Abstract:
There has been an increase in the number of intrastate armed conflicts across the world in the last two decades and this has no doubt generated lots of debates as to whether the international community has a right or an obligation to interfere in the domestic affairs of any state. This has brought into focus the issue of the limits of sovereignty and the justification for external interference in intra-state conflicts. This study focused on the uprising that took place in Libya in 2011. In exploring the perimeters to which sovereignty can be exercised in intrastate armed conflicts, the study also investigated how changing political realities and international norms enabled external interventions that were previously unthinkable. Therefore, it tends to justify the coalition intervention in Libya on the basis of the international community’s responsibility and stated commitment to protect civilians in any part of the world from mass atrocities. However, the manner of the engagement by the US and NATO led external forces in the fight for regime change in Libya leaves much to be desired. Even- though the intervention in Libya received the blessing of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a body so authorized to do so, controversy continues to trail the manner of its implementation. The doctrine of The Responsibility to Protect as propounded by Kofi Annan was used as a framework for analysis of this study.
