The challenges and prospects of United Nations peacekeeping mission in Africa

Abstract

The political evolution of Africa is replete with conflicts which have unfortunately gone beyond the capabilities of the continent to resolve without resort to foreign assistance especially in the critical field of military assistance. This study discussed the concept and practice of the United Nations peacekeeping missions in Africa, the challenges facing such operations as well as the prospects of resolving them. It conceptualized peacekeeping, adopted the collective security paradigm in discussing the changing operational environment that has transformed UN traditional peacekeeping operations to the contemporary peacekeeping methods and the challenges that have led to half-baked results in such African operations. Qualitatively driven with reliance on secondary sources of data, the paper recommended an improvement in the quality of preparation, planning, monitoring and evaluation of the processes by the Security Council, adoption of clear and actionable mandates by the UN, proper coordination between the Security Council and countries contributing troops, good risk analysis and transparency across the chain of command among others as necessary steps to address the challenges. It concluded that the UN has the capacity to surmount these challenges if adequate support is given to it by member countries.

Keywords: Conflicts, Evaluation, Intervention, Mandates, Monitoring, Peace-keeping