critical currents Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Occasional Paper Series The United Nations, Security and Peacekeeping in Africa Lessons and no.5 Prospects 1 Critical Currents no. 2 October 2008 Beyond Diplomacy – Perspectives on Dag Hammarskjöld 1 critical currents no.5 October 2008 The United Nations, Security and Peacekeeping in Africa Lessons and Prospects With contributions by Kwesi Aning Linnea Bergholm Andreas Mehler Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Uppsala 2008 The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation pays tribute to the memory of the second Secretary-General of the UN by searching for and examining workable alternatives for a socially and economically just, ecologically sustainable, peaceful and secure world. In the spirit of Dag Hammarskjöld’s Critical Currents is an integrity, his readiness to challenge the Occasional Paper Series dominant powers and his passionate plea published by the for the sovereignty of small nations and Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. their right to shape their own destiny, the It is also available online at Foundation seeks to examine mainstream www.dhf.uu.se. understanding of development and bring to the debate alternative perspectives of often Statements of fact or opinion unheard voices. are those of the authors and do not imply endorsement By making possible the meeting of minds, by the Foundation. experiences and perspectives through the Manuscripts for review organising of seminars and dialogues, should be sent to the Foundation plays a catalysing role [email protected]. in the identifi cation of new issues and the formulation of new concepts, policy Series editor: Henning Melber proposals, strategies and work plans towards Language editor: Wendy Davies solutions. The Foundation seeks to be at the Layout: Karim Kerrou cutting edge of the debates on development, Design: Mattias Lasson security and environment, thereby Printed by X-O Graf Tryckeri AB continuously embarking on new themes ISSN 1654-4250 in close collaboration with a wide and Copyright on the text is with the constantly expanding international network. authors and the Foundation. Contents Preface .........................................................................................................5 Kwesi Aning The UN and the African Union’s security architecture: defi ning an emerging partnership? ...............................................................9 Linnea Bergholm The UN and the AU: a co-dependent relationship on matters of peace and security ................................................................ 25 Andreas Mehler Positive, ambiguous or negative? UN peacekeeping in the local security fabric .............................................41 Preface Hammarskjöld was the person who made the UN an active peace organization rather than just the diplomatic, bureaucratic outfi t it had started as. He was the person who developed peacekeeping, and he became the world’s chief negotiator of really diffi cult problems. Sir Brian Urquhart1 The origins1 of the United Nations’ role He was under the direct command of the in peacekeeping operations, as this testi- Secretary-General. UNEF became the fi rst mony of a close staff member in his offi ce force under a command with purely inter- confi rms, are inextricably linked with the national responsibilities. organisation’s second Secretary-General. The initial two involvements of direct UN With the Congo crisis emerging in 1960 (as presence in precarious local settings preced- a direct result of which Hammarskjöld sac- ing them were military observer missions, rifi ced his life in September 1961 during his which monitored a truce in Palestine and in eff orts to fi nd a negotiated solution) the UN Kashmir respectively. With the Suez crisis peacekeeping mission deployed within a in 1956, military observers were no longer matter of weeks a veritable military contin- enough. It was then that the deployment of gent, seeking to stabilise the deteriorating UN peacekeeping forces in larger numbers situation: ‘We fl ew in 3,000 soldiers in three came about. By resolutions 1000 and 1001 days and another 10,000 in two weeks. They of 5 and 7 November 1956 respectively the simply arrived and got between people who United Nations General Assembly estab- were likely to be killing each other.’2 lished the practice of this kind of interven- tion, thereby actively assuming already in Since then, peacekeeping operations by UN broad terms what more recently has been forces have become a regular feature and termed the ‘responsibility to protect’, al- steadily increased. Since the turn of the cen- beit in a slightly diff erent context. The tury, the number of peacekeepers in opera- United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) tion has almost trebled. African missions have was subsequently created to secure and su- over the years absorbed increasing capacity pervise the cessation of hostilities under a and funds. Currently, some 90,000 peace- commander appointed by the Assembly. keepers are deployed in 17 missions world- wide, of which eight – with staff outnumber- 1 Kreisler, Harry, ‘A Life in Peace and War. ing by far the total of all other missions – are Conversation with Sir Brian Urquhart’, 19 March 1996. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/UN/ Urquhart/urquhart6.html (accessed 26/08/2008) 2 Ibid. Th e Quest for Regional Representation – Reforming the United Nations Security Council 5 in African countries. The current costs of Dag Hammarskjöld would have welcomed UN peacekeeping missions are estimated to the willingness by African states to share the exceed US$ 6.5 billion a year with the mis- burden of peacekeeping and security opera- sions in Darfur and the Democratic Republic tions with the UN and to take over increas- of Congo absorbing almost half of the budget. ing responsibility for the operations. There But operations suff er from lack of funds, re- remains however much to be improved, to main overstretched and become increasingly achieve maximum eff ect for the benefi t of unable to accomplish their missions: ‘Critics the people. The three contributions in this argue that the Security Council appears to issue of our Occasional Paper series Critical have little problem sanctioning peacekeeping Currents seek to provide useful insights, with missions but fi nds it diffi cult to stump up the the aim of improving future operations. We resources to carry out their mandate.’ 3 trust that this is a humble mission accom- plished, thereby honouring the legacy of The beginning of this century also resulted Dag Hammarskjöld constructively and with in a shift in continental African policy para- relevance for today and tomorrow. digms from the holy principle of non-inter- vention into sovereign states under the Or- Henning Melber ganisation of African Unity (OAU) towards more collective responsibility, as refl ected in the Constitution of the African Union (AU). As a result, a new security architec- ture has been emerging, which involves the active engagement of African states to solve confl icts in AU member countries. African governments are now willing to provide means for peacekeeping operations jointly with the UN. While this is a positive de- velopment, its fi rst results have been rather mixed: ‘The AU’s experience in Burundi, Darfur and Somalia suggests that the organ- isation has much to do to improve its abil- ity to deliver peace and security to African citizens. However, it goes without saying that the AU’s peace and security architec- ture will be a vital component of Africa’s strategy to consolidate order and stability on the continent.’ 4 3 Bloomfi eld, Steve, ‘UN peacekeepers “at breaking point”’, The Independent, 28 July 2008. 4 Murithi, Tim, ‘The African Union’s evolving role in peace operations: the African Union mission in Burundi, the African Union mission in Sudan and the African Union mission in Somalia’, African Stud- UN Airplanes on ies Review, vol. 17, no. 1, March 2008, p. 82. monitoring mission. Photo: Dag Hammarskjöld 6 Critical Currents no. 5 Subsidiary Bodies Chairmen 8 Critical Currents no. 5 Brief Security Council. UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras The UN and the African Union’s security architecture: Defi ning an emerging partnership? Kwesi Aning There is no doubt that since the transfor- mation of the Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU), this new institution is demonstrating an encour- aging proactiveness in terms of its prepared- ness to tackle the continent’s peace and secu- rity challenges, and generally contributing to issues relating to the attainment of inter- national peace and security. This has result- ed in the establishment of new mechanisms and institutional frameworks for resolving confl icts in Africa. This is best exemplifi ed Kwesi Aning is currently head of the Confl ict by the increasing number of resolutions and Prevention Management and Resolution presidential statements adopted by the UN Department (CPMRD) of the Kofi Annan Security Council (UNSC) and the frequency International Peacekeeping Training Centre and regularity of matters considered by the (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana. Until January 2008, African Union’s Peace and Security Council he served as a Senior Consultant to the UN (AU PSC) that are subsequently referred to Department of Political Aff airs and wrote a UN the UNSC. The frequent communications Secretary General’s report on ‘Th e relationship between these two bodies, the mentioning between the UN and regional organisations, and discussion of Africa-specifi c security particularly the African Union on peace and matters and