The effectiveness of UN peacekeeping missions in Africa is often questioned. With rare exceptions, the history of peacekeeping on the continent has largely been one of failure. Political instability in Somalia has dragged on for decades despite the constant presence of UN ‘blue helmets’. Peacekeepers largely failed to take action during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UN forces were even accused of smuggling resources and cooperating with Western intelligence services.
Meanwhile, regional organisations have often proved more effective than the UN. It was the forces of West Africa’s ECOWAS community, not international troops, that helped end Liberia’s civil war in the 1990s.
Professor Lumumba notes that UN peacekeepers are drawn from all over the world and often lack a clear understanding of African realities, which makes them ineffective. Can the ‘blue helmets’ restore their reputation in Africa or does the future of peacekeeping on the continent lie with regional organisations?
