By Austine Ochieng Dieto A Serbian University Student once shot the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungary throne, and that was the immediate cause of the World War 1. It was a war whose aftermath was the death of over 8 million civilians. In deed war is a bad thing, as Jawaharal Nheru, reckons in his Glimpses of World History. War against terrorism on the other hand is a more delicate affair. While the World has succeeded through the 1949 Geneva conventions to control Wars between autonomous states, the war against terrorism still remains a thorn in the flesh to our global village. Terrorists do not use conventional means to fight. They apply the guerilla tactics to raid their perceived enemies as a witnessed in the recent attacks. African liberation wars like the Mau-Mau in Kenya and The FRELIMO in Mozambique used similar tactics. This should however not be misconstrued to imply that those liberation wars were illegal. Colonization (which freedom fighters were fighting against) is agreed by legal analysts and Historians as an illegality. So they were by all means justified to fight for its end. Let me take you back to the scrutiny of guerilla tactics vis a vis conventional means of warfare. History documents that Napoleon Bonaparte had the best and the most organized army of the post medieval times. Note that, military disciplines in modern times have largely adapted Napoleon’s organized military skills of capturing territories. The Russians under Emperor Alexander 1 in 1812 had been a threat to the Security of Poland thus the Napoleonic army embarked on a war to compel the Russians to remain in their continental blockade. A threat to the Polish would be a threat to the whole world. Napoleon and his nearly half a million army marched into the Russian territory. This number was far much greater than the Russian army who then decided to use scorch-earth tactics to combat their French enemies. Even in the main Battle field near Moscow, Russia only employed very few soldiers who depended so much on guerrilla tactics. The number of French casualties was huge. The French managed to capture the territory but never defeated the Russians who constantly used guerilla tactics including but not limited to, resting their mainstream army and shifting to other locations. The defeated Napoleon finally retreated to Paris to protect his position as the French Emperor. History they say repeats itself, but I say, … only if humanity does not learn from the lessons of History. The war against terrorists who use non-conventional means of warfare is a noble course. But that war does not always succeed by pursuing them to their apparent territory. The Al Shabab simply changed their physical address, shaved their beards and were among the civilians celebrating in the ruined streets of Kismaiyu, when the Kenyan troop took charge of their territory. But as to whether Kenya won the battle, (to use the Dickensian Expression) remains a matter of substantial doubt. Let us protect our territory and we will win the war. We are one! The Writer is a Sociologist, Egerton University.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:18:00 +0000
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