First published in 1998, Peacekeeping in Africa was written to help make up the shortfall in the number of books that concentrated specifically on peacekeeping in Africa. The book covers the main peacekeeping operations of Africa, and provides a wealth of background material. In doing so, it explores the policies and actions of the international organisations concerned and the participating African states. It also considers the impact of sub-regional powers and the role of the USA, Britain, and France. Comprising three parts, Peacekeeping in Africa examines world perspectives, case studies, and wider issues surrounding Africa’s peacekeeping operations.
"This book is about the games that Great Powers play. Nearly half of all UN peacekeeping missions in the post-Cold War era have been in Africa, and the continent currently hosts the greatest number (and also the largest) of such missions in the world. Uniquely assessing five decades of UN peacekeeping in Africa, Adekeye Adebajo focuses on a series of questions: What accounts for the resurgence of UN peacekeeping efforts in Africa after the Cold War? What are the factors that have determined the success, or contributed to the failure, of the missions? Does the mandating of so many peacekeeping missions signify the failure of Africa's regional security organizations? And, crucially, how can a new division of labour be established between the UN and Africa's security organisations to more effectively manage conflicts on the continent? Adebajo's historically informed approach provides an in-depth analysis of the key domestic, regional, and external factors that shaped the outcomes of fifteen UN missions, offering critical lessons for future peacekeeping efforts in Africa and beyond." --
United Nations Peacekeeping in Africa provides an exploration of United Nations military intervention in Africa, from its beginnings in the Congo in 1960 to the new operations of the twenty-first century. The scene is set by an examination of the theoretical bases both of United Nations peacekeeping and of Africa’s post-independence politics and international relations. The peacekeeping project in Africa is then described on a region by region basis – Central Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, the Horn and Trans-Saharan Africa – with comparisons and contrasts within and between each part of Africa highlighted throughout. A number of key questions are considered: how have developments in the broader international system affected conflicts in Africa? what are the internal and external forces which have caused African states to ‘fail’ and ‘collapse’? how have external powers ‘used’ UN Peacekeeping in pursuit of their own political agendas? what determines success and failure in African peacekeeping? are there African solutions to African problems which could supplant UN involvement? As well as providing an account of UN involvement, the book is concerned to explore the long historical origins of the African conflicts with which the UN has been engaged. Written in an engaging and accessible manner, United Nations Peacekeeping in Africa provides an invaluable examination of the complex issues surrounding UN interventions in Africa.
Alan Doss offers a rare window into the real world of UN peacekeeping missions in Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Doss's story is one of presidents and prelates, warlords and warriors, heroes and villains, achievements and disappointments-and innocent people caught in the midst of deadly violence. As he shares his front-line experiences, he reflects on the reasons for successes and failures and on the qualities that leaders need to successfully guide efforts to rebuild peace and prosperity in devastated societies. Not least, he also considers the UN's future role in conflict prevention and peacekeeping in a climate of increasing resistance to intervention in "other people's wars.
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of peacekeeping in Africa. Recent events in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mali remind us that violence remains endemic and continues to hamper the institutional, social and economic development of the African continent. Over the years, an increasing number of actors have become involved in the effort to bring peace to Africa. The United Nations (UN) has been joined by regional organisations, most prominently the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU), and by sub-regional organizations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Meanwhile, traditional and emerging powers have regained an interest in Africa and, as a consequence, in peacekeeping. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the trends and challenges of international peacekeeping in Africa, with a focus on the recent expansion of actors and missions. Drawing upon contributions from a range of key thinkers in the field, Peacekeeping in Africa concentrates on the most significant and emerging actors, the various types of missions, and the main operational theatres, thus assessing the evolution of the African security architecture and how it impacts on peace operations. This book will be of much interest to students of peacekeeping and peace operations, African politics, war and conflict studies, security studies and IR.
This book examines peacekeeping in Africa, exploring how the various actors are forming an African security regime complex. The changing dynamics of peacekeeping in today’s world have encouraged a more cooperative approach between international and regional actors. At the centre of this book is the analysis of how an African security regime complex could emerge in the area of cooperative peacekeeping. The African regime complex on peacekeeping includes a number of organizations at the regional and sub-regional African level, as well as global institutions such as the UN, interregional partners like the EU and individual lead nations. This book is the first in providing a systematic overview of peacekeeping doctrines, capacities and deployments of these key actors and single lead states. Theoretically, the book links up with regime complexity scholarship but connects it with dependency theory. Here inter-institutional relations are conceptualised as acts of resource exchange. The book explores how primarily international organizations are partnering by exchanging resources. Empirically, the study analyses the phenomenon of regime complexity in three prominent African crises covering Eastern Africa (Somalia), Central African (Central African Republic) and Western Africa (Mali). This book will be of much interest to students of peacekeeping, international organisations, African politics, security studies and IR in general.
This book analyzes both indigenous and external efforts to develop African countries' individual and collective capacities to undertake peacekeeping operations. It chronicles the participation of African countries in United Nations peacekeeping operations and non-African-led multinational forces over the past 50 years. It also discusses the role of the United Nations in peacekeeping in the region and concludes with recommendations on how to make current approaches more effective--Publisher's description.
This timely volume explores the “dark side” of United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping in Africa: when rather than help establish a rule of law in the host country, they become perpetrators of crime. The work of the UN peacekeepers is generally comprised of police and military personnel, from countries who contribute voluntarily to assist war-torn countries create conditions for lasting peace. Overall, these peacekeeping efforts are perceived positively, with volunteers giving their time and risking their lives to bring normalcy and peace to civilians in countries with conflict. In fact, there are cases where UN Peacekeepers are sometimes the victims of violent crimes, and need security and protection themselves. Although instances of abuse are not widespread and are certainly not isolated to Africa, this work focuses on Africa because there is a high concentration of UN Peacekeepers there, and lessons learned can be applied to other regions. The instances of abuse cover serious crimes including sexual abuse and exploitation, child and arms trafficking, and corruption, all of some of the most vulnerable populations in the world at the time. Although these instances are not extensive, they remain a fundamental problem because there is no existing mechanism for prosecution in the international area: it is only the troops’ home country, not the UN, who has the right to exercise criminal jurisdiction. The also undermine the good work that UN Peacekeepers are doing all over the world. This work is concerned with highlighting why these instances occur, and why specific forms of abuse are more prevalent than others. It also discusses how to prevent abuse and violations from happening in the first place, and creating a culture of change and accountability. Finally, taking into account cultural and legal systems from troops’ home countries, the author considers the ways that local rules can be aligned with international standards. In will be of interest to researchers in Criminology and Criminal Justice, International Relations, Sociology and Demography, Public Health, Comparative Law, and other related disciplines.
Edited by World Peace Foundation president Robert I. Rotberg, the chapters in this volume focus on preventing outbreaks of civil war and other vicious internal conflicts in Africa. The contributors review the sorry state of African conflict prevention and weigh the merits of new methods of peace enforcement, including militant early intervention by African crisis response forces to avoid or reduce intrastate mayhem. Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement in Africa assesses the realities and challenges of reducing the frequency of civil warfare in Africa. It features a detailed report of extensive candid discussions of these issues by leading African ministers of defense and chiefs of staff.
