AN ANALYSIS OF UNITED NATIONS (UN) INTERVENTION ON PEACEKEEPING AND CHALLENGES IN SOMALIA
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Background of Study
The idea of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping is that an impartial presence on the ground can reduce tensions between warring parties and create space for political negotiations. As a result, peacekeeping can aid in the cessation of hostilities and the establishment of durable peace in certain places (Schaefer, 2013).
Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools at the UN’s discretion for assisting countries in their difficult transition from conflict to peace (Bove and Ruggeri 2016). Today’s multifaceted peacekeeping operations are tasked with not only maintaining peace and security, but also facilitating political processes, protecting civilians, assisting in the
disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants; supporting constitutional processes and election organization, protecting and promoting human rights, and assisting in the restoration of the rule of law and extending legitimate state authority
(United Nations peacekeeping operations 2008).
Since 1948, the UN has conducted effective peacekeeping missions in several countries, including Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mozambique, Namibia, and Tajikistan, to assist resolve wars and build peace (Department of peacekeeping operations, 2017).Sierra Leone, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Timor-Leste, Liberia, Haiti, and Kosovo are among the countries where UN peacekeeping operations have recently concluded or are now underway. These UN operations have aided political transitions and strengthened fragile new state institutions by providing basic security guarantees and responding to emergencies. They have aided countries in bringing a conflict to a close and paving the way for normal development, even if major peace challenges remain (Department of Peacekeeping Operations, 2017).
Peacekeeping generally comprises activities that contribute to lasting peace in a state, place or community. Peacekeeping has to do with reducing casualties and preventing an outbreak of war and violence to have a sustainable amount of peace.
According to Kernic (2015), peacekeeping is a tool for managing and resolving political violence and armed conflict and also to help societies transition from war to peace. The basic idea of peacekeeping came into use around the 1950s in association with the United Nation’s conflict management efforts in global politics.
Peacekeeping is designed to support diplomatic endeavors to maintain or achieve peace. It usually has to do with peace settlers or peacekeepers witnessing existing problems and violence without getting involved in any way as a participant of the cause (Coppola,2015).
The United Nations since in the early years of the cold war has conducted over 100 peacekeeping operations, ranging from large scale operations to small scale operations, United Nations has taken a fundamental interest in conceptualizing peacekeeping as an instrument for settling the armed conflict, the reconstruction of war-torn societies and deploying out peacekeeping forces throughout the world (Kernic,2015). Over the course of the cold war, UN peacekeeping missions or operations fell into two categories.
- Military observers’ missions were based on small numbers of unarmed officers, charged with tasks such as patrolling borders, monitoring Military ceasefires and verifying troop withdrawals
- Peacekeeping forces composed of lightly armed national contingents, meaning the troops were not heavily armed and also troops were deployed to carry out tasks similar to those of military observers, also to act as buffers between hostel parties (knight, 2008).
The United Nations as of July 2012 was considered the world’s largest multilateral contributor to international peacekeeping and post- conflict rebuilding, deploying approximately a number of 97000 uniformed personnel which included troops, military observers and police from 119 countries in 16 United Nations peace operations on four continents (UN peacekeeping fact sheet, 2012).
Africa as a continent faces numerous challenges such as corruption, poverty and insecurity also known as the unholy trinity, Somalia is one of those countries in Africa that are still going through these problems such as armed conflict, insecurity, lack of protection, reoccurring humanitarian crisis exposed Somali civilians to serious abuse, corruption and famine (Menkhaus, 2003). The Somalian crisis is a result of the civil war that took place in 1991, which also led to the collapse of government in that same year when the government of Siad Barre was toppled (Jackson 1991). As of result that Somalia entered a state of anarchy and chaos, the lack of government to maintain law and order in Somalia has caused vices in the state (Jonathan,2009), the state became lawless, emergence of piracy, and robbery. The failing nature of Somalia led to the emergence of Al-shabab.
The nature of the Somali conflict and the international setting in which it has occurred have changed dramatically during the last two decades.From a civil war in the 1980s through state collapse, clan factionalism, and warlordism in the 1990s, it has evolved into a globalized ideological warfare in the first decade of the new century(Clark,1992).
The time between December 1991 and March 1992, when the country was split apart by clanbased conflict and factions plundering the remnants of the state and fighting for control of rural and urban assets, is referred to as burbur (‘catastrophe’) by Somalis (Bolton,1994). In Mogadishu alone, four months of combat in 1991 and 1992 killed an estimated 25,000 people, forced 1.5 million people to flee the country, and displaced at least 2 million people.
During a drought, the destruction of social and economic infrastructure, asset plundering,
“clan-cleansing,” and food supply disruptions resulted in a famine that killed an estimated
250,000 people(Bolton,1994).The most vulnerable were the politically marginalized and poorly armed riverine and inter-riverine agro-pastoral communities in the south, who were subjected to waves of invasions by the better-armed militia of the main
clans(Menkhaus,2007).Because other battles in the Gulf and the Balkans drew world focus, international reactions to Somalia’s fall were delayed. In June and July 1991, the government of Djibouti attempted but failed to broker a deal (Hogg,2008).
The Somali civil war began at a time of dramatic change in the international order, as global institutions formed up to manage an era of “new wars” and “failed states,” with the United States at the head.When the international community responded with a massive humanitarian and military operation, Somalia was set to become a test bed for a new type of involvement(Besteman,1996). Somalia in 1992 had an estimation of 350,000 people that have died due to starvation, disease and direct casualties of civil war (Clark,1992).
The United Nations Following this, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approved a military mission called ‘Operation Restoration Hope’, entrusting the US with the task of protecting the food shipments from the warlords. However, the US got involved in entanglements with local groups.
The United Nations Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM), which was a more well-developed move to bring about stability to the country, instead of achieving its target, entered into a conflict with the powerful warlord, Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid. The United Nations Organization for Somalia (UNOSOM) failed, leaving Somalia in a persistent state of breakdown and war. (Menkhaus,2007) Somalis suffered greatly under Aidid’s rule and ensuing warlord strife. Hussain Farah Aidid took over after Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid was assassinated. (Samatar,2007) However, this did not lead to a stable government.
Assistance to Somali civil society organisations was finally provided in 1999, through a meeting hosted by the Republic of Djibouti, after which the negotiating parties reached an agreement that cleared the way for the Transitional National Government (TNG).
While the TNG had the potential to be a watershed moment in Somali history, it failed owing to the incompetence and selfishness of its leaders, as well as Ethiopia’s and its supporters’ unrelenting attempts to sabotage the deal(Samatar,2007). Somalia experienced 14 failed efforts to create a government over a 16-year span. The TNG was not a national unity government since it was dominated by Mogadishu-based clans, particularly the Hawiye/Haber Gedir/Ayr sub clans, and hence was not a national unity government. It encountered criticism from the Somali Reconciliation and Rehabilitation Council (SRRC), a loose group of tribes sponsored by Ethiopia. Commercial opportunities arose in Somalia in the second half of the 1990s. While businessmen were required to pay the militia for security, they did not receive enough protection in exchange. This irritated them, so they paid the militiamen clandestinely and assured that the gunmen were under the control of the local Sharia courts. The Sharia militia has a reputation for being a more reliable security source than the warlords’ militias. The TNG administration, which was created in 2000, guaranteed that Sharia militias were temporarily suppressed, as corporate interests moved their allegiance to the new government.
Following the failure of the TNG, the businesspeople organized massive private security squads to safeguard their assets. Unchallenged until 2006, these private militias became the most powerful militias in Mogadishu.
1.2 Statement of Problem.
United Nations has sponsored various peacekeeping missions in Somalia since the civil war that took place in 1991 and since then it has been trying to support the government and the people to advance peace and security, but due to the nature of the state it finds it very hard to establish the main aim of its objectives. Somalia is often at- times viewed as a failed states (Menkhaus.2003).Somalia has no proper functioning government (Menkhaus,2003), it is recognized as failed state because it does not poses the 4 (four) full components of a state (Renders,2012) this because from a state of one it has divided itself into sub states and not all poses the territory, population, functioning government and lastly the capacity to enter relation with other states (Renders, 2012). Due to the fact that Peacekeeping in Somalia seems almost impossible to achieve, there are various reasons and challenges the UN peacekeeping missions have been difficult, and this study aims at analyzing these problems. Somalia faces a lot of internal challenges as a state (Menkhaus,2003), such as abuses, these abuses can be classified such as Abuses against children, killing children using children to recruit them for acts of terrorism such as Al-shabab. humanitarian crisis is also one the challenges because of the ongoing conflict, violence and drought, it is hard for the people to get access to humanitarian aid that is being provided by international bodies.
The peacekeeping challenges the United Nations face are a result of the problems the country is facing and one of the hardest parts is eliminating the problem, this is because, with every movement of trying to attain a goal for peace and security, there are always set back. The
United Nations as a supranational Body has conducted numerous missions it also collaborate’s with other non state actors. The United Nations has collaborated with other bodies after the failure of unisom 1&2 in Somalia (United Nations,2003).The UN’s main focus after the unsuccessful peacekeeping mission of unisom were mainly focused on the humanitarian crisis. it collaborated with other sub-bodies such as Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the WFP, the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), have been the main actors.
These bodies were focused on the Humanitarian crisis, they didn’t look at the other problems and challenges (United Nations,2003). later in the UN was moved these bodies to Nairobi due to security problems in the regions they were working in. Then it started focusing on the security issues in the region.
For the problems or crisis in Somalia, the United Nations should work with other bodies to establish peace and security, it can share the objectives with other bodies. The United Nations for the peacekeeping challenges it encounters, it has to start with collaborating and working with other bodies, it can split the mission and give each one an objective to fulfill instead of doing them alone. It can also divide the work with each regional or non-state body having it’s own area of focus so that along the way progressional challenges occur in the state and these bodies can include African Union, ECOWAS etc.
1.3 Objective of Study
- To identify the causes of the Somalian conflict.
- To examine the impact of United Nations interventions in Somalia.
- To investigate the challenges of peacekeeping the United Nations face in Somalia.
- To identify the methods being employed by the United Nations to mitigate the challenges.
1.4 Research Questions
- What are the causes of the Somalian conflict?
- What are the impacts of United Nations intervention in Somalia?
- What are the challenges of peacekeeping the United Nations face in Somalia?
- What are the methods being used by the United Nations to mitigate the challenges?
1.5. Research Aim
The aim of the research is to analyze the United Nations intervention in Somalia and also highlight out the challenges of peacekeeping in Somalia.
1.6 Significance of Study
The United Nations is considered the largest multilateral contributor to international peace in the world (UN peacekeeping fact sheet, 2012).
Seeing the role, it plays as a body that provides peace, it is important to examine the challenges of peacekeeping it faces in Somalia. The United Nations has more than once try to intervene in Somalia but the end result was never satisfying. So, for that there has been an increase for the need of peacekeeping in Somalia.
This study, therefore, tries to highlight out why it is important to analyze United Nations peacekeeping intervention in Somalia, the United Nations aim is to provide security and peace This study is relevant to the subject matter (UN peacekeeping intervention in Somalia) because it is still a challenge that has not yet been solved and efforts are still being put to solve it. Also the United Nations is not only facing peacekeeping challenges in Somalia, it also faces challenges in other African countries. The study in its findings will contribute to finding solutions to the United Nations peacekeeping challenges it faces in Somalia and other African countries.
1.7. Propositions
- Propositions 1: Somalia‘s security challenges are caused by external challenges.
- Propositions 2: The United Nations faces challenges during peacekeeping missions and intervention that are necessarily their fault.
1.8. Research Methodology
During this research, secondary data was employed to obtain the research objectives. Content and Discourse analysis was used in analyzing the data source. The secondary sources that were used for data collection were relevant to the research, they include internet sources, articles, journals, UN websites, books and reports. The method was used because past data can be used to answer the research questions in this study without acquiring for new data in the field.
1.8.1 Research Design
The research design used was a qualitative design.
1.8.2. Method of Data Collection
This research used secondary sources of data collection, these sources of information were gotten from online sources such as, books, articles, journals, UN websites and reports.
1.8.3. Method of Data Analysis
Content and Discourse analysis method were acquired for assessment of secondary data. According to Berelson (1952) content analysis is a research technique for the objective, systematic and qualitative description of the manifest content of communication, it is a tool used for determining certain words, themes or concepts with some given qualitative data. Discourse analysis is concerned with the language beyond the boundaries of a sentence (Stubbs, 1983).
1.9 Scope of Study and Limitations
The scope of this study is focused on United Nations peacekeeping challenges in Somalia from
(2011-2021). But old researches was also accessed to understand the nature of some parts of the work
1.10. Definition of Terms
- United Nations: This is an intergovernmental organization which aim is to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations (charter of United Nations chapter 1, 2015).
- Peacekeeping: This comprises of activities intended to create conditions favor lasting peace in states for states that battle with peace and security challenges. (Department of peacekeeping operations, 2012).
- War: is a well-organized and often long-lasting war fought by governments (countries) or non state actors. Extreme violence, social instability, and economic destruction are common characteristics. War is described as a kind of (collective) political violence or intervention when it is characterized as an actual, purposeful, and widespread armed conflict between political communities (webmaster, 2014).
- Violence: the attempted or real use of physical force or power against oneself, another person, or a group or community that results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in damage, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.
- Peacekeepers: monitor and observe post conflict peace processes, and support ex-combatants in carrying out any ceasefire agreement they may have signed.
Confidence building measures power -sharing, electoral support, establishing
the rule of law, economic and social growth are all examples of such aid (United nations, 2017).
- Peace- peace is defined as the absence of violence as well as wars for political, economic or ethnic reasons such as terrorism, religious or regional conflict. Security, stability, and harmony are also terms used to describe peace. According to this definition, peace is a desirable positive state desired by human groups or states seeking to strike an agreement among themselves in order to establish tranquility and stability (Alhashemi,2019).
- Somalia: Somalia is a country in the Horn of Africa that also is officially known as the federal republic of Somalia. It is bordered on the west by Ethiopia, on the northeast by Djibouti, on the north by the Gulf of Aden, on the east by the Indian
Ocean, and on the southwest by Kenya (Central intelligence Agency,2014).
Somalia has the largest coastline on Africa’s mainland, its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Hot conditions prevail year- round with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall (Countryside, 2009).
1.11. Research Outline
Chapter one: this chapter serves as the introduction part of the research, it includes the background of study and statement of the problem, in these sections the researcher identifies how and why United Nations peacekeeping keeping challenges in Somalia is a problem, furthermore ahead the researcher stated the research aim, objectives, and questions, the researcher stated the questions and issues this paper will address. The significance of the study explains why this research is important. The research also stated the two major preparations that will be argued and tested in this research. Under research methodology, the researcher stated what research method was used during this research, in this chapter also the scope of the study was stated and lastly, key terminologies were defined.
Chapter two; addresses literature concepts related to the study and also highlights out theories related to the study.
Chapter three and four: these chapters the research questions will be addressed and also along with the presuppositions
Chapter five: conclusion and recommendations: summary, recommendations and conclusions