Strategic Communications for Peace Operations: The African Union’s Information War Against al-Shabaab

Paul D Williams

doi:10.5334/sta.606

Abstract

Despite widespread agreement that effective strategic communications are a necessary part of complex peace operations, many missions struggle to generate relevant capabilities and implement effective campaigns. This article analyzes the experiences of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) as a case study of this problem. Specifically, it examines how the United Nations (UN) tried to fill the gap by hiring a consortium of private firms known as the AU-UN Information Support Team (IST) to wage a strategic communications campaign against al-Shabaab. The IST’s goal was to drive, as well as communicate, AMISOM’s success, improve the mission’s media presence, and develop a communications strategy. The IST played an innovative and important function for AMISOM but suffered from several significant challenges that reduced its effectiveness. The conclusion therefore identifies four main lessons from AMISOM’s experiences that could improve strategic communications for peace operations.

Highlights

There is very little scholarly literature on how to design and implement effective strategic communications for peace operations
The lack of scholarly attention is surprising given that several international organizations engaged in peace and security activities have long recognized the importance of developing a strategic communications policy
Both the United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU), for example, have a Strategic Communications Division that deals with peace operations as part of their Department of Public Information and European External Action Service, respectively

Summary

Introduction

There is very little scholarly literature on how to design and implement effective strategic communications for peace operations. By the time a new set of firms took over the IST contract in late 2014, the IST had in some respects developed a different relationship with AMISOM, over the scope for the IST’s strategic communications experts to give autonomous advice to AMISOM’s leadership.

Results

Conclusion