The Effectiveness of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions - A
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THE EFFECTIVENESS OF UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS - A CASE STUDY OF EASTERN REGION OF THE DEMOCTRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO A Thesis Submitted to the School of Humanities & Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the award of Master’s Degree in International Relations (Peace and Conflict) UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY - AFRICA FALL 2017 STUDENT’S DECLARATION I, the undersigned, declare that this is my original work and has not been submitted to any other college, institution or university other than the United States International University –Africa, in Nairobi for academic credit. Signed: ________________________ Date: __________________ Eliud Kamicha Gachoki Student ID No. 644372 This thesis has been presented for examination with my approval as the appointed supervisor. Signed: ________________________ Date: _____________________ Mr. Dan Odaba Supervisor Signed: _________________________ Date: ____________________ Prof. Angelina Kioko, Ph.D Dean, School of Humanities & Social Sciences Signed: _______________________ Date: _________________ Amb. Prof. Ruthie C. Rono, HSC Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs ii COPY RIGHT © Copy Right 2017 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii ABSTRACT This study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of the UN peacekeeping missions, with a case study of the DRC Congo. The objectives of the study included examining the effectiveness of the mission in adhering to its mandate, the protection of civilians, influence of the peacekeepers in fostering peace agreements amongst the conflicting parties, and the mission’s effectiveness in protecting natural resources and rebuilding the country. The study engaged a secondary research that examined relevant literatures that have covered the DRC conflict and the general effectiveness of the UN peacekeeping missions. The researcher relied on journal articles, reports from NGOs, credible news reports, and UN publications to analyze the DRC peacekeeping mission. The findings of the study established that MONUC/MONUSCO was not effective in ending the 20 years old DRC conflict. However, the uniqueness of the Congo conflict made it impossible for the finding to represent other UN peacekeeping missions around the world. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all who helped me in completing this thesis. I am appreciative to my supervisor, Mr. Dan Odaba, who supported me during the time spent conceptualizing and composing this thesis. I am additionally appreciative to United States International University for giving me a chance to conduct my studies. Most importantly, I am thankful to the Almighty God for giving me sound personality and great well being without which I would not have accomplished this thesis v TABLE OF CONTENTS STUDENT’S DECLARATION ............................................................................................... ii COPY RIGHT .......................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS &FIGURES ............................................................................. ix LIST OF ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................ x DEFINITIONS OF OPERATIONAL TERMS ....................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Objectives of Study ......................................................................................................... 5 1.3.1 General objective ..................................................................................................... 5 1.3.2 specific objectives .................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Significance of study....................................................................................................... 6 1.6 Scope of the Study .......................................................................................................... 7 1.7 Limitations and Delimitations......................................................................................... 7 1.7.1 Limitations ............................................................................................................... 7 1.7.2 Delimitations ............................................................................................................ 7 1.8 Assumptions of the study ................................................................................................ 7 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................................ 9 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Execution of UN Mandate .............................................................................................. 9 2.3 Protection of Civilians .................................................................................................. 13 2.4 Enforcing of Ceasefire Agreements in Peacekeeping Missions ................................... 17 2.5 Protecting Natural Resources and Nation Building ...................................................... 20 2.5.1 Stopping illegal exploitation of Natural Resources ............................................... 20 2.5.2 Restoration and extension of state Authority ......................................................... 22 vi 2.6 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 25 2.7 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................. 27 CHAPTER 3: research methodology ...................................................................................... 28 3.1 Description of Study Site .............................................................................................. 28 3.2 Research Design............................................................................................................ 29 3.2.1 Qualitative Research .............................................................................................. 31 3.3 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 32 3.4 Reliability and Validity ................................................................................................. 32 3.5 Ethical Consideration .................................................................................................... 33 3.6 Limitations of the study ................................................................................................ 34 3.7 Chapter Summary ......................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .................................................. 35 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 35 4.2 Background Information of The DRC Conflict ............................................................ 35 4.3 Scope of MONUC and MUNUSCO operations in the DRC ........................................ 38 4.3.1 MONUC mandate .................................................................................................. 38 4.3.2 MONUSCO Mandate............................................................................................. 42 4.4 The effectiveness of UN peacekeepers in DRC in adhering to their mandate.............. 44 4.4.1 MONUC effectiveness ........................................................................................... 44 4.4.2 MONUSCO effectiveness ...................................................................................... 48 4.5 Protection of Civilians .................................................................................................. 50 4.5.1 Bunia Massacre ...................................................................................................... 52 4.5.2 Bukavu killing ........................................................................................................ 53 4.5.3 The pre-election MONUC offensive ..................................................................... 54 4.5.4 Protection of Human Rights................................................................................... 55 4.6 Restoration of State Authority ...................................................................................... 56 4.7 Effectiveness of UN peacekeepers in protecting natural resources and nation building ............................................................................................................................................