Year in Review 2007
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview: 2007: a year of innovation, expansion and restructuring (page 1) Strengthening the Department of Political Affairs: a new focus on conflict prevention and resolution (page 5) Peacekeeping restructures to strengthen field operations (page 6) Africa: The United Nations and African Union forge a new partnership in Darfur (page 8) Slow progress for Sudan's peace agreement (page 10) DRC: a difficult year in the Kivus ends with a ray of hope (page 12) Photo essay (page 14), Combatting sexual violence: UN, government and NGOs take action in the DRC (page 16) UN works to end northern Uganda's 20-year conflict (page 17) Innovation through integration of UN efforts in Burundi (page 18) Americas: UN and national police work to New peacebuilding architecture frames support to Burundi, Sierra Leone (page 19) improve security in Haiti UN works with traditional leaders to prevent violence in Côte d'Ivoire (page 20) (page 28) Tensions build in Ethiopia and Eritrea (page 23) Europe: All-female police unit inspires Liberia's women (page 24) UN guides Kosovo on path towards Parties renew dialogue over Western Sahara while UN keeps the peace (page 26) final status (page 33) New approaches to peace process required in Somalia (page 27) Middle East: UN renews and strengthens its commitment to Iraq (page 31) Peacekeepers take innovative approach to community outreach in southern Lebanon (page 32) Asia: Myanmar: UN diplomacy in the global spotlight (page 35) Timor-Leste consolidates democracy during 2007 (page 36) Peace process challenged in Nepal (page 37) Afghanistan in 2007: promise of peace, reality of war (page 39) Cross-cutting: New methods accelerate mine clearance (page 22) UN Police add capacities to meet demands, develop local forces (page 25) Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions created for peacekeeping (page 30) Peace operations facts and figures: United Nations peacekeeping operations (page 40) United Nations political and peacebuilding missions (page 42) Peacekeeping contributors (page 44) INTRODUCTION 2007: a year of innovation, expansion and restructuring During a year in which the interna- The Secretary-General also proposed Secretary-General announced “a new tional community looked to the strengthening and reorganizing the De- and profoundly challenging chapter in the United Nations to launch peace oper- partment of Political Affairs to bolster history of United Nations peacekeeping.” ations in increasing numbers, size and the ability of the United Nations to complexity, the UN headquarters practice preventive diplomacy in order As the conflict continued in Darfur, the peace operations architecture under- to keep conflicts from escalating into UN sought contributions to one of its went profound changes, with more to larger and costlier tragedies. largest-ever missions, to total some come, intended to enhance field work 26,000 troops and police, along with the in conflict prevention, peacekeeping Partnerships necessary assets for a robust force, while and peacebuilding. building a complete infrastructure ca- In the field, other innovations have in- pable of supporting a major complex op- UN peace operations have become es- cluded unique new partnerships with eration in an inhospitable environment. sential instruments for the international multilateral and regional organizations. community in maintaining international The deteriorating security situation in By early 2008, however, key elements peace and security. The challenges and Darfur, for example, and the difficulties for deployment of a UN peacekeeping the numbers are unprecedented: UN faced by the African Union Mission in operation were still not in place. Secu- peacekeeping currently maintains 20 op- the Sudan (AMIS) required the UN first rity in Darfur and neighboring Chad erations on four continents with more than 100,000 men and women in the field.The budget for peacekeeping is ex- pected to grow from US$5 to US$7 bil- lion over the 2007-8 biennium, US$1.28 billion of that for Darfur alone. New UN political missions were also deployed to the field, even as exist- ing operations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East faced continuing challenges in preventing and resolving conflict. Once a mechanism for keeping the peace after a conflict had ended, UN peacekeeping operations and person- nel are now being asked to deploy into still fractious environments, and are expected to protect civilians, mit- igate conflicts before they widen, and keep societies and regions from fur- ther disintegration. The growing challenges stretched the capacity of the Organization and de- manded innovation: in his first year in Major General L.K.F.Aprezi (right), Force Commander of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), shaking office, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hands with Marthinus Vanstaden, South African officer leading the first group of UN military and police officers initiated a comprehensive programme sent to support AMIS, on arrival in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, 28 December 2006. (UN Photo by Fred Noy) of internal restructuring, reorganizing the Department of Peacekeeping Oper- to provide vital support and conse- was deteriorating dramatically and in ations, and establishing a separate De- quently, following protracted negotia- January, a peacekeeping convoy was at- partment of Field Support.This enabled tions with the Government of Sudan, to tacked. The host Government of Sudan a major augmentation of resources deploy UN troops on the ground in the had still not agreed to the composition along with new capacities and inte- first United Nations-African Union hy- of the force, nor on all its functions and grated structures to match the growing brid operation in Darfur (UNAMID). accoutrements. Member States were complexity of mandated activities and not volunteering essential transporta- to ensure unity of command and inte- On 31 December, African Union troops tion and aviation assets – such as tacti- exchanged green berets for blue, and the cal and transport helicopters – gration of effort. 2 0 1 0 YEAR IN REVIEW 7 necessary for the forces to respond to operations provide aid, became a hall- Peacekeeping at work crises and resupply far-flung units. mark of UN involvement to build peace in 2007. In 2007, a record number of peace- “Without decisive progress” warned keepers - expected to reach 140,000 in Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the Under-Sec- To the west of Sudan,the Security Coun- 2008 - maintained stability in several retary-General for Peacekeeping Opera- cil authorized another joint effort in Chad other once-volatile countries. Nearly tions, “we will indeed face dire and the Central African Republic (MIN- two-thirds (119) of all UN Member consequences for the international ef- URCAT), where the UN is supplying civil- States were sending troops and/or po- lice to UN missions. More women forts to help the Sudanese bring peace ian police monitors and trainers, while peacekeepers were deployed than ever, and stability to Darfur.” the European Union (EU) will provide troops for security,in order to contain the including a 125-member police unit from India sent to Liberia, a woman Meanwhile, on the political front, UN spillover of conflict from Darfur that sent chief and deputy chief of mission in and AU envoys travelled to Libya,South- hundreds of thousands over state borders Liberia, and deputy chiefs in Burundi ern Sudan and Darfur in a zigzag race of into tense,overcrowded refugee camps.A UN peacebuilding office in the Central and Sudan.The officer-in-charge of the shuttle diplomacy to try to secure a last- African Republic (BONUCA) assisted, newly created Department of Field Sup- ing peace agreement between and among meanwhile, in the establishment of a na- port at UN Headquarters is a women, the Government of Sudan and some 20 tional dialogue aimed at quelling internal as is the new chief of staff of the De- different movements in Darfur. political tensions. partment of Peacekeeping Operations. At the same time,the largest humanitarian In Afghanistan, cooperation between Several missions made significant relief effort in the world struggled to main- UNAMA, the North Atlantic Treaty Or- progress in fulfilling their mandates: in tain an acceptable level of care for the ganization (NATO) and provincial Liberia, with UNMIL’s robust forces hundreds of thousands of victims of the Afghan authorities has proved particu- helping guarantee security and stability, conflict as the security situation worsened larly effective in strengthening the ca- President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s Gov- and attacks on aid workers increased. pacity of local governance. In Kosovo, ernment made strides in consolidating NATO and UNMIK have continued to peace, promoting economic recovery and New partnerships and the parallel em- work side by side to provide stability fostering reconciliation. Still to be cre- under the terms of Security Council res- ployment of political and peacekeeping ated are an army, police and rehabili- tracks, ongoing while UN humanitarian olution 1244 (1999). While mandated to ensure a secure and stabile environment in Haiti, MINUSTAH’s well-equipped peacekeepers demonstrate flexibility by quickly shiing gears to undertake life-saving humanitarian operations, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 30 October 2007. (UN Photo by Marco Dormino) 2 0 2 0 7 UNITED NATIONS PEACE OPERATIONS tated justice system that can stand on In the Democratic Republic of the either cool simmering conflicts, or to re- their own and serve all Liberians equally. Congo, nearly all of MONUC’s 17,000 solve long-held disagreements. peacekeepers moved to the eastern Kivus In Haiti, UN peacekeepers – both mili- area where violence threatened to undo In the DRC, UN political mediation was tary and police – worked side-by-side the national consolidation that had cul- ongoing at the same time as peacekeep- with the Haitian National Police (HNP) minated in democratic elections in 2006. ing. In October, the Secretary-General to improve security,particularly in urban Throughout 2007, the mission worked dispatched a senior political envoy to areas previously controlled by gangs.