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Review of Political Missions 2010 revIew of Political 2010 Missions A Project of the center on InternAtIonAl cooPerAtIon Review of Political 2010 Missions This volume is a product of the Center on International Cooperation’s (CIC) Prevention Strategies program. CIC is an independent institution housed at New York University. Project team VOLUME EDITOR AND LEAD RESEARCHER Richard Gowan SERIES EDITOR Bruce D. Jones SERIES COORDINATOR Alischa Kugel RESEARCH OFFICER Morgan A. Hughes GUEST CONTRIBUTORS Ian Johnstone, Ian Martin and Teresa Whitfield CONTRIBUTORS Sara Batmanglich, Patrick Duplat, Richard Gowan, Tom Gregg, Leigh Nolan, Benjamin C. Tortolani, Elsina Wainwright, Erin Weir, Teresa Whitfield The Center on International Cooperation is solely responsible for the content of this publication. Any errors of fact or analysis, and any and all judgments and interpretations about missions and operations discussed herein, are those of CIC alone. This project was undertaken at the request of and with the support of the UN Department of Political Affairs, the UN Department of Field Support and the OSCE Secretariat. Review of Political 2010 Missions A PRoject of the centeR on inteRnAtionAl cooPeRAtion © 2010 by Xanthus Design. All rights reserved ISBN: 978-1-4507-3345-8 (pbk) Printed and bound in the U.S.A Table of Contents Foreword, B. Lynn Pascoe ix PreFace, Bruce D. Jones xi Mission AcronyMs xv Map of Global Peace Operations, 2009-2010 xviii 1 strateGic Summary i Richard Gowan 2 theMatic Essays 7 2.1 All Peace Operations are Political, Ian Martin .......................... 8 2.2 Emerging Doctrine for Political Missions, Ian Johnstone ......... 15 2.3 Political Missions, Mediation and Good Offices, Teresa Whitfield......................................... 27 3 Mission Reviews1 35 3.1 Middle East ......................................................................... 36 3.2 West Africa .......................................................................... 45 3.3 Central Africa ...................................................................... 57 3.4 Western Balkans ................................................................... 65 3.5 Afghanistan .......................................................................... 75 3.6 Iraq ...................................................................................... 83 3.7 Nepal ................................................................................... 89 3.8 Somalia ................................................................................ 95 1 Each chapter covers missions in a specific region or country. A small number of missions are described in stand-alone box text within chapters devoted to other regions. These include the AU mission in Kenya (p. 97), the Special Advisor on Cyprus (p. 125) and the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide (p. 120). vi | Contents 4 Mission Notes1 101 4.1 Caucasus and Moldova .........................................................102 4.2 Central America and the Caribbean ......................................107 4.3 Central Asia ........................................................................111 4.4 Myanmar .............................................................................117 4.5 Western Sahara ....................................................................123 5 Global Statistics on UN and OSCE Missions 127 5.1 Global UN Mission Statistics ...............................................128 5.2 Global OSCE Mission Statistics ...........................................135 6 UN Mission-by-Mission Statistics 141 6.1 BINUB (UN Integrated Office in Burundi) ...........................144 6.2 BINUCA (formerly BONUCA, UN Peace-building Office in the Central African Republic) ................................149 6.3 CNMC (Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission) ..................156 6.4 Personal Envoy, Western Sahara ...........................................160 6.5 Special Adviser, Cyprus ........................................................163 6.6 Special Adviser, Myanmar ....................................................168 6.7 Special Envoy, Implementation of Resolution 1559................171 6.8 Special Envoy, LRA-Affected Areas .....................................174 6.9 UNAMA (UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) ................177 6.10 UNAMI (UN Assistance Mission for Iraq) ............................183 6.11 UNIIIC (UN International Independent Investigation Commission) ...................................................189 6.12 UNIOGBIS (formerly UNOGBIS, UN Peace-building Office in Guinea-Bissau) ........................192 6.13 UNIPSIL (UN Integrated Peace-building Office in Sierra Leone) ........................................................197 6.14 UNMIN (UN Mission in Nepal) ..........................................202 6.15 UNOWA (UN Office for West Africa) .................................207 6.16 UNPOS (UN Political Office for Somalia) ............................211 6.17 UNRCCA (UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia).................................................216 6.18 UNSCO (UN Special Coordinator Office for the Middle East Peace Process) .......................................220 6.19 UNSCOL (Office of the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon) ....................................................223 Contents | vii 7 OSCE Mission-by-Mission Statistics 227 7.1 OMIK (OSCE Mission in Kosovo) .......................................228 7.2 OSCE BiH (OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina) ......236 7.3 OSCE Centre in Ashgabat ...................................................242 7.4 OSCE Centre in Astana .......................................................246 7.5 OSCE Centre in Bishkek .....................................................250 7.6 OSCE Mission to Moldova ..................................................254 7.7 OSCE Mission to Montenegro .............................................258 7.8 OSCE Mission to Serbia ......................................................261 7.9 OSCE Office in Baku ..........................................................265 7.10 OSCE Office in Tajikistan ...................................................269 7.11 OSCE Office in Yerevan ......................................................273 7.12 OSCE Presence in Albania ...................................................277 7.13 OSCE Spillover Mission to Skopje .......................................281 7.14 Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office on the Conflict Dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference ..286 Foreword s the United Nations and its international community to respond, A partners work to prevent and political missions have the potential to resolve deadly conflict around the help save lives and scale down costly globe, field-based political missions are commitments in managing crises and an increasingly important instrument rebuilding after civil wars. They are in their employ. UN political missions already making an important dif- are operating today in some the most ference in many places, as this study difficult of the world’s hotspots – compellingly illustrates. from Iraq to Afghanistan, Somalia The United Nations has more to the Middle East – promoting than a dozen political missions in the peace, reconciliation and good field today – covering a wider variety governance in war-torn societies. At of states and regions than any other the same time, possibly because these organization. They range from classic operations lack the same visibility mediation efforts led by a senior envoy of peacekeeping or humanitarian and a small staff – such as the Secretary- aid, their relatively discreet activities General’s good offices for Cyprus or have made them a lesser known and Western Sahara – to very sizeable and understudied phenomenon. multi-faceted field operations in com- This new publication by NYU’s plex and dangerous environments, such Center on International Coopera- as the UN political missions in Iraq and tion – a first-of-its-kind review of Afghanistan. They include a unique political missions in the field – helps to mission assisting the peace process in address this gap. Its observations and Nepal as well as peace-building offices recommendations should be looked tending to the difficult politics of post- at carefully by practitioners, United war reconciliation and state-building in Nations Member States, and all others places such as Sierra Leone, Burundi, who take an active interest in interna- Guinea-Bissau and the Central African tional conflict resolution. On behalf Republic. The list also includes regional of the United Nations, I would like to offices serving as platforms for pre- congratulate the Center for taking this ventive diplomacy in West Africa and important initiative, which comple- Central Asia. A similar office is soon to ments its well-regarded Annual Review be established for Central Africa. of Global Peace Operations. If there is a common thread The moment has arrived to pay connecting these and other diverse closer attention to this topic. At a operations profiled in this study it may time when the burden of violent con- be this: the conviction that at the root flicts is overtaxing the ability of the of most violent conflicts around the ix x | Foreword globe lay political problems requiring their positive contributions are both political solutions. Different stages of timely and much needed. As this study conflict require us to adapt and tailor makes clear, among the most impor- our responses. The international com- tant challenges
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