Peacekeeping in Africa

Description

Peacekeeping is the most expensive UN department with a cost in 2015 of nearly $9bn to pay for 120,000 soldiers and police officers deployed in 16 countries. 90 percent of the budget is spent in Africa. Peacekeeping missions have been increasingly criticized for not delivering on their mandate. And the challenges to the UN (and the African Union) are many and significant. Politically, disagreements in the UN Security Council continue to constrain action over some conflicts, notably in Syria, but also in Darfur. Other missions such as those in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo have now lasted more than a decade, and many have grappled with accusations of rape and sexual exploitation by their peacekeepers. These challenges occur in the context of increasingly complex mandates. Indeed, missions often deploy and are expected to make peace in places where there is ‘no peace to keep.’ Examples include the intervention brigade in the DRC that is tasked with “neutralizing armed groups,” while the stabilization mission in Mali is fighting jihadist groups. This DIIS seminar presents groundbreaking research on African peacekeeping from a number of the scholars who define the field. It explores the effectiveness as well as inertia of long-standing missions, the differences and similarities in missions deployed by the AU and the UN, and the transformations that are currently taking place in the practices of peacekeeping, including the shift from peacekeeping to stabilization. The seminar is also an opportunity to present new research by the Royal Danish Defence College and DIIS on African peacekeepers in The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Period	30 Nov 2016
Event type	Conference
Organiser	Danish Institute for International Studies
Sponsor	Danish Institute for International Studies
Location	Copenhagen, DenmarkShow on map