Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Security Sector Reform ◽  
Exit Strategy ◽  
Strategic Communications ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
Sector Reform ◽  
Civilian Protection ◽  
Operational Dimension

Rather than repeating the lessons and conclusions identified in Part II of this book relating to logistics, security sector reform, civilian protection, strategic communications, stabilization, and exit strategy, this concluding chapter reflects on how to assess AMISOM’s first ten years of operations and what this means for whether the ‘AMISOM model’ should be replicated elsewhere. It does so by first summarizing previous attempts to distil lessons from the mission before analysing AMISOM’s key successes and failures. The final section reflects on the future prospects of the ‘AMISOM model’ with reference to its approach to political authority, financing, as well as the operational dimension of peace operations.

Fighting for Peace in Somalia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Security Sector Reform ◽  
Strategic Communications ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
Sector Reform ◽  
Civilian Protection ◽  
Peace Operation ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Control

Fighting for Peace in Somalia provides the first comprehensive analysis of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), an operation deployed in 2007 to stabilize the country and defend its fledgling government from one of the world’s deadliest militant organizations, Harakat al-Shabaab. The book’s two parts provide a history of the mission from its genesis in an earlier, failed regional initiative in 2005 up to mid-2017, as well as an analysis of the mission’s six most important challenges, namely, logistics, security sector reform, civilian protection, strategic communications, stabilization, and developing a successful exit strategy. These issues are all central to the broader debates about how to design effective peace operations in Africa and beyond. AMISOM was remarkable in several respects: it would become the African Union’s (AU) largest peace operation by a considerable margin, deploying over 22,000 soldiers; it became the longest running mission under AU command and control, outlasting the nearest contender by over seven years; it also became the AU’s most expensive operation, at its peak costing approximately US$1 billion per year; and, sadly, AMISOM became the AU’s deadliest mission. Although often referred to as a peacekeeping operation, AMISOM’s personnel were given a range of daunting tasks that went well beyond the realm of peacekeeping, including VIP protection, war-fighting, counterinsurgency, stabilization, and state-building as well as supporting electoral processes and facilitating humanitarian assistance.

Security Sector Reform

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
First Century ◽  
Security Sector Reform ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
Sector Reform ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Twenty First Century

This chapter analyses how AMISOM tried to cooperate and coordinate with the existing Somali security forces in order to fight an effective war against al-Shabaab and simultaneously help build a new set of ‘national’ security forces that could make the AU mission redundant. After explaining the key challenges involved in security sector reform, it starts with a brief overview of how Somalia’s armed forces evolved since independence, focusing on the period since 2008 when the basis of today’s Somali National Army (SNA) was formed. Throughout the twenty-first century, the Somali armed forces remained fragmented and their institutions and structures largely dysfunctional. The second section then examines seven major challenges that made AMISOM’s mandate to enhance the SNA particularly difficult. The final section reflects on some of the principal lessons that can be identified from AMISOM’s experience.

Barriers to Operationalising the “Women, Peace & Security” Doctrine in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 49-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Harris Rimmer
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Security Sector Reform ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
Sector Reform ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Slow Progress ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
High Level

This article argues that there are two barriers to operationalising the Women Peace and Security resolutions at the mission level that deserve further attention. The first barrier is that the legal architecture has flaws, and does not seem to be matched with a commensurate political commitment that shapes the high-level un response at the level of mandate. The second barrier relates to the institutional ability to deliver a peacekeeping mission with gender equality at its heart, related to the capacity of domestic militaries. The article argues that there needs to be deeper thinking about the capabilities of modern militaries to fulfil complex peace operations which contain the imperative for gender sensitive for conflict analysis, planning, security sector reform, disarmament, ddr, and disaster response. The slow progress of gender reform of militaries is hindering credible regulatory responses in un missions. The article concludes that this creates lingering distrust of military intervention as a tool to protect women and girls, even from conflict-related sexual violence, even in a peace-keeping context.

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