Burden-­sharing and hybrid peacekeeping operations in Somalia and Sudan: a critical analysis

[摘要] English: This study explores whether hybrid peacekeeping operations, or recent forms of UN-­AU co-­operation, offer new prospects or opportunities to the challenges relating tointernational peacekeeping in Africa. It further analyses whether the internationalcommunity is moving towards more effective and legitimate peacekeeping operationswhen it follows an approach of hybrid peacekeeping operations in Africa. Throughhistorical-­critical examinations of case studies of peacekeeping operations in Liberia,Burundi, Darfur, and Somalia, the study interrogates the evolution and practicality ofkey concepts such as R2P, mandates and legal underpinning, and the UN and AUarchitectures for peacekeeping operations.The study found that peacekeeping has shifted to include the three components(civilian, police, and military), making peacekeeping operations multidimensional inscope and approach. The cooperative security partnership between the UN and AUand sub-­regional organisations, such as ECOWAS in Liberia and AU in Burundi, havedemonstrated the significance of a cooperative venture towards lasting peace. Therelationship between these two organisations -­ the UN and AU -­ is of paramountimportance, and must be based on coherent and strategically structured relationswhich are systematically integrated.The implementation of hybrid peacekeeping operations offers new prospects oropportunities if the UN and AU use the advantages these possess to bring aboutpeace, despite the challenges being faced. The study has shown how limitedtraditional interventions led to the innovative hybridisation but also made the case forthe need to refine the response. The ultimate conclusion is that the resource andpolitical constraints faced by the AU would benefit from the solid shared internationalresponsibility provided by the comparative advantage of hybridisation.The study concluded that the UN and AU relationship and cooperation over the pasttwo decades presents significant steps toward operations that would contribute tolasting peace in Africa. The lessons provided by the Liberia, Burundi, Darfur, andSomalia cases offer an instructive foundation for both the UN and AU to improve onan evolving approach. Lessons can be learned from the conflicts analysed in the study, and the international community has the advantage of working towards betterand more refined hybrid peacekeeping operations than those conducted in Darfur andSomalia.

[发布机构] University of the Free State