Abstract

The main objective of this study is to analyse the viability of UN peace keeping mission as an effective tool for conflict resolution. Specifically, the study seeks to know the nature and extent to which the resources are put in place to carry out the peace keeping mission, to examine how the resources are raised and mobilized and to evaluate how resources for peace keeping missions are actually used. The study employs an exploratory research design. The population of this study entails countries in Africa who have had conflicts and have benefitted from the UN peace keeping mission.

Data was collected from online reviews. The works of other researchers will be consulted and generalization made. Results from this study revealed that some important resources for UN peacekeeping missions in Africa are personnel, Logistical and material resources and funding. Also these resources come from Contributions from individual member nations as well as private donors. It was concluded that t an extent, the UN peacekeeping missions in Africa have been successful.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

World War II which ended in 1945, led to the destruction of many nations, and the world wanted peace. Representatives of 50 countries met at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, California from 25 April to 26 June 1945. They proceeded to draft and then sign the UN Charter, which created a new international organization, the United Nations, which, it was hoped, would prevent another world war like the one they had just lived through.

Under the charter the Security Council has the principal responsibility to maintain peace and security in the world. Four months after the San Francisco Conference ended, the United Nations officially began, on 24 October 1945, when it came into existence after its Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States and by most other signatories.

Now, more than 75 years later, the United Nations is still working to maintain international peace and security, give humanitarian assistance to those in need, protect human rights, and uphold international law. At the same time, the United Nations is doing new work not envisioned for it in 1945 by its founders. The United Nations has set sustainable development goals for 2030, in order to achieve a better and more sustainable future for us all. Under the charter, the Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

Since its establishment in 1945, the United Nations has authorized more than 70 peace missions. In addition, regional organizations, such as the African Union and the European Union, have conducted their own peace operations—an additional 65 missions between 1946 and 2016 (Williams, 2017)

The United Nations’ increasingly active role after the end of the Cold War has drawn further attention to peacekeeping. The critical questions for both academic and policy-making communities are: Does peacekeeping work? And are peacekeeping operations effective?

Peacekeeping is one of the important most effective tools available to the UN to assist host countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. UN peacekeepers provide security and the political and peace building support to help countries make the difficult, early transition from conflict to peace.

Peacekeeping has unique strengths, including legitimacy, burden sharing, and an ability to deploy and sustain troops and police from around the globe, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to advance multidimensional mandates.

UN Peacekeeping has three basic principles: Consent of the parties, Impartiality, Non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the mandate.

The united nation has contributed greatly in peacekeeping mission in Africa, since Africa is one of the most conflicting continent in the world.

The twenty-first century begins; Africa consists of some fifty-four countries (a number that depends on how you count certain islands). Since independence, about one-third of those countries have experienced large-scale political violence or war. ‘This statistic does not include those countries that have had relatively bloodless military coups or occasional assassinations. It is true that not all of Africa is afflicted to the same degree. The levels of violence differ greatly.

Africa is an immense continent, richly varied in its cultures and peoples, and so large and complex an area that no one can easily predict where violence will occur. Kenya, for example, shares borders with five other countries, four of which have experienced civil wars: Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Uganda. The fifth country it borders is Tanzania, a country that was partly born out of a revolution (the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964). In comparison with its neighbors, Kenya has so far been spared large-scale.

1.2 Statement Of The Problem

The multiplication of conflicts in Africa and the inability of UN Peace keeping operation (PKO) to resolve these conflicts remains a great challenge to African governments and the UN. Following the end of the Cold War, peacekeeping has become central to the international community’s response to many complex violent conflicts including those in Africa.

Despite the United Nations’ efforts to promote peace and stability in Africa through peacekeeping missions, conflict and violence continue to persist. This study seeks to viability of UN peace keeping missions in Africa. For a better understanding of this researching, we need to provide answers to the following research questions.

Research questions

Main research question

What is the viability of the UN peacekeeping missions as an effective tool for conflict resolution?

Specific research questions

1. How are the resources put in place to carry out the peacekeeping mission?
2. How are the resources raised and mobilized in peacekeeping missions?
3. How are the resources actually used?

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