Future of Peace Operations Program
Workshop Series Topic:
United Nations-African Union Coordination on Peace and Security in Africa
On 23 February 2007, the Future of Peace Operations
program partnered with New York University's Center on International
Cooperation to host a workshop examining UN-AU coordination in strengthening
peace and security throughout Africa. This workshop focused on (a) the lessons of recent
experiences in UN-AU cooperation in peace operations, particularly the
operations in Sudan, and (b) what options could usefully address UN-AU
complementarity for peace operations in the longer-term, including proposals to
have the UN assist in funding and supporting regionally-led peace operations in
Africa.
Additional Materials:
Overview
Peacekeeping in Africa
has grown dramatically in recent years. As of November 2006, over 57,000
uniformed personnel were under United Nations command in Burundi,
Côte d’Ivoire,
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia/Eritrea, Liberia,
Sudan, and the Western
Sahara. Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) has maintained its
high-profile mission in Darfur since 2004, and 2007 is
likely to see a gradual transition to a larger AU-UN “hybrid” operation there.
This transition follows a period of increased
political and operational emphasis on closer collaboration between African
regional organizations and the United Nations. Nonetheless, many innovations in
the UN’s relationships with the AU and other regional organizations have
developed through ad hoc responses to operational needs rather than
through long-term planning. While UN mechanisms for cooperating with the AU and
other organizations have evolved in recent years, barriers to effective
coordination still remain. The UN is organized to support UN-led
missions and not designed to support development of regional and
sub-regional organizational capacity. Further, the UN is not well-prepared to
assist in the deployment of regional forces on more than an ad hoc basis
– even when the Security Council authorizes or blesses such missions.
Workshop participants considered current
specific efforts, including the new UN Assistance Cell in Addis
Ababa; the use of direct and indirect support from the
UN to AMIS; the inception of a UN “light support package” for AMIS in 2006; and
current planning for the phased transition to a fuller hybrid operation,
including shared commands in 2007. The meeting then focused on options for more
strategic complementarity, considering how well these approaches have worked.
Additional Resources:
FACT SHEET: AU/UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) Updated regularly
MEDIA: William Durch discusses the new AU/UN hybrid force on the BBC News World Today radio program, July 31, 2007. To hear entire program, go to "UN Acts on Darfur".
REPORT: African
Capacity-Building for Peace Operations: UN Collaboration with the African Union
and ECOWAS, by Victoria K. Holt with Moira Shanahan (June 2005).
REPORT: US Support to African Capacity for Peace Operations: The ACOTA Program, by Moira Shanahan and Dara Francis (February 2005).
This event culminated the Better Partnership for African Peace Operations workshop series, made possible by a grant from the US Institute of Peace.