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1. Lessons for “Partnership Peacekeeping” from the African Union Mission in Somalia

Author:
Paul D. Williams
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Deployed to Mogadishu in March 2007, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) operates through a complicated and extensive system of partnerships. This has been referred to as the “AMISOM model” of “partnership peacekeeping.” While this specific configuration of forces and mechanisms is unlikely to be repeated, AMISOM remains the longest-standing case of a peace enforcement operation built on such international partnerships. If the AU and UN are going to continue deploying missions into such difficult environments, AMISOM’s experience offers lessons for how partnership peacekeeping can work better. This report summarizes the main operational-level lessons across seven themes: force generation, logistics, security sector reform, protection of civilians, strategic communications, stabilization, and exit strategy. Many of these lessons have not been truly learned, internalized, and acted upon by the actors and organizations in question.
Topic:
Security, United Nations, Peacekeeping, Reform, Partnerships, and Africa Union
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

2. Peace Operations in Africa: Lessons Learned Since 2000

Author:
Paul D. Williams
Publication Date:
07-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Violent conflict and the power of armed nonstate actors remain defining priorities in 21 st century Africa. Organized violence has killed millions and displaced many more, leaving them to run the gauntlet of violence, disease, and malnutrition. Such violence has also traumatized a generation of children and young adults, broken bonds of trust and authority structures among and across local communities, shattered education and healthcare systems, disrupted transportation routes and infrastructure, and done untold damage to the continent's ecology from its land and waterways to its flora and fauna. In financial terms, the direct and indirect cost of conflicts in Africa since 2000 has been estimated to be nearly $900 billion. The twin policy challenges are to promote conflict resolution processes and to identify who can stand up to armed nonstate actors when the host government's security forces prove inadequate.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Development, Peace Studies, Treaties and Agreements, Fragile/Failed State, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa

3. Peace Operations in Africa: Lessons Learned Since 2000

Author:
Paul D. Williams
Publication Date:
07-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
More than 50 peace operations have deployed in Africa since 2000, including multiple African-led or hybrid African Union/United Nations initiatives. The frequency of these deployments underscores the ongoing importance of these operations in the playbook of regional and multilateral bodies to prevent conflict, protect civilians, and enforce ceasefires and peace agreements. Recent operations have featured increasingly ambitious goals and complex institutional partnerships. The achievements and shortcomings of these operations offer vital lessons for optimizing this increasingly central but still evolving tool for addressing conflict and instability.
Topic:
Security and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Africa

4. Enhancing Civilian Protection in Peace Operations: Insights from Africa

Author:
Paul D. Williams
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
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.
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, Human Welfare, War, and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Africa and United Nations