Spotlight on war and peace

IT was supposed to be a year for the world to remember. Reflecting on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, leaders urged their nations and the international community to avoid repeating mistakes of the past.

While significant steps were taken towards resolving entrenched conflicts in Bosnia, the Middle East and avoiding international disputes, hopes for a global peace seemed to be over-ambitious dreams.

The 180 presidents, prime ministers, kings and princes gathering at the United Nations in October to celebrate its half-century of operations resolved to 'create new opportunities for peace, development, democracy and co-operation'.

The reality, however, was painfully different in 1995. France conducted nuclear tests in the Pacific, an attempt was made to destroy Israeli-Arab peace efforts with an assassin's bullet, terrorism moved on to a new level, tensions surfaced in the South China Sea and across the Taiwan Strait and insurrections continued.

Election of Jacques Chirac in May as French President with his commitment to restart testing of nuclear weapons, the force de frappe, unleashed international and domestic outrage and an outpouring of violence on the streets of Tahiti. The savage diplomatic response arose from the setback inflicted on negotiating efforts for a test ban.

Nuclear tests conducted by China in the country's far west failed to attract anywhere near the same level of condemnation.