CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The United Nations Security Council authorizes peace operations by a nine-to-five vote of the fifteen permanent members: the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Since the end of the Cold War, the Security Council has authorized more than fifty peacekeeping missions.

Peacekeeping forces are sent by the United Nations to prevent or control fighting, stabilize post-conflict zones, aid in the implementation of peace agreements, and support democratic transitions. The UN proposes the following peace-building activities to attain those objectives:

 

Ex-combatants’ disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration; Landmine disposal and related activities; Rule-of-law activities; Human rights protection and promotion; Electoral assistance; Support for the restoration of state authority; and Promotion of social and economic recovery and development.

When it comes to deploying peacekeepers, the UN generally follows three principles:

Peacekeepers must have the permission of the principal parties to the conflict; they must be impartial but not neutral; and they may only use force in self-defense or to defend the mandate.

 

UN peacekeepers, on the other hand, are increasingly being deployed to combat zones where not all of the major parties have agreed, like in Mali and eastern DRC. International pressure is also rising for peacekeepers to adopt a more assertive role in protecting civilians. UN peacekeepers have been tasked with offensive operations against designated enemy fighters, notwithstanding the principle of impartiality, like in Mali and the DRC. “Recent missions have blurred the borders between peacekeeping, stability, counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, atrocity prevention, and state-building,” says the report. In order to assess the efficacy of a UN mission, it is necessary to look into the structure and how peacekeeping operations are manned and supported. The countries that deploy the most troops to UN peacekeeping missions are Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, with the United States, Japan, and France providing the most funding. Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Kenya are the primary soldier providers to AMISOM, with financing primarily coming from the United Nations and the European Union. The gap between those who send troops and those who pay missions is sometimes a cause of contention. Wealthy countries spend the most on peacekeeping but provide the fewest troops; in contrast, countries that contribute troops or whose citizens are directly affected by peacekeeping missions frequently have less say in how they are designed and mandated. Some of these issues were revealed in a 2014 internal evaluation of peacekeeping tactics linked to civilian protection. Peacekeepers failed to safeguard civilians on multiple occasions, according to researchers. The findings infuriated countries that provide over $8 billion to the UN’s yearly peacekeeping budget, while troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) demanded increases to the reimbursement rates their soldiers get for participating in UN missions, which had not grown in more than a decade. (Countries that provide soldiers are reimbursed a little more than $1,000 a month by the UN, and AMISOM personnel currently receive roughly the same allowances as UN peacekeepers.) In their aspirations to become permanent members of the Security Council, India and Brazil both noted their countries’ manpower commitments to UN peacekeeping, and African leaders and UN officials have asked for African forces to play a stronger role in ensuring the continent’s peace and security, but budget limits persist. While the United Nations has a set budget for peacekeeping, the African Union must constantly look for donors to fund its missions, including the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States. AU member states contribute only 2.3 percent of the AU’s budget. “Countries with better developed military capabilities—countries from the OECD—must return to peacekeeping in a way that they haven’t done in recent years” — Brookings Institution’s Bruce Jones “The AU always needs external support when it sends a mission,” adds Williams of GWU. As a result, the African Union (AU) is unable to quickly deploy or sustain soldiers in the region.

“The AU’s reputation as a prominent actor in peace and security concerns on the continent is harmed by the lack of indigenous sources of financing,” he argues, “and its capacity to exercise ownership of specific initiatives is harmed by the lack of indigenous sources of finance.”

In Africa, peacekeeping operations are increasingly collaborating between the UN and the African Union. AMISOM member states, for example, deploy troops in Somalia, while the UN provides finance, training, logistics, and planning assistance. In Darfur, UNAMID, a UN-AU hybrid force, absorbed and expanded a mission that was previously headed purely by the AU.

The study’s goal is to look into UN peacekeeping in Africa, its effectiveness, and its issues.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The goal of this study is to evaluate UN peacekeeping in Africa, including its effectiveness and problems. The goal of the study is to look into the character and operations of UN peacekeeping in Africa.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

to assess UN peacekeeping operations in Africa

determining the mission’s efficacy

 

to figure out what the issue is

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What does UN PEACEKEEPING IN AFRICA entail?

What is the issue that has arisen?

 

What is the mission’s effectiveness?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

1. The study will assess the nature and status of UN peacekeeping operations in Africa.

2. It will define its goals and highlight the obstacles it faces.

3. The research will provide as a reliable source of information on UN peacekeeping operations in Africa.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study will concentrate on the evaluation of UN peacekeeping operations in Africa. It will determine the mission’s issues and effectiveness.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0 UN peacekeeping operations in Africa are insignificant.

H0 In Africa, the number of issues experienced by UN peacekeeping forces is modest.

H0 In Africa, the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping is ineffective.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

MANDATE OF THE UN:

The United Nations Security Council authorizes peace operations by a nine-to-five vote of the fifteen permanent members: the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Since the end of the Cold War, the Security Council has authorized more than fifty peacekeeping missions.

Peacekeeping forces are sent by the United Nations to prevent or control fighting, stabilize post-conflict zones, aid in the implementation of peace agreements, and support democratic transitions. The UN proposes the following peacebuilding activities to attain these objectives:

Ex-combatants’ disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration; Landmine removal and related activities;

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