General Birame Diop assesses the challenging trends facing UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, including loss of host country support, disinformation, and increasingly brazen violent nonstate actors.
Being a peacekeeper in Africa has become much more dangerous these days, observes General Birame Diop, Military Advisor in the United Nations Department of Peace Operations, in this interview with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
Forty percent of United Nations peacekeeping operations are in Africa, yet political factors--including diminishing support from host country authorities and disinformation campaigns targeting peacekeeping operations--have made peacekeeping more challenging.
Peacekeeping, nonetheless, plays an invaluable, if underappreciated, role in helping stabilize highly fragile regions in Africa that face a host of violent nonstate actors.
General Diop reminds African audiences that "peace has a cost," and that insecurity in one country creates instability for the entire region. African leadership will be needed to mobilize the resources and the political will to support a full spectrum of peace operations from early warning systems to negotiations to end the continent's armed conflicts.
Additional Resources
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies, "Assessing Mali's Non-Transition," Infographic, February 2, 2024.
- Security Council Report, "UN Transitions in a Fractured Multilateral Environment," Research Report N. 4, Security Council Report, December 2023.
- Julie Gregory and Lisa Sharland, "Host-Country Consent in UN Peacekeeping," Report, Simson Center, September 2023.
- Nate D.F. Allen, "African-Led Peace Operations: A Crucial Tool for Peace and Security," Spotlight, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, August 9, 2023.
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies, "Tracking Russian Interference to Derail Democracy in Africa," Infographic, June 21, 2023.
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies, "Malian Military Junta Scuttles Security Partnerships while Militant Violence Surges," Infographic, February 27, 2023.
- Albert Trithart, "Disinformation against UN Peacekeeping Operations," International Peace Institute, November 2022.
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies, "Mapping Disinformation in Africa," Infographic, April 26, 2022.
