human rights abuses and terrorist attacks, making Uganda a constantly unsteady country with a very unstable government. Finally, in 1985 a ceasefire was mediated between the main rebel group at that time, the NRA, and the government. Yet after a short time, the NRA broke the ceasefire and attacked many sites, finally taking over the government buildings and thus taking control of the government. The problem in the conflict until then was that the government needed to promise a democracy, a goal most of them were commonly going after. However to keep the country under control in order to build up a democracy, they needed to build it up slowly. Of course, this led to even more rebellion. Nevertheless, the new president of the NRA, Museveni, seemed to have found the right mixture and has remained President until the present day. Although there are still some human rights abuses in Uganda and the country still needs to be built up, one can say that it now possesses many democratic characteristics, which became apparent during the first multi-party national election in 2006. The problem is that although it seems that there is peace now, the Lord’s Resistance Army is still quite strong, and although in a ceasefire now, may attack Uganda at any time. A tactic the LRA is especially well known for is kidnapping children, using the boys as soldiers and the girls as sex slaves. Therefore, it is the job of the Security Council of BERMUN to resolve this conflict before it breaks out full-scale again and all the efforts towards a stable democracy are ruined.
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We wish you lots of success during your research process and hope to have given you a proper introduction into each of this year’s topics.
Good luck and we’ll see you in November!
All the best,
Robert Wiedenmann
Nicholas Erb
Isra Shah
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