ABSTRACT
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000 the member states of the United Nations reaffirmed, through the Millennium Declaration and the subsequent, action focused, framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), their commitment to a world free of poverty and social injustice. They are simply stated, mutually reinforcing undertakings with target dates, directed at reducing poverty in all its forms. War is development in reverse, and hence presents a monumental impediment to the eradication of poverty, to the improvement in access to health and education, and the attainment of many of the other MDGs. Real progress toward the eradication of poverty will hinge critically on incorporating conflict prevention and peace-building into the development agenda, and vice versa—these twin faces of social injustice and inhumanity are inextricably linked. Civil conflicts were largely assumed to be rooted in long standing and deep-rooted political, social, ethnic, or religious tensions.
