Supporting African Peace Operations
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‘I welcome the publication of this volume which contains most salient issues that need to be considered when discussing the contributions of AU peace operations to the maintenance of international peace and security. The dynamics around the international support for African peace operations provide both opportunities and challenges which need to be pragmatically scrutinized as has been done in this volume. I therefore highly recommend this volume to readers that are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the issues and challenges involved in contemporary AU- UN support arrangements.’ Ambassador Boubacar G. Diarra ‘In all, this is a valuable contribution to the emerging body of knowledge on inter- organisational cooperative arrangements in Peace Operations.’ Markus Derblom, Head, Department for Peace Support Operations, FOI SUPPORTING AFRICAN PEACE OPERATIONS Edited by Linnéa Gelot, Ludwig Gelot and Cedric de Coning The Nordic Africa Institute Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Norwegian Institute of International Affairs 2012 3 NAI Policy Dialogue is a series of short reports on policy relevant issues concer- ning Africa today. Aimed at professionals working within aid agencies, minis- tries of foreign affairs, NGOs and media, these reports aim to inform the public debate and to generate input in the sphere of policymaking. The writers are researchers and scholars engaged in African issues from several discipli- nary points of departure. Most have an institutional connection to the Nordic Africa Institute or its research networks. The reports are internally endorsed and reviewed externally. Indexing terms Africa Civil war Conflicts Peace corps Peacebuilding Peacekeeping International cooperation International security The opinions expressed in this volume are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Nordiska Afrikainsitutet. Language checking: Peter Colenbrander Front Cover: Stuart Price / AU-UN IST Photo UN-AU Support: A Ugandan medical officer serving with the African Union Mis- sion in Somalia (AMISOM) walks past a tent at the mission’s Level II field hospi- tal at the operation’s headquarters in Mogadishu, Somalia. Photos of the seminar participants: Jean-Philippe Deschamps-Laporte ISSN 1654-6709 ISBN 978-91-7106-723-4 © The authors and Nordiska Afrikainstitutet 2012 Production: Byrå4 Print on demand, Lightning Source UK Ltd. 4 Contents Glossary ...................................................................................................... 6 Foreword ..................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements .................................................................................... 10 Executive Summary ................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1 Contextualising Support Models for African Peace Operations .................. 17 Linnéa Gelot, Ludwig Gelot and Cedric de Coning Chapter 2 Exploring the Benefits and Disadvantages of Hybrid and other Support Models for Peace Operations in Africa ....................................................... 32 Kwesi Aning and Mustapha Abdallah Chapter 3 Experiences of the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and the AU-UN Hybrid Mission in Sudan (UNAMID) ....................................... 43 Henry Anyidoho Chapter 4 Reflections on the AU-UN Hybrid Model in Darfur ................................ 54 Martin Luther Agwai Chapter 5 Joint and Integrated AU-UN Mediation in Darfur: A Model for Future African Peace Processes? ........................................................... 63 Cage Banseka Chapter 6 Experiences of UN Support Models for AU Peace-Support Operations: The Case of the AU Mission in Somalia ................................................... 75 James Gadin Chapter 7 Challenges, Key Issues and Future Directions ........................................... 83 Linnéa Gelot, Ludwig Gelot and Cedric de Coning Bibliography ............................................................................................ 111 Notes on Contributors ............................................................................ 115 5 Glossary AMIB AU Mission in Burundi AMIS AU Mission in Darfur AMISOM AU Mission in Somalia APSA AU Peace and Security Architecture ASF African Standby Force AU African Union AUPSC AU Peace and Security Council AUPSOD AU Peace Support Operations Division BINUB UN Integrated Office in Burundi DFS Dept of Field Services (UN) DHF Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation DPKO Dept of Peacekeeping Operations (UN) DRC Democratic Republic of Congo ECCAS Economic Community of Central African States ECOMOG ECOWAS Monitoring Group ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States EU European Union IDP Internally Displaced Person JEM Justice and Equality Movement LJM Liberation and Justice Movement (Darfur) NAI Nordic Africa Institute NUPI Norwegian Institute for International Affairs OAU Organisation of African Unity ONUB UN Operation in Burundi P5 Permanent UNSC members PCC Police Contributing Country RDL Rally for Democracy and Liberty REC Regional Economic Community RUF Revolutionary United Front (Sierra Leone) SADC Southern African Development Community SLM/A Sudan Liberation Movement/Army SPLM Sudan People’s Liberation Movement TCC Troop Contributing Country UN United Nations UNAMID AU-UN Hybrid Mission in Darfur UNAMSIL UN Mission in Sierra Leone UNGA UN General Assembly 6 Supporting African Peace Operations UNMIL UN Mission in Liberia UNOAU UN Office to the AU UNOCI UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire UNOMIL UN Observer Mission in Liberia UNMIS UN Mission in Sudan UNOMSIL UN Observer Force in Sierra Leone UNSC UN Security Council UNSOA UN Support Office for Amisom 7 Foreword Since the early 1990s, African regional and sub-regional organisations such as the African Union and its predecessor the OAU, ECOWAS and SADC have shown increasing willingness and capacity to deploy peace operations on the continent. The 1994 Rwandan genocide, and the inability of the UNSC to respond to the crisis in timely fashion, strengthened the resolve of the then OAU and its successor to develop its own capacity to deal with such crises in future. However, Africa is home to the bulk of the world’s least developed countries, and even the most prosperous countries in Africa are still struggling with huge development backlogs. It is thus not surprising that the AU and sub-regional organisations like ECOWAS, SADC and ECCAS face serious financial and logistical challenges in deploying and sustaining their own peace support operations. At the same time, the UN is already overstretched, with approximately 120,000 military, police and civilian peacekeepers deployed and a budget of almost US$ 8 billion per year. In addition, its unique form of post-conflict peacekeeping, which requires a ceasefire agreement in place and the prior consent of the parties to the conflict, means that it has been unable to res- pond to some of the most serious conflicts in Africa, such as those in Rwanda, Darfur and Somalia. This has resulted in a new awareness that the interna- tional peace and security system requires a network of actors with a broad set of capacities, so that regional organisations can undertake peace operations in situations where the UN is unable to do so. However, given the weak economic base of the African continent, the AU and sub-regional organisations need external resources to be able to deploy and sustain peace support operations. This is why the topic of support models for African peace opera- tions has become so important. We now have almost two decades of experience to consider, and va- rious different models, such as di- rect donor support to the AU and 8 Supporting African Peace Operations troop contributing countries during the AU Mission in Darfur, the various UN support packages to this mission and the subsequent joint AU-UN Hybrid Mission in Darfur, and the current AU Mission in Somalia that is supported by a dedicated UN support mission, as well by the EU and other donors. It is unlikely that Somalia will be the last AU mission that requires some form of interna- tional support. It thus makes sense to reflect on these models to assess their strengths and weaknesses, and to consider what lessons and best practices we can extract from these experiences for the future. This is why the AU welcomed the initia- tive by the Nordic Africa Institute, the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs to convene a seminar on this topic in Uppsala, Sweden, on 15 and 16 December 2011. The AU hopes that this report will serve as the basis for further reflection, and that it will contri- bute to improved partnership modalities between the AU and its strategic partners in future peace operations. Sivuyile Bam Head: Peace Support Operations Department African Union Commission 9 Acknowledgements The Nordic Africa Institute, the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs convened a seminar in Uppsala, Sweden, on 15 and 16 December 2011, that gathered together AU, EU and UN officials closely involved in peace operations in Africa with a view to comparing their experiences with the different support models that have been used to date in Sudan and Somalia. The seminar was primarily funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), through NAI, but both DHF and NUPI made important contributions as well. The NUPI contri- bution was supported by the Norwegian ministry of foreign