1. Introduction The most visible international response to Africa's armed conflicts was the proliferation of peace operations, which between 1990 and 2012 numbered more than 60, far more than in any other region. This period was also the most tumultuous in the history of peacekeeping. The operations assumed various shapes and sizes. They were authorized and conducted by various actors and international institutions. As instruments of conflict management, they produced decidedly mixed results. This was in large part because the United Nations (UN) and other institutions had to learn, while on the job, how to keep the peace in messy armed conflicts. These institutions also had to develop the relevant tools and structures as they went along. Peacekeeping in Africa after the Cold War was a way of trying to professionalise peace operations. Since peace operations are a reflection of international society's assumptions and priorities about conflict management and resolution, tracing their evolution provides an important barometer for the involvement of international engagement in Africa's violence. The results are instructive. The peace operations helped shepherd transitions from armed conflict to peace (among others in Liberia, Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Namibia). But peacekeepers failed to stop genocide in Rwanda and mass killings in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Angola and other African states. They also at times abused and exploited the local people they were supposed to protect. Perhaps the central explanations for this mixed record were that some mission mandates were tougher than others and some operations were given more resources than others. This article concludes that peacekeepers in Africa are often used as a substitute for an effective political plan and that peacekeeping missions are bound by the international legal requirement of seeking consent from the host governments, even when those governments constitute problems in several African armed conflicts. 2. Peacekeeping trends in post-Cold War Africa At the end of 2012, Africa had military based peace operations, involving more than 242 000 peacekeepers. The complex and multidimensional efforts necessitate the analysis of two intertwined issues: The first is the conflict management and resolution efforts carried out by African states and international institutions, while the second is those of non-African initiatives, primarily by the UN and the European Union (EU), although African governments are clearly involved in the UN activities and external actors are usually involved in African initiatives. The peace-making, peacekeeping and peace-building operations conducted by the UN and other non-African actors were in most cases considerably larger than those carried out by their African counterparts. Between 1990 and 2012 over 20 peace operations were conducted by African institutions. These involved the deployment of just over 74 000 uniformed personnel. Deployments by sub-regional institutions were mainly by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), amounting to over 56 000 personnel, while over 18 000 were deployed as African Union (AU) peacekeepers. During the same period non-African institutions and actors, primarily the UN, conducted 35 peace operations on the continent. These involved the deployment of approximately 200 000 uniformed personnel of whom approximately 157 500 were UN peacekeepers while some 41 200 were deployed by other actors. 32 000 of these came from the United States (US)-led Unified Task Force for Somalia, 1992 and 1993. In the 21st century, the UN peace operations in Africa have accounted for some 70 per cent of its peacekeeping forces globally and cost the institution over US$300 billion. Peacekeeping in Africa unfolded in two distinct phases: before and after the AU was established. …
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Sep 7, 2023
Giulio Levorato + 1
Open Access