Keeping the peace: stories of Australian peacekeepers - Persian Gulf

Somalia
Persian Gulf

People have long hoped that cutting off trade with an aggressor nation might provide a peaceful way of ending wars. However, as the League of Nations found with Italy in the 1930s, and the United Nations with Iraq in the 1990s, it is not easy to make trade sanctions work.

When Iraq invaded its neighbour Kuwait in August 1990 the United Nations quickly imposed sanctions. Australia sent three warships to form part of a multinational force patrolling the Gulf of Oman to prevent ships reaching or leaving Iraq.

After the United States and its allies fought the Gulf War to eject Iraq from Kuwait, the United Nations called on Iraq to give up any chemical, biological and nuclear weapons or facilities for making them. United Nations weapons inspectors, including Australians, attempted to ensure Iraqi compliance. In addition, sanctions against Iraq were retained, and Australia continues to send ships to help enforce them.

By the end of the decade, however, it was clear that sanctions alone would not be effective against an undemocratic state like Iraq.