International Affairs Has the UN succeeded, or is it likely to succeed, in maintaining international peace and security in Africa, the most disadvantaged region of the world?

In 1945 the United Nations (UN) came into existence as an international organization who replaced the League of Nations which was blamed for being unable to intervene in World War II. The UN was established to promote international security among many other goals that are closely related such as social and economic progress and the promotion of human rights. However, despite the ideals and principles the UN has been established upon, translating these objectives in a tactical manner has proven to be difficult on many occasions. In regards to their peacekeeping missions, the UN has had much difficulty in Africa and their efforts on the content have been subject to much criticism. This analysis will provide a background on some of the conflicts and interventions that have occurred in Africa and discuss the potential and the limitations for the UN's peacekeeping efforts in the region.

Conflict in the Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo is an important region for the world. The Congo is rich with various natural resources such as diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt, zinc, and coltan -- which is an important component in many of today's electronic devices (Bekoe & Parajon, 2007). It is the most mineral rich area of Africa and this creates a situation in which many institutions in the world have a vested interest in maintaining stability so that the area can contribute to the world's economy.

However, the wealth that these resources have provided has rarely benefited the population in the Congo.

"Instead the natural riches have attracted rapacious adventurers, unscrupulous corporations, vicious warlords and corrupt governments, and divided the population between competing ethnic groups (Bekoe & Parajon, 2007)."

The country had a period of a struggle for independence that started in the 1960s and was led by Joseph Mobutu. Mobutu's seize of power did have a unifying effect on the region as he was able to quell many internal struggles. However, some claim that he was seduced by wealth and power and was determined to maintain his power at all costs (Bekoe & Parajon, 2007).

The country eventually slipped into turmoil when Mobutu's power began to wane in the Congo and the country fell into disarray with massive amounts of human casualties from competing factions. Since it was set up in November 1999, the then MONUC (renamed Monusco in 2010) has proved extraordinarily inept in its response in the Congo; the UN peacekeeping force that was deployed in the Congo doesn't actually engage with the militias that hold the eastern Congo in their murderous grips (Hatcher, Perry, & Perry, 2012). The UN force that was deployed contains nineteen thousand soldiers and costs in excess of one billion dollars annually. Furthermore, the peacekeeping forces are not welcomed by the Congolese. In fact, earlier this year some groups have demanded the full removal of UN troops despite the region being one of the worst outbreaks of violence anywhere in the world (Kabila, 2015).

The war in the Congo has been called the deadliest war in modern African history with over five million deaths. A great percentage of these deaths have come through disease and starvation and millions of more Congolese have been displaced as a result of the conflict. Much of the conflict has been the result of the arbitrary country borders that have been drawn post-colonialism and the friction between ethnic groups such as the Tutsis and the Hutus. Amidst these frictions, there is also a massive amount of poverty and the epidemic of AIDS among other diseases that has driven much of the population into deprivation.

Rwanda Genocide

The Rwandan genocide was another example of tense conflicts between the Tutsi and Hutu populations that were grouped together within the country's borders. In a period lasting only a few months in 1994, it is estimated that somewhere between one half million and one million Rwandans were murdered in what can only be referred to as genocide. One report describes the act as:

"Tutsi and people suspected of being Tutsi were killed in their homes and as they tried to flee at roadblocks set up across the country during the genocide. Entire families were killed at a time. Women were systematically and brutally raped. It is estimated that some 200,000 people participated in the perpetration of the Rwandan genocide (United Human Rights Council, N.d.)."

It was argued that policy makers in France, Belgium, the U.S., and the United Nations...

One of the reasons that the U.S. and other countries were hesitant to intervene in the country is that previous missions were unsuccessful. For example, the Clinton administration and Congress watched the unfolding events in Rwanda in April 1994 in a kind of stupefied horror after they had just pulled American troops out of a disastrous peacekeeping mission in Somalia (Baldauf, 2009). Instead of taking direct action, officials in different countries urged the groups to do everything in their power to end the violence. The genocide lasted over 100 days and UN chief Ban Ki-moon has even admitted that the organization is ashamed over its failure to prevent the 1994 genocide in Rwanda; "But we could have done much more. We should have done much more ... in Rwanda, troops were withdrawn when they were most needed," he added (BBC News, 2014).
Darfur Genocide

The conflict in Darfur escalated in 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Justice Equality Movement (JEM) groups started a war with the government of Sudan. The casualties in this conflict are estimated to be several hundred thousand and millions more were forced into a mass migration. There have been several theories proposed about why the conflict originally arose. There are explanations that involve the way land was used and access to water. There were also tensions that were based on ethnicity between Arabs and non-Arabs as well as religious tensions between Islamist and Christians in the region.

The Khartoum government under General Omar al-Bashir wished to create a more Islamic-based government that was opposed by the southern groups and led to civil war (Holocaust Museum, N.d.). The civil war that was present in the country has roots that span to the preceding decades. Much like the other disputes in Sudan, the crisis in Darfur is based upon economic and political marginalization of non-Arabs and not as much because of religious differences such as were responsible for other conflicts in Africa (ICRtoP, N.d.). However, in 2003, rebel groups began to organize and plan ambitious attacks on the government. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, among others, reported that these militias engaged in an ethnically-targeted campaign of mass killings, forced displacement, destruction of property and the use of rape as a weapon of war (ICRtoP, N.d.).

Similar to other incidents in Africa, the United Nations Security Council did not take immediate meaningful action. It wasn't until July 31, 2007 that the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1769, establishing the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to address the humanitarian crisis in the western region of Sudan (UN Peacekeeping, 2015). However, even though the UN had sent nearly twenty thousand troops to the region during this time, many have argued that their presence fell far short of protecting Darfur's citizens. One UN spokesperson has actually resigned over the affair because she said she "felt ashamed." Aicha el Basri told the BBC UN chief Ban Ki-moon was part of a "conspiracy of silence" about the conflict and that "In many circumstances, the civilians were shot in front of Unamid [the UN force in Darfur]," she said (BBC News, 2014).

Discussion

Each of the various UN peacekeeping missions in Africa have resulted in a vast number of criticisms and these criticism can be grouped into various categories. One explanation for the UN's inability to protect African civilians has been that they have not responded quickly enough when conflict has arisen. For example, in Darfur especially, the UN and other Western leaders knew about the plans for genocide long before the genocide was actually carried out. Yet, they still failed to intervene within a timely fashion before the genocide took place. "The political and diplomatic elements of the international response to most Africa conflicts have been slow and ineffective," said John Prendergast, a longtime Sudan and South Sudan activist with the Enough Project, a human rights group (Raghavan, 2014).

Even after the UN has sent in a massive peacekeeping force into a region, typically long after the conflict has escalated, many argue that these forces are largely ineffective and still fail to protect the citizens. Some of the civilians have even gone as far as throwing rocks at the peacekeepers because they are…