The article under review, “Peace-building: The New International Focus on Africa,” is written by Sharon Wiharta. This article delves into the growing significance of Africa in the eyes of the international community and what the international community is doing and has done in order to build peace in Africa. All the strategies adopted till 2005 and for the future.
The global war on terrorism is a concept that has gained huge attention in the past few years. It is the reason why Africa has been the center of attention for the world powers, and some of the west African countries are becoming gas and oil providers. The 2005 international peace and security agenda prominently featured Africa in its manifesto. Africa is going through various challenges that are recognized by the Millennium Development Goals; these include extreme poverty, not to mention hunger, disease, a lack of adequate shelter, social exclusion, weak governance and conflict, and the fact that the Sub-Saharan countries are poorer now than they were 10 years ago. Despite all this, the people of these African nations are taking these challenges into account to strengthen their own capacity, the continent’s stability, and their state governance, but the dilemma is that they cannot achieve all that without external engagement. To address these concerns, the United Nations formed a Peacebuilding Commission in 2005, whose purpose was to act as a central node to bring together international actors, propose integrated strategies, develop expertise and practices, and reconstruct or build institutions. The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission achieved its task very tactfully and conducted successful peace missions. Many other strategies have been adopted to accelerate Africa’s progress towards the Millennium Goals. Some of these organizations include the World Bank, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), NEPAD, and, not to forget, the European Union (EU). These are all aimed at identifying global trends with respect to Africa and putting forward policies that could solve the continent’s problems. In different peacebuilding practices, over 65,000 personnel were deployed in Africa in 2005. The AU’s mission in Somalia is one of great significance, as was AMISOM, which comprised 22,126 peacekeepers.
It has been 76 years since the United Nations first started conducting its peacekeeping missions. As far as Africa is concerned, these missions have had varied results in terms of effectiveness, some being successful and others facing numerous challenges. On a broader scale, these peacekeeping missions have faced backlash from various critics for mismanagement, committing human rights abuses, and financing troubles, among other issues, while other critics argue that they are way too costly.
All things considered, the way forward for the UN and the International Community is to have more clear, African environment-oriented, inclusive strategies, and they must also aim to better train their troops and have better accountability and leadership mechanisms. Such reforms must be adopted that will serve to protect both civilians and peacekeepers.
The writer is a student of “Government Public Policy” at “National Defense University” and a member of PYDIR.