The AU/UN hybrid peace operation in Africa : a new approach to maintain international peace and security

[摘要] The perpetual conflict in Darfur, Sudan, which started anew in 2003, had direhumanitarian consequences and threatened international peace and security. The UNSecurity Council, which has the primary responsibility for maintaining internationalpeace and security, adopted Resolution 1769 on 31 July 2007 and authorised a 26 000person-strong joint African Union/United Nations hybrid operation in Darfur(UNAMID) to take over from AMIS (the African Union peace operation in Darfur).UNAMID was established with dual command and control linked to both the AfricanUnion and the United Nations and both organisations would have an equal say in itsmandate and operations. Given this unique and unprecedented arrangement betweena regional organisation and the United Nations in terms of maintaining internationalpeace and security, the aim of this research was to:�?Understand and describe the political motivations/reasons why the UnitedNations formed a hybrid peace operation with the African Union;�?Establish in which way the aforementioned impacted on future efforts of theUnited Nations to maintain international peace and security, especially on theAfrican continent; and, based on this,�?To determine whether or not hybrid operations were a viable alternative forthe United Nations to maintain international peace and security.By means of a thorough analysis of the theoretical underpinnings of internationalpeace and security, an assessment of the peace and security architecture of the UnitedNations and the African Union, an investigation into the origins of the Darfur conflict,an examination of the structure and mandate of UNAMID, and through an empiricalinvestigation, a new theoretical proposition is provided in the conclusion of the thesis.It is concluded that the UNAMID model, in practical terms, is not an optimalmechanism for the United Nations to use to maintain international peace and securitybecause it suffers from numerous internal political inequities and operationalinadequacies.

[发布机构] North-West University