CONF 720: PEACE STUDIES

Professor Ho-Won Jeong
George Mason University
Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
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Peacekeeping: International and Regional
Ho-Won Jeong

Peacekeeping has been devised as a means to sustain the end of active hostilities in many violent conflict situations. Conflict management through the presence of neutral forces was a necessary development owing to the limited capacity of the international security system based on the United Nations to prevent aggression through deterrence. Thus the evolution of peacekeeping reflects a practical need to stabilize violent international conflict situations.

Since its inception in 1948, the UN has undertaken 54 operations, and two thirds of these operations have been established since 1991. A growing demand for UN peacekeeping operations surged with the increase in the number of internal conflicts and their negotiated settlement since the end of the Cold War. Peacekeeping activities have been extended geographically from the Middle East and other traditionally recognized hot spots to Southeast Asia, Southern and Eastern Africa, Central America and Southeastern Europe.

With the wide use of peacekeeping, its functional scope has expanded dramatically, ranging from small-scale observation to enforcement. Traditionally, UN peacekeeping is referred to as the interposition of a neutral force between two warring states following a cease fire. In the post-Cold War political environment, however, the focus has shifted toward addressing new challenges arising from intra-state conflicts by performing such varied tasks as repatriation of refugees, protection of humanitarian delivery, civil administration and logistical support in the conduction of elections. Peacekeeping can be understood in terms of its goals, types of operations and deployment procedures.

Objectives
A classic function of peacekeeping is the control of violent conflicts with the stabilization of armistice lines.

By interposing themselves between adversarial forces, peacekeepers are sent to manage relations between hostile forces without being part of the conflict. The deployment of troops normally follows a cessation of active violence with the consent of a host country. In addition to the provision of a buffer between opposing forces, the traditional mandate encompasses verifying the implementation of troop withdrawals. Such activities as observing and reporting any cease fire violations can be used for reduction in tensions and mistrust.

Peacekeeping's main objective is not to identify and punish aggressors, but localize and diffuse violent conflict, so that the renewal of escalating violence would be avoided. As an impartial third party, peacekeepers, in general, do not make a judgment on who is right or wrong. In the traditional settings of cease fire supervision in inter-state wars, peacekeeping operations, in principle, are not in a position to intervene in the internal affairs of the host countries. Peacekeeping does not determine the outcome of conflict, while creating stable conditions in a search for peace.

Given that peaceful resolution of conflict is not possible without cooling off hostilities, the cycle of hostilities ought to be neutralized. Peacekeeping can buy time for building trust between belligerents for negotiated settlement by containing violent conflict. However, durable solutions to conflicts should be sought by direct negotiation between the adversaries or through mediation involving a third party facilitation.

Since the operations by themselves do not provide solutions to hostile relationships, they are seen as temporary measures and are intended to be provisional.
Traditional peacekeeping contingents, comprised of lightly armed military personnel, are not prepared to wage serious fighting, and the use of force is limited to self-defense. In a communal conflict setting, while exercising restraint is still considered important in order to avoid any unnecessary combat activities, the military personnel are, in general, allowed to use force for guaranteeing security for civilians. As we have seen in attacks by Serb forces in the Bosnian civil war, peacekeeping forces cannot avoid being entrapped in deadly conflicts, and they have even become the target of aggression. Along with a new emphasis on the enforcement capacity to restore peace, peacekeeping contingents need to be adequately equipped to respond to renewed violent situations.

Evolution of Operations
There are different international circumstances under which peacekeeping has been introduced. The majority of peacekeeping during the Cold War period was limited to separating national armies in ending hostilities between belligerent states. Since then, the roles of peacekeepers have been diverse with the rise of demand for new functions of the international military forces in response to hostilities among ethnic groups.

The majority of conflicts in the last decade are characterized by physical and psychological abuses involving heavy civilian causalities. Internal conflicts in many ethnically divided societies destroyed social and economic infrastructure, and overcoming deep divisions is a paramount task. Military forces are expected to provide support for the implementation of conflict settlement agreements. As peacekeeping in post-conflict settings is oriented toward rebuilding war-torn societies, the troops have to assist and support displaced people and other victims of war, and provide security for them. To perform these functions better, social-psychological and other skills for the management of communal relationships need to be incorporated into military missions.

I. Peacekeeping during the Cold War Period
Most peacekeeping operations during the Cold War period were limited to monitoring truces. Peacekeeping initially started with small-scale observation units. This type of unarmed military observer missions was sent to Palestine (1948) under the name of the United Nations Truce Supervising Organization. Other early examples include the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan dispatched to Kashmir (1949); the United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon (1958); to United Nations Yemen Observation Mission (1963-4).

More recently the United Nations Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group (1988-1991) was organized at the end of the almost 10-year war between the two countries. The UN Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan (1988-1990) was created to oversee the withdrawal of Russian troops (which invaded the country in 1979). In conducting observer missions, officers do not need to be armed but may have to be reinforced by infantry or logistic units even for a brief period of time. On the other hand, lightly armed infantry units can also become engaged in observation activities, but they have to be assisted in their work by unarmed military observers.
The first fielded large military forces were organized during the Suez War in order to contain the escalation of the crisis in November 1956. The 6000 troops under the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) I created buffer zones around the Suez Canal and facilitated the withdrawal of Israeli, French and British armies which invaded Egypt. Whereas UNEF I was terminated by the request of Egypt, resulting in the Six Day War, the Second United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF II) was deployed in Sinai following a cease fire. UNEF II sustained the cease fire long enough to allow negotiated settlements at Camp David in 1979. The two operations are viewed as classic peacekeeping examples of supporting inter-state conflict management by stabilizing the situation in the region. The UNEF II, in particular, successfully forestalled the competitive intrusion of the US and the Soviet Union into the Middle East, thus managing an explosive global confrontation.

One of the longest armed peacekeeping operations is the UN Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) which was placed in 1964 and still remains to manage explosive conflict on the island. Although the immediate dispatch of UN peacekeeping forces prohibited the direct intervention of Turkish and Greek governments and created stable conditions, its sustained mission has not accomplished peace due to the continuing hostilities between the Turkish and Greek communities. The unintended adverse effect of the operations has been the maintenance of the status quo without resolving the underlying causes. Political accord has become an elusive goal despite the presence of peacekeepers in Cyprus over 30 years.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was given a mandate that could not be fulfilled since it was deployed in early 1978 following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It was not able to stop the powerful Israelis from attacking the territory and failed to restore the authority of the disintegrating Lebanese government. The continuing presence represents the maintenance of status quo because of the fear that withdrawal would precipitate further chaos.

Even during their early period, there were variations in peacekeeping operations adjusted to different local conflict dynamics. The UN's peacekeeping mission in the Congo (1960 - 1964), known as ONUC (Opération des Nations Unies au Congo), was sent to control a major secessionist movement in the country's civil war, distancing from the traditional neutral roles of international peacekeeping. To achieve its goal, the Congo operation had 20,000 troops from 29 countries, the largest before 1992. The troops were involved in heavy fighting, including the use of air strikes against the secessionist forces. The change in the nature of UN operations within the Congo is characterized by enforcement actions with the goal of achieving stability and preservation of the unity, but any serious peace building work was not introduced, leaving the pre-war situation almost the same.

Before the end of the Cold War, peacekeeping made a contribution to preventing further escalation of regional war into major crisis between the two superpowers. On the other hand, peacekeeping can become controversial if impartiality is questioned by an international community. UN Operation within the Congo was seen as an attempt to install a Western supported government by the Soviet Union and some African states.

II. Post-Cold War Operations
Controlling unpredictable conflict situations between hostile communities within a state requires different operational imperatives. With the rise of civil wars and ethnic rivalries (replacing geo-strategic conflict between the socialist and Western countries around the globe during the Cold War period), the functions and scopes of peacekeeping have been redefined. Peacekeeping serves a variety of purposes, ranging from conflict prevention, humanitarian intervention to peace building.

1. Preventive Operations
While peacekeeping has been commonly dispatched following the end of armed conflict, international forces began to be utilized before the eruption of serious violence as a tool of preventive diplomacy. The most noticeable and successful example of peacekeeping for preventive purposes was the operations in Macedonia. Part of the UN mission to former Yugoslavia was devoted to prevention of violent civil war between Albanian militia forces and the Macedonian government.
In considering the deadly outcome of ethnic war, peacekeeping needs to serve as an important tool for the control of escalation or re-escalation of violence between factions in internal conflict. In former Soviet republics such as Georgia where the older order collapsed, peacekeeping was adopted for curbing ethnic violence. The small UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), established in August 1993 by the Security Council, monitored the resurgence of the secessionist conflict in Abkhazia.

2. Quasi-Enforcement
A contrast can be drawn between ordinary non-offensive peacekeeping forces and the quasi-enforcement operations oriented toward active conflict termination and restoring order. The Congo mission can be considered a precedent for other coercive UN operations introduced to such places as Bosnia-Herzegovina. The safe movement of refugees and delivery of humanitarian assistance requires the supervision of international forces. When they are not militarily well prepared, UN operations may invite disastrous outcomes, as we saw in the failure to protect 'safe havens' in Bosnia. Eventually the situation was controlled by better armed NATO-led forces which intervened to enforce international mandates.

Faced with attacks on innocent civilians or genocide in an internal conflict, a costly and difficult option of a forceful intervention might be necessary. On the other hand, humanitarian intervention largely differs from the employment of forces for collective security actions like the Gulf War. In enforcement functions performed by peacekeeping, an emphasis is placed on the use of force for bringing about diplomatic negotiations rather than deterrence.
The nature of the missions can change in response to the experience of bloody internal wars. In its long involvement in Liberia, Economic Community of West African States Cease-Fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) often overstepped the boundary between neutral peacekeeping and military enforcement action especially following chaos created by the failure of warring factions to implement peace agreements. As boundaries between different types of military operations become blurred in an internal conflict, dispatch of the troops cannot solely depend on consent from a warlord.

3. Peace Building
Peacekeeping missions in post-conflict settings have been complementary to rebuilding war torn societies. Diverse activities are involved in supervising the implementation of an interim or final settlement negotiated between warring parties. The most imminent tasks include disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former soldiers in a civilian society, repatriation of refugees and mine clearance.

Whereas overseeing the withdrawal of hostile forces was a major focus of the UN verification mission in Angola, it became critical tasks in Mozambique and El Salvador to arrange for the return of refugees as well as disarming rebels. A monitoring operation sent to the Iraq-Kuwait border at the end of the Gulf War became engaged in the policing and relief activities for the Kurdish populations in northern Iraq. International Commission for Support and Verification, the first UN authorized mission in the Western Hemisphere, successfully disarmed the Nicaraguan Contras with demobilization of 22,000 combatants, during the April-June 1990, and the reintegration of former combatants and their family members with social and economic support.

For a lasting peace settlement, facilitating transitions to a stable government has become an important priority. Traditional rules of peacekeeping thus have to be redefined to be more suitable for complex missions such as assistance in rebuilding political, administrative and social infrastructure. In collaboration with and support for international agencies, peacekeeping is involved in such non-military areas as supervision of elections, observing and reporting of human rights abuses as well as arresting war criminals.

Monitoring or running national elections and providing basic services for local communities in the aftermath of violent conflict have been an essential component in Namibia, El Salvador, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia and Mozambique. Where the central authority does not exist with the best known examples being Kosovo and Somalia, peacekeepers have to maintain public order and provide some essential services until the civilian administrative functions are set up. With a lack of functioning court systems, some peacekeepers have to resolve disputes among neighbors over land or other types of properties.

In conjunction with UN civilian personnel, transitional authority was set up in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Cambodia to temporarily run the government preceding popular elections. The implementation of a comprehensive settlement is also made possible by the reconstruction of governmental functions and rehabilitation of a civil society assisted by civic education as well as military and police re-training programs.

Deployment Procedures
The United Nations has been a primary international institution responsible for planning and supervising peacekeeping operations. The mandates of various missions are generally set up by the Security Council comprised of the US, Russia, France, Britain and other major powers. UNEF I was a unique exception to the above rule since the Security Council was inactive due to the involvement of two Security Council Permanent members in the armed conflict. The management of UN activities was authorized by the General Assembly whose resolution required the invading forces, including France and Britain, to withdraw from the Egyptian territory.

In general, based on the guidance of the Security Council, the Secretary General can mobilize troops with contributions from UN member states on a voluntary basis. The Secretary General has the authority for the appointment of the force commander and selection of national contingents and other activities related to assembling troops while he is required by the Council to provide regular reports. The power of the Secretary General in directing UN peacekeeping forces was curtailed following a more dominant role played by Dag Hammarskjold in the management of a crisis in the Congo in July 1960. Since then, the Security Council began to have more control over such aspects of operations as setting time limits on the deployment of forces. In integrated peace settlement missions which have become important in the recent decade, the Secretary-General's authority has been broadened again to instigate and direct force activities within the overall framework of the Security Council's mandate.

In a response to tenuous cease fire situations characterized by a lack of trust between parties, the contingents are organized in a hurry often without much preparation and briefing. While the military personnel were mostly offered by small neutral states during the early period of peacekeeping, the contributing countries have become diverse with the involvement of regional organizations with the end of the Cold War. NATO troops to the Balkans include the US, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Regional powers such as Nigeria led ECOMOG operations in Liberia, and troops sent to Sierra Leone were dominated by other African countries. Difficult logistic issues created by a lack of coordination with soldiers from different countries can be more easily solved by the troops which belong to a regional alliance.

Regional organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS), Economic Community of West African States or a group of allied states can execute a military operation with international authorization by the UN Security Council. The quasi-enforcement operations in Haiti and Somalia were commanded, both politically and militarily, by an ad hoc coalition, under a loose Security Council mandate. In Haiti, the regional intervention led by the US was approved by the OAS, and the removal of the military dictatorship and control of violence allowed the initiation of United Nations work for reconstruction of the country. The OAS had also made a serious contribution to the disarmament and demobilization of the rebel forces following the Contra War in Nicaragua. A Western alliance carried out a mission to provide humanitarian assistance to Kurds in northern Iraq at the end of the Gulf War with the authorization of the Security Council. On another occasion, the Nigeria dominated quasi-enforcement peacekeeping operation in Liberia was retrospectively endorsed by the Security Council in 1992.

Sub-contracting with regional organizations is a new phenomenon to meet with the operational needs to back up, or replace, traditional peacekeeping. On the other hand, variations exist in the cooperative arrangements between regional organizations and the UN, given that different types of forces are available under regional and UN commands. In the earlier Bosnian operation, NATO provided air support for the UN ground troops, and later replaced the UN forces with stronger contingents following the peace agreement while the UN's contribution remains with the provision of civilian police forces.

In Liberia and Georgia, regional forces conducted military operations although the civilian aspects of the missions belonged to the responsibility of United Nations observers. The Contonou Peace Agreement of July 1993 for Liberia contained provisions for the involvement of UN observers in the disarmament and elections process. As the presence of United Nations Observer Mission (UNOMIL) in Liberia did not help bring about a peaceful solution, the Security Council requested in September 1994 that ECOMOG protects UNOMIL personnel.

Challenges and Future Directions
While peacekeeping is considered as a tool for active conflict containment and management in an era of growing communal violence, it has limitations without full international support. As the UN capacity has been outstripped by the demand for peacekeeping, a lack of a sound financial basis poses a particularly serious challenge for large operations that involve more than ten thousand troops. UN resources were exhausted with the two largest missions (overseeing the rebuilding of war-torn Cambodia and monitoring the cease fire in the former Yugoslavia) simultaneously organized in early 1990s. While the successful mission for Mozambique is attributed to the devotion of Western donors, the failure of a peace process and renewed war in Angola, to a great extent, is explained by a lack of enough commitment of the international community.

With respect to internal operations of peacekeeping, as some national contingents were criticized for being corrupt and abusive, concerns have been raised about a lack of ethic. The Economic Community of West African States' intervention in Liberia (with 66 per cent of the force being made up of Nigerian soldiers) served as Nigerian military regime's foreign policy tool to assert its regional influence and promote commercial interests. Some Nigerian commanders even took part in clandestine economic activities such as trade of goods obtained by looters and exploitation of rubber resources. Military operations, in particular, by regional alliances need more international scrutiny and supervision so that peacekeeping would not serve to legitimize the political interests of the intervening states.

Peacekeeping operations can halt a recurrence of hostilities especially in the intractable conflict, but they need to be combined with active conflict resolution processes since the parties may feel negotiation is less necessary with the maintenance of status quo. With the evolution of an international security environment, prevention of violence and rebuilding a post-conflict society has emerged as a new agenda. More adequate political and logistical support and training as well as redefining peacekeeping strategies are necessary for further utilization of international peace operations.

Further Reading
Adebajo, Adekeye and Chandra Lekha Sriram, editors, Managing Armed Conflicts in the 21st Century, London: Frank Cass, 2001.
Boulden, Jane, Peace Enforcement: The United Nations Experience in Congo, Somalia, and Bosnia, Westport: Praeger, 2001.
Connaughton, Richard M. Military Intervention and Peacekeeping: The Reality, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001.
Docking, Tim, Peacekeeping in Africa, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace, 2001.
Gordon, D. Stuart and F. H. Toase, editors, Aspects of Peacekeeping, London: Frank Cass, 2001.
Hillen, John, Blue Helmets: The Strategy of UN Military Operations, Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, 2000.
Holm, Tor Tanke and Espen Barth Eide, editors, Peacebuilding and Police Reform, London: Frank Cass, 2000.
Jett, Dennis C., Why Peacekeeping Fails, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.
Manwaring, Max G. and Anthony James Joes, editors, Beyond Declaring Victory and Coming Home: The Challenges of Peace and Stability Operations, Westport: Praeger, 2000.
McRae, Robert Grant and Don Hubert, editors, Human Security and the New Diplomacy: Protecting People, Promoting Peace, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001.
Moore, John Norton and Alex Morrison, editors, Strengthening the United Nations and Enhancing War Prevention, Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2000
Rotberg, Robert I., et al., Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement in Africa: Methods of Conflict Prevention, Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2000.
Schmidl, Erwin A., editor, Peace Operations between War and Peace, London: Frank Cass, 2000.
Woodhouse, Tom and Oliver Ramsbotham, editors, Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution, London: Frank Cass, 2000.