Enhancing U S Support For Peace Operations In Africa

In a new Council Special Report, Enhancing U.S. Support for Peace Operations in Africa, Paul D. Williams argues that greater U.S. involvement is necessary to enhance the quality and success of peacekeeping missions.

"Record numbers of peacekeepers are currently deployed in Africa. They undertake critical missions, including stabilizing countries wracked by violence, protecting civilians, facilitating humanitarian assistance, degrading illegal armed groups, running elections, and supporting public security and the rule of law. When deployed in the right circumstances, peace operations have a good track record of facilitating transitions from war to peace as they did in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Namibia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cambodia, East Timor, and Bosnia. Evidence is strong that peace operations help protect civilians. Successive U.S. administrations have concluded that such operations serve American interests and national security, are cost-effective, and generate greater legitimacy than U.S. missions carried out alone. In Africa specifically, peace operations promote two of Washington's principal objectives: advancing peace and security and strengthening democratic institutions"--Introduction.

Excerpt from Enhancing Civilian Protection in Peace Operations: Insights from Africa: “The protection of civilians is a critical issue in African security. Nearly 600,000 civilians in 27 African countries have been massacred in the past two decades. Tens of millions more have been killed in battles, displaced, or perished from indirect causes of such attacks and the continent’s armed conflicts. Not only are civilians the main victims of Africa’s wars, but also an increasing number of United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions have called upon peacekeepers to protect them. For many, civilian protection is the very essence of peacekeeping. This is a driving rationale behind the unanimously endorsed and UN-mandated ‘responsibility to protect’ principle— the idea that governments have a responsibility to prevent and curtail genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing. Civilian protection is also a crucial part of forging durable political settlements because any peace agreement that tolerates continued violence against civilians will not provide a solid foundation on which to build legitimate governance structures.” This publication addresses challenges to protecting civilians in Africa’s war zones from violence, examples of previous peace operations and some lessons learned that could be applied in this situation, how civilian protection policies might be enhanced, suggested policies to implement, and more. Related items: Advancing Stability and Reconciliation in Guinea-Bissau: Lessons From Africa's First Narco-State can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/advancing-stability-and-reconciliation-guinea-bissau-lessons-africas-first-narco-state Africa foreign affairs publications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/africa

First published in 1998, Peacekeeping in Africa was written to help make up the shortfall in the number of books that concentrated specifically on peacekeeping in Africa. The book covers the main peacekeeping operations of Africa, and provides a wealth of background material. In doing so, it explores the policies and actions of the international organisations concerned and the participating African states. It also considers the impact of sub-regional powers and the role of the USA, Britain, and France. Comprising three parts, Peacekeeping in Africa examines world perspectives, case studies, and wider issues surrounding Africa’s peacekeeping operations.

The Global Peace Oper. Initiative (GPOI) was established in mid-2004 as a 5-year program with intended annual funding to total $660 million from FY 2005 through F Y2009. GPOI¿s primary purpose has been to train and equip 75,000 military troops, a majority of them African, for peacekeeping operations by 2010. Contents of this report: (1) Introduction; (2) Background; (3) GPOI Purposes and Activities: Demand for Peacekeepers; Need for Gendarme Forces; U.S. Peacekeeping Training and Assistance, Pre-GPOI, in Sub-Saharan Africa; Transition to GPOI Training and Assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa; Develop. of a ¿Beyond Africa¿ Program; Foreign Contributions to Peacekeeping Capacity Building; (4) Admin. Funding Requests and Congress. Action.

This open access book on the state of peacebuilding in Africa brings together the work of distinguished scholars, practitioners, and decision makers to reflect on key experiences and lessons learned in peacebuilding in Africa over the past half century. The core themes addressed by the contributors include conflict prevention, mediation, and management; post-conflict reconstruction, justice and Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration; the role of women, religion, humanitarianism, grassroots organizations, and early warning systems; and the impact of global, regional, and continental bodies. The book's thematic chapters are complemented by six country/region case studies: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan/South Sudan, Mozambique and the Sahel/Mali. Each chapter concludes with a set of key lessons learned that could be used to inform the building of a more sustainable peace in Africa. The State of Peacebuilding in Africa was born out of the activities of the Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding (SVNP), a Carnegie-funded, continent-wide network of African organizations that works with the Wilson Center to bring African knowledge and perspectives to U.S., African, and international policy on peacebuilding in Africa. The research for this book was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.