MANAMA: United Nations peacekeepers are being called upon to do far more than patrol a ceasefire line in today’s conflicts, particularly with the proliferation of non-state armed groups. Often, there is no frontline or truce, and among the numerous parties there may be some seeking to undermine a settlement, according to IISS new publications.
Late last year, UN leaders created a new high-level panel to assess the future needs of UN peacekeeping missions as they deploy to increasingly complex and volatile environments, such as the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Mali, Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This latest Adelphi publication, Spoiler Groups and UN Peacekeeping, offers a policy guide for the reform of UN missions. It discusses in detail the unstable non-permissive environments in which UN ‘blue helmets’ now operate, and the new risks they face from armed rebels and jihadists.
The UN, the authors argue, must do more to place political solutions at the core of any military mission, and should develop a firmer concept of robust peacekeeping to strengthen the protection of civilians.
Using past examples to illustrate successes and failures, the Adelphi argues that the UN needs to make a concerted effort with mediation, confidence-building and disarmament processes in order to address the roots of conflicts. Although engaging with armed groups is a moral grey area, ‘the reality on the ground makes the choice a simple one, despite reticence or misgivings; it becomes a question of not whether to engage but how best to engage armed groups’.
Whether interventions are mandated under Chapter Six of the UN charter or the use of force is permitted under Chapter Seven, all need to be more carefully tailored. The leadership role of the mission head is crucial to robust, proactive peacekeeping. The book broaches structural reforms to merge political affairs and peacekeeping departments. On the ground it suggests that ‘the current reliance on static posture also needs to change. Peacekeepers need to move out from their bases and into the community.’
One key challenge, the authors say, is to even up the risks and burdens, principally borne today by the countries of the Global South, which provide 95% of all UN peacekeepers.
Another issue is the targeting of peacekeepers, particularly with the use of asymmetric methods such as IEDs and suicide attacks. During 2014, around 38 UN peacekeepers were killed in such attacks, the majority of them in Mali. ‘The UN is increasingly seen by a growing number of armed groups as a soft target,’ the authors conclude. Moreover, it is ‘conceivable that if the UN is eventually deployed in Syria or Somalia a host of more sophisticated spoilers would be willing to incur significant losses of troops in order to precipitate complete UN withdrawal’.
“I wish this excellent book had been written before I deployed to East Timor and Sierra Leone, and indeed Afghanistan,” the former Chief of the British Defence Staff, General the Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, said. “Many hard-learnt lessons would have been obviated in advance and I would have been better able to hit the ground running. I commend it to soldier, international bureaucrat and politician alike.”
Peter Nadin is an independent researcher based in Sydney, Australia. He has worked previously at the United Nations University in Tokyo. His research interests include the UN Security Council and UN Peacekeeping Operations. Peter holds a PhD from the University of Western Sydney.
Major General Retd Patrick Cammaert has served with distinction as a senior commander in UN Peacekeeping Operations – in the Congo (MONUC), Ethiopia–Eritrea (UNMEE), Bosnia (UNPROFOR) and Cambodia (UNTAC) – and as military adviser at UN HQ. He is an expert advocate on leadership, conflict-related sexual violence and peace operations. In 2008 he was awarded the Carnegie Wateler Peace Prize.
Professor Vesselin Popovski is Vice Dean of the Law School and Executive Director of the Centre for UN Studies at Jindal Global University, India. From 2004–2014 he worked as Senior Academic Officer at the United Nations University in Tokyo.