Without internal political reconciliation, a troop deployment would be a dangerous exercise of dubious value, writes Richard Cromwell. "No clear political outcome suggests itself that could act as a prospective base upon which international peacekeepers might be deployed," he writes. Also read Garth le Pere’s argument for sending troops to Somalia.

Nelson Mandela’s attempts at negotiating a peaceful settlement of the worlds longest civil war are fraught with difficulties, writes Richard Cornwell.