Tension arising from the UN Security Council’s reliance on African nations to supply peacekeepers came into sharper focus on Friday, as diplomats, UN and African Union officials sparred over how to stretch their resources to meet the boom in peacekeeping.
A report Friday from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon emphasised the increasing role of AU peacekeeping. Whether the missions are led by UN or AU forces, African conflicts — many a legacy of colonialisation and long-simmering divisions like those in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo — occupy about 70% of the Security Council’s usual monthly agenda.
Behind the recurring theme of ever-increasing cooperation among UN and AU operations, African leaders and AU officials disclosed their uneasiness with a system that, in their view, often leaves their troops unable to do their jobs properly.
“Too frequently, AU member states are able to muster sufficient troop numbers to address crisis situations, only to have lack of equipment and logistical support let them down,” Nigeria’s foreign minister, Henry Odein Ajumogobia, told the 15-nation council.
“Invariably, these matters are also on the agenda of the African Union, which is frequently called upon to respond,” Ajumogobia added. “Yet, at best, the AU is but a cog in the wheel of our collective security system facing multiple demands to deploy, mediate or support post-conflict peace processes across a vast continent. These demands upon the AU far outweigh its resources and capacities to effectively respond.”
The UN says it has almost 124 000 personnel serving on 16 peace operations led by its Department of Peacekeeping Operations on four continents — a nine-fold increase in UN peacekeepers since 1999. Add to these a number of AU-led missions in places like Somalia; Ban’s report made clear the UN is more dependent than ever on AU peacekeepers.
“As we all know, these relationships have yet to reach their full potential,” Ban told the council. “Building capacity is only part of the picture. The African Union continues to face difficulties in securing the necessary resources to support its peacekeeping undertakings. Darfur and Somalia illustrate this clearly.”
Same support, same standards
Ban said that AU peacekeeping operations “should receive the same support as all UN peacekeepers, including reimbursement. By the same token, AU peacekeepers should uphold the same professional standards as UN personnel.”
Dozens of peacekeepers have been punished in the last several years, ranging from reduction in rank to months of imprisonment, for committing sexual abuses on United Nations missions.
UN peacekeeping missions have been dogged by allegations of sexual exploitation and other crimes for a half-century, with abuses reported in missions from Bosnia and Kosovo to Cambodia, East Timor, West Africa and the DRC.
Five years ago the issue gained new prominence after it emerged that peacekeepers in DRC had sex with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money.
Ramtane Lamamra, AU commissioner for peace and security, told the council that progress in raising money for AU-led peacekeeping operations has been slower than Africa expects.
At a mini-summit on the sidelines of last month’s UN General Assembly ministerial meeting, AU chairperson Jean Ping appealed for funds to increase the UN-authorised, AU-led force in Somalia from the current 8 000 ceiling to 20 000, saying the troops were available but money was needed to pay and equip them.
The UN also increasingly partners with the European Union to carry out peacekeeping missions.
After Friday’s debate, the Security Council issued a statement that it welcomes the AU’s “enhanced peacekeeping role”.
But it said that “regional organisations have the responsibility to secure human, financial, logistical and other resources” needed in their operations. – Sapa-AP