scholarly journals Hindrances to Third-Party Interventions in Conflict Resolution: United Nations and Patterns of Constraints in Resolving the Lord’s Resistance Army Conflict Between 2008-2012

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 231
Author(s):  
Bama Andika Putra
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Third Party ◽  
African Region ◽  
Lord's Resistance Army ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Lord’S Resistance Army

Since 1987, the Lord’s Resistance Army has continued systematic human rights violations in the Central African region. Cases of kidnapping, village raids, mass rapes, and murders, have become defining factors to the urgency of resolving the crisis. In an attempt to respond to the conflict, the United Nations Security Council has initiated a number of political and military-based resolutions to control the conflict since 2008, which includes extending UN peacekeeping mandates in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan, as well as coordinate efforts with relevant African Union bodies. However, its success is far-reached, urging the need to contextualize the forms of hindrances that the UN faced in responding to the crisis. Employing Rourke and Bouyer’s (1996) concept of collective security and measures of response success, with a research limitation set to 2008-2012, a qualitative research utilizing secondary data is implemented, concluding the following hindrances that can be categorized into the following; (1) Implementation of the additional mandate of the UN Peace Forces, (2) Application of the AU Regional Task Force, and (3) Implementation of the Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Resettlement, and Reintegration program.   Received: 16 December 2020 / Accepted: 11 March 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021

UN Peacekeeping Operations and Successful Military Diplomacy: A Case Study of Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bakare Najimdeen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Policy Objective ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions ◽  
Military Diplomacy

Few years following its creation, the United Nations (UN) with the blessing of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decided to establish the UN Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKO), as a multilateral mechanism geared at fulfilling the Chapter VII of the UN Charter which empowered the Security Council to enforce measurement to maintain or restore international peace and security. Since its creation, the multilateral mechanism has recorded several successes and failures to its credit. While it is essentially not like traditional diplomacy, peacekeeping operations have evolved over the years and have emerged as a new form of diplomacy. Besides, theoretically underscoring the differences between diplomacy and foreign policy, which often appear as conflated, the paper demonstrates how diplomacy is an expression of foreign policy. Meanwhile, putting in context the change and transformation in global politics, particularly global conflict, the paper argues that traditional diplomacy has ceased to be the preoccupation and exclusive business of the foreign ministry and career diplomats, it now involves foot soldiers who are not necessarily diplomats but act as diplomats in terms of peacekeeping, negotiating between warring parties, carrying their countries’ emblems and representing the latter in resolving global conflict, and increasingly becoming the representation of their countries’ foreign policy objective, hence peacekeeping military diplomacy. The paper uses decades of Pakistan’s peacekeeping missions as a reference point to establish how a nation’s peacekeeping efforts represent and qualifies as military diplomacy. It also presented the lessons and good practices Pakistan can sell to the rest of the world vis-à-vis peacekeeping and lastly how well Pakistan can consolidate its peacekeeping diplomacy.

Intervention Brigades in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and Challenges Posed to International Humanitarian Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Verda Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Peace And Conflict Studies ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Alternative Approach

In recent decades, the United Nations (UN) has directed its peacekeeping operations to be practice-driven. This has led to an alternative approach to state-military contacts, such as those provided by the United States and other nations; the UN is more inclined to consolidate and strengthen its liaisons through Intervention Brigades. The efficacy of these brigades lies in providing military assistance to UN operations and catering to logistics, training, and advice. Advocates of peace, the UN peacekeeping operations (UNPKOs) are based on consent, impartiality, and non-utilization of force (excluding times of civilian protection and self-defense). However, as Intervention Brigades gain momentum, 'robust' peacekeeping is becoming more regulated; thus, promoting 'force' against rebel groups and/or militias. When aligned with robust Intervention Brigades, which utilizes more force than lawfully permitted, UN peacekeeping (UNPK) missions question these operations' credibility, thus blurring the conceptual difference between peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Conspicuously, this exploits the traditional principle of impartiality using hard power and violates the International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Exemplifying through the case study of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this paper aims to discuss the abovementioned discrepancy resulting in complications for the discipline of Peace and Conflict Studies (PCS). As the discipline promotes achieving peace through „soft‟ means, the paper reviews the subject under Chapter VI & VII of the UN charter and highlights the grey areas of IHL applicability in UN peacekeeping and Intervention Brigades.

Diplomacy and the challenges of resolving maritime boundary disputes in West Africa: Weighing the options in the case of Ghana and its immediate neighbours

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-790
Author(s):  
Frederick Boamah
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Peaceful Resolution ◽  
Boundary Disputes ◽  
Maritime Boundary ◽  
International Dispute ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Global Peace

Over the years, the international community has ensured the peaceful resolution of conflict among states. This is reflected in the Charter of the United Nations, where peaceful resolution of international disputes is promoted to ensure global peace and security. The use of diplomacy and pacific settlement of international dispute has been promoted among conflicting states due to its perceived inherent merits. This research explores the significance of diplomacy in resolving maritime boundary disputes in West Africa, placing emphasis on the disputes between Ghana and its neighbours. It does this by looking at secondary data, as well as the unpublished meeting minutes of the parties, to assess diplomacy and other pacific channels of conflict resolution as opposed to third-party dispute processes. The paper highlights diplomacy as the most appropriate means to resolve maritime boundary disputes in West Africa, particularly those confronting Ghana and its neighbours.

The UN Security Council and the Political Economy of the WPS Resolutions

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. 721-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soumita Basu
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Peace And Security

As of June 2017, there were eight United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) on “women and peace and security”—UNSCRs 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, 2122, and 2242. These UNSCRs recognize the gendered nature of armed conflicts and peace processes. They propose institutional provisions geared mainly toward protecting women and girls during armed conflicts and promoting their participation in conflict resolution and prevention. In addition, in March 2016, the Security Council adopted UNSCR 2272, which recommends concrete steps to combat sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations, an issue that is of significant concern for women, peace, and security (WPS) advocates. The volume of resolutions and policy literature on WPS would suggest that UNSCR 1325 and the follow-up UNSCRs have become central to the mandate of the Security Council. Yet there is a paucity of financial resources to pay for implementation of the resolutions; this has been described as “perhaps the most serious and persistent obstacle … over the past 15 years” (UN Women 2015, 372).

scholarly journals Delayed Peace and Tranquillity in Africa’s ‘Last Colony’: What Next for Western Sahara?

2019 ◽  
pp. 1347-1356
Author(s):  
Daniel Chigudu
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
African Union ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
The Past ◽  
Neighbouring Country ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
The United Nations

The conflicts in Western Sahara have not been resolved conclusively for 43 years now with some referring to them as ‘frozen’ conflicts in Africa’s last colony. A clear case of decolonisation turned out to be a genesis of displacement and protracted suffering of the Saharawi people from the former coloniser to another handler arguably backed by some invisible external hegemons. This study is a qualitative research using secondary data and thematic analysis to investigate Western Sahara’s unending conflicts and the way forward. Located in the conflict theory, findings indicate that the past failed interventions by the United Nations have been a result of the influence of superpowers wielding levers of power in the United Nations Security Council with vested interests in the country. Morocco the new coloniser is a neighbouring country reluctant to cede power while taping the mineral and water resources which Western Sahara is abundantly endowed with. As the Saharawi people are not obliged to give in, the conflict rages on unabated. The latest United Nations intervention could avert the conflict situation as it appears that those who had vested interests are now recoiling. The situation should not be tolerated any further and the Sahrawis deserve better, peace and tranquillity in their homeland. It is recommended that, in the letter and spirit of multilateralism, the African Union and regional economic communities across Africa should swiftly intervene even though it is now late than never.

Keeping the Peace Between Egypt and Israel, 1973–1980

1980 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nissim Bar-Yaacov
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
International Community ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Yom Kippur War ◽  
Dominant Pattern ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Yom Kippur

Third party involvement in keeping the peace in the Middle East has been a constant phenomenon accompanying the vicissitudes of the Arab-Israeli conflict from the war of 1948 up to the present day. The dominant pattern has been the employment of United Nations forces and observers, charged with supervising either the implementation of Security Council resolutions calling for the cessation of hostilities, or the implementation of agreements reached between the parties concerned. The uninterrupted presence of UN personnel in the Middle East has shown that the international community as a whole and the parties in conflict have considered UN peacekeeping essential for reducing tensions and instrumental in bringing to an end local flare-ups. It was only natural that immediately after the Yom Kippur War of October 1973 the states actively involved in the pursuit of peace should rely on the establishment of effective UN supervisory machinery to monitor the execution by the parties of the various security arrangements agreed upon. A United Nations Emergency Force was accordingly dispatched to the Egyptian-Israeli sector and undertook the task of supervision, with the cooperation of observers belonging to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization. However, foreseen and unforeseen problems arose in the process leading from one disengagement agreement to another and to the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel of March 1979.

scholarly journals Political and Military Fronts in Resolving Asymmetrical Conflicts

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bama Andika Putra
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
Collective Security ◽  
Child Abduction ◽  
Lord's Resistance Army ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Military ◽  
Lord’S Resistance Army

The growing terror inflicted by the Lord’s Resistance Army has devastated communities in four countries in central Africa. Since the 1980s, mass human rights violations such as kidnapping, murder, rape, and child abduction have been part of a systematic attempt by the Lord’s Resistance Army to undermine state actors in the region. This article attempts to highlight the contributions of Intergovernmental Organizations as part of the United Nations work to eradicate the group using both political and military fronts of action. We will be employing Rourke and Bouyer’s concept of collective security and parameters to measure the success of collective action undertaken by state and non-state actors in conflict resolution. We illustrate the proposed utilization of collective security parameters, a method Intergovernmental Organizations use to exert both political and military-based influence towards resolving asymmetrical conflicts, to provide insight into the major research gap in the discourse of conflict resolution. Utilizing empirical data from 2008-2012, this article identifies the political front as the mobilization of mass resources and the reallocation of African Union peacekeepers; meanwhile, the military front is identified as the extension of existing United Nations mandates in the region to include the current issue of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Africa.

UN Peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Reflections on MONUSCO and Its Contradictory Mandate

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 363-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Natalya Clark
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Important Test

Both because the United Nations (UN) spectacularly failed in Rwanda and because of the close links between the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the continuing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) – formerly the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) – constitutes an important test-case for UN peacekeeping. However, since MONUSCO is ongoing, it is too early to assess whether or not it has passed this test. This article, however, focuses on a particular issue that may ultimately cause the mission to fail, namely contradictions within its ever-expanding mandate. It argues that MONUSCO itself is helping to fuel these tensions through its flawed approach to one of the key components of its mandate, namely DDR (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration) and DDRRR (disarmament, demobilization, repatriation, resettlement and reintegration). It thus suggests how MONUSCO might revise its approach to these processes, particularly through a more ‘bottom-up’ focus that engages directly with local communities and with former combatants as individuals.

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