Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences (2012) Vol 3, No 4,
914
The Factors Behind Successes and Failures of
United Nations Peacekeeping Missions: A
Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo1
, University of Edinburgh, UK
Abstract: The political trajectory that characterised post-cold war epoch
underscores a dangerous centrifugal trend in the nature of violent
conflict; civil unrest and guerrilla warfare that undermine the charter of
United Nations of promoting international peace and security, and the
discourse of peace coexistence at the forefront of international
cooperation agenda in Africa, South East Europe and Middle East. The
international response to this new wave of conflicts has been articulated
through the structural mechanism of United Nations as peacekeeping
intervention. Despite the successes and failures associated with UN
peacekeeping interventions, the trickle of studies spawned by this quest
has, developed into a flood of normative and empirical analyses of various
aspects and process of International peacekeeping, while limited in
unravel the factor that responsible for these successes and failures. This
paper argues that the national interests of the super-powers are the potent
factors that will determine the success and/or failure of UN peacekeeping
operations, using peacekeeping experience in the Democratic Republic
Congo (DRC) as a potential case.
In this paper, an attempt is made to look at the framework of
global politics within which peacekeeping unfolds and how it applies not
only in DRC but also in Macedonia, Liberia and Somalia, thereby making
it possible to develop an analytical construct for International
peacekeeping successes and failures. The paper then concludes that given
the contemporary geopolitics and the established structure of UN Security
Council, if all super-powers are overtly and strongly committed to any UN
peacekeeping operations and genuinely committed to resolving disputes in
the trouble spots of the world without any primary or secondary interest in
the conflicts involved, then the UN peacekeeping operations will be
successful in restoring and sustaining permanent peace in the affected
state(s).
Keywords: Peacekeeping, National-Interest, Super-powers and Conflicts.
1
The author is a Graduate Student at the Centre of African Studies,
University of Edinburgh, UK
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo, University of Edinburgh, UK
915
1. Introduction
Literature on United Nations (UN) peacekeeping has
grown immensely since the end of the cold war, and a
plethora of studies have examined the prospect of
peacekeeping with respect to its failures and successes.
These upsurges suggest that the nature of conflicts have
changed from regional to internal—conflicts occurring within
the borders of states, thereby making peace effort to be
achieved with difficulties. The UN peacekeeping interventions
were sometimes deemed successful in some cases (such as
El Salvador, Sierra Leone and Mozambique) and failures in
others (such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda and Somalia).
However, if one considers the civil war interventions, the
interesting question is not only why the UN succeeded or
failed but also what factor accounts for the successes or
failures in Africa. However, a dearth of scholarly enquiry
exists as to the underlying factors behind these successes
and failures. This paper will help to fill the knowledge gap by
arguing that the national interest of the super-powers is the
potent factor that will determine the success and/or failure
of UN peacekeeping operations, using Democratic Republic
of Congo as a potential case.
2. The Congolese Conflicts: Role and Interest of
Super Powers
The fallout of the Rwanda genocide and its
consequences acted as a catalyst that precipitated Congolese
conflicts. In fact, the violence of the post-cold war Congolese
crisis was the product of unsettled questions that Rwandese
genocide had brushed raw (Prunier 2009).
In 1994, Rwandan Hutu refugees, who perpetrated the
massacres, escaped and arrived in their hundreds of
thousands in the eastern part of DRC (then called Zaire)
together with their arms and ammunition, vehicles and other
assets of the Rwandan state, leaving power in the hands of
the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR). Soon after crossing the
borders, the ex-FAR and Interahamwe (Hutu extremists)
militias began launching armed attacks into Rwanda from
The Factors Behind Successes and Failures of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions: A
Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
916
bases in refugee camps, with the aim of making Rwanda
ungovernable (Emizet 2000:165).
The defeated Hutu extremist forces used the refugee camps
in Kivu region to raid Rwanda on a regular basis and to
organise the slaughter of Tutsi citizens and residents of
Congo. The French and Belgium governments were especially
keen to help the Hutu Interahamwe militias to take back
control of Rwanda from the RPF government, the latter
which was backed by Washington and its allies—Uganda
and Burundi.
However, Kigali response to the Interahamwe
onslaught on Rwandese territory, culminated in the
formation of the Democratic Forces Alliance for the
Liberation of Congo (AFDL) in 1996 under the leadership of
Laurent Desire Kabila. Prior to AFDL formation, Mobutu
regime issued a decree to expel all Banyamulenge (Congolese
born) Tutsi to Rwanda, as a conscious attempt to divert the
attention of the Congolese away from the problems facing
them. This was the reason why the AFDL which comprises
Kabila’s rebels, other rebel groups, and Eastern Zaire
Banyamulenge Tutsi (all supported by the Rwandan and
Ugandan armies), capitalised on the ethnic cleansing of
Tutsi-Congolese and declared war on the government of
President Mobutu Sesse Seko. During this military campaign
of AFDL tagged long march from Goma to Kinshasa; over
200,000 refugees mainly Rwandan Hutus were massacred1.
The role of superpowers came to the fore during AFDL
campaign (November 1996-May 1997) in which France led
the effort to send an international military force to protect
Hutu refugees in eastern DRC. Huliaras (1998:595)
maintains that:
Paris planned to use humanitarian intervention as a
means to protect Mobutu. Conversely, the US
appeared willing to sacrifice the Hutu refugees in order
to protect Kabila and blocked French proposal at the
1
See Congo Civil War, GlobalSecurity.org,
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world war/congo.htm (last visited
Aug. 25, 2008).
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo, University of Edinburgh, UK
917
UN level. France’s foreign minister, Herve de Charette,
accused the Americans of being spineless and by
extension racist, for failing to help Africans. However,
in December 1996 the US ambassador in Zaire (now
DRC) said that the Mobutu government was a
decadent regime sustained by France
The horrific picture of atrocities and killings that stretched
from Goma and Bukavu in eastern Congo (where the civil
war erupted) to Mbandaka can be said to be attributed to the
national interest of the super-powers, particularly the
dynamics of Franco-American rivalry in the Great Lake
region of central Africa. AFDL’s overthrown of Mobutu
government on 17 May, 1997 unsettled Paris who felt that
the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)’s victory in Rwanda and
Mobutu’s defeat in the DRC is parts of an ‘Anglo-American
conspiracy’ against the French sphere of influence in Africa
(Ibid).
3. United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in DRC
(MONUC): A Review
The Congolese peace treaty was brokered in Lusaka
(Tanzania) in 1999. This ushered and withdrawal of foreign
troops in the DRC, ceasefire agreement by the warring
parties, and the establishment of UN peacekeeping
operations. The United Nations Peacekeeping operations in
the DRC (MONUC) was created on 30 November 1999 by
resolution 1291 of the UN Security Council to: Ensure the
enforcement and adherence (by all parties) with the terms of
the Lusaka ceasefire agreement; Monitor (through
appropriate channels) any violation of the agreements;
facilitate the process of disarmament, demobilisation,
repatriation, resettlement and reintegration (DDRRR) of
armed militants; and Facilitate the transitional process and
the organisation of credible elections in the country1. Acting
under chapter vii of the charter of the United Nations, the
1
See MONUC: United nations Missions in DRC at its website:
http://monuc.unmissions.org/
The Factors Behind Successes and Failures of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions: A
Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
918
Security Council decided that MONUC was to use any means
necessary (within its capacities and in areas of its
deployment) to prevent any attempt by any armed group – in
particular the ex-FAR and Interahamwe – to revert back to
war (which would threaten political stability), to protect
United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and
equipment, and to ensure the protection of civilians from the
imminent threat of physical violence1.
MONUC’s mandate can be summarised in terms of a
long list of Security Council resolutions that broadened the
mission’s competencies, increased its troops and adopted
tougher stances regarding the prerogative of civilian
protection. The MONUC mission helped to broker a new
peace deal (in 2002) which established the sharing of power
between the warring parties through the formation of a
transitional government, leading to presidential and
legislative elections in 2006; and monitored the withdrawal
of 20,000 Rwanda soldiers from the DRC (Malan and
Boshoff, 2002).
Since the commencement of MONUC operation, UN
peacekeeping has recorded many successes and failures2.
One of the major achievements of UN peacekeeping (MONUC)
is the organisation of peaceful electoral transition (Malan
and Boshoff, 2002). A key important MONUC’s mission was
to ensure enforcement of peace agreements and facilitation
of political transitional processes and to ensure credible
elections, with a view to restoring and maintaining political
stability in the country. MONUC’s success in this regard is
best illustrated by successful national elections, with an
estimated 25 million voters at 53,000 polling stations in
2006 in the DRC. Prior to the transition process in 2006, UN
peacekeepers helped to facilitate: the nomination of various
groups that are signatory to the 2002 peace accord, for
positions in President Kabila cabinet; the drafting of the new
constitution and Multi-Party elections. Moreover, having won
1
Ibid
2
Successes and Failures of Peacekeeping mission in this paper, are define
in terms of the extent to which tasks have been implemented within the
context of the mandate and the situation existing in the country or state
under consideration.
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo, University of Edinburgh, UK
919
a majority of the votes cast, the Transitional Government
came to an end as Joseph Kabila was sworn in as President
On December 6, 2006.
UN peacekeeping operation in DRC has witnessed an
active phase, which included more forceful peace operations
since 2005. Despite its presence, MONUC has incorporated
civilian protection with great difficulty. Its more passive role
failed to protect civilians and undermined the notion of
civilian protection, while its aggressive operations frequently
led to the abuse of civilians (John Mark 2005:2). Despite UN
Security Council Resolution 1291 that called on MONUC to
take ‘necessary action’ to protect civilians under threat of
imminent violence in deployment areas of its ‘infantry
battalions’1 , the failure to protect civilians in the provincial
capital of Bukavu when a largely irregular group of between
1 000 and 1 500 armed militant rebels entered the town in
2004 without any effective opposition from the UN mission
or the Congolese is one of the failures of MONUC
peacekeepers. The rebel soldiers came to Bukavu under the
pretence that their ethnic kin—the Banyamulenge, were
facing genocide, and laid siege to the town, burning the main
market, raping and pillaging and causing more than 2 000
civilians to flee to the MONUC compound (John Mark
2005:3)
Another failure of MONUC peacekeepers is the
inability of MONUC peacekeepers to completely disarm the
rebel groups. In May 2005, Amnesty International reported
that
‘Interahamwe( extreme Hutu militia) based in eastern Congo
were responsible for hundreds of summary executions,
rapes, beatings and civilian hostage-taking in the territory of
Walungu, South Kivu Province’2. In response to these there
1
See UN Security Council resolution 1291 available at
http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/313/35/PDF/N0031335.p
df?OpenElement
2
Amnesty International, ‘Democratic Republic of Congo, North-Kivu:
Civilians Pay the Price for Political and Military Rivalry’, Sept. 28, 2005,
available at
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR62/013/2005/en/dom-
AFR620132005en.html
The Factors Behind Successes and Failures of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions: A
Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
920
were gross human right violations and crimes against
humanity perpetrated by Rwandan-backed Rally for
Congolese Democracy-Goma (RCD-Goma in Eastern Congo's
Kivu region. RCD-Goma soldiers, commanded by Laurent
Nkunda, refused to integrate into the Congolese army and
clashed with other Congolese army forces in South Kivu.
However, Nkunda and his troops took control of the South
Kivu town of Bukavu on 2 June 2004, and justified their
onslaught claiming the action was necessary to stop
genocide of the Banyamulenge—Congolese Tutsi (Gordon,
2008:12).
In late 2007, FARDC (Congolese national army)
operations against Laurent Nkunda – with logistical support
from MONUC – were a complete failure. This culminated in
intense fighting and civil unrest that led to the displacement
of over 200, 000 civilians till January 20091. This however
called into question the ability of the MONUC mission to
fulfil the terms of its mandate. In the light of this, MONUC
mission failed to prevent the tragic situation of human rights
violations, both in areas that were under the control of
rebels, as well as those controlled by the government;
executions, arbitrary arrests, and rape still increasing
though at a decreasing proportion.
4. Factors Behind the Successes and Failures of
UN Peacekeeping Mission in DRC
Since most of the successes and failures associated
with the UN peacekeeping missions in the early 1990s
(particularly the DRC) closely reflected the traditional
peacekeeping tactics of previous decades that was
authorized under Chapter VI of the UN Charter, it might be
thought that agreement within the UN Security Council
would bring about multilateral intervention in many conflicts
that threaten international peace around the world. This was
not the case, as the problems and dilemmas that the UN
1
Michelle Faul. Congolese army claims attack by Rwanda troops. New
York: Associated Press, 29th
September, 2008
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo, University of Edinburgh, UK
921
faced in tackling the hydra-headed scourge of African armed
conflicts reflect the difficulties inherent in peacekeeping
itself.
However, a growing body of legal and academic writing
justified the failures of these international peacekeeping
interventions in Africa under the pretext of UN Member
States’ unwillingness or inability to respond to a burgeoning
number of crises, citing non-compliance by one of the parties
(Marrack 1999:155-6); failure to act quickly, lack of funds
and capacity, political restraints, logistical and political
support services, systemic crisis; perceived failure of the UN
to implement the peace settlements in Angola and Western
Sahara Damian Lilly 2000; Aboagye and Bah 2006; Nick
Grono 2006; and Gowan 2008).
Following the review of the literature, it is clear that these
studies do not link their findings to the dynamics of world
politics and the national interest of the powerful members of
UN Security Council as the underlying elements that
determine the outcome of UN peacekeeping missions.
The observations of scholars above can be said to be
the symptoms of UN politics, and do not necessarily account
for the underlying successes and failures of its peacekeeping
operations. This is because if that were true, then the
solution would be simple: get the UN Security Council and
General Assembly to behave well by responding quickly to
warning signs of armed conflicts that may possibly threaten
international peace and security or nip in the bud any crisis
that may cause the outbreak of a humanitarian crisis, set an
agenda towards ensuring that adequate funds are available
for peacekeeping mission, provide logistical and political
support or even use pressures and force to compel the
parties involved to peaceful resolution. But even if all these
measures were implemented, it would not make any
fundamental difference as the ideological composition of UN
Security Council vis-à-vis the national interest of the superpowers
are the potent factors that will determine the success
and/or failure of UN peacekeeping operations.
The problem is that the UN Security Council is a
forum for the domination of powerful super-powers which
can sometimes solve secondary issues where fundamental
(primary) interests are not at stake. Since decision and
The Factors Behind Successes and Failures of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions: A
Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
922
review of UN peacekeeping operations is at the behest of the
UN Security Council, then this plays a crucial role in
determining what are acceptable international norms or
defining the proper practices of states and other actors in a
given context, thereby defining what appropriate practice
ought to be. In a situation in which the UN Security Council
approves the appointment of the organisation’s Secretary
General, that itself dictates what appropriate approach to be
used. This was evident in Macedonia’s case where UN
Security Council jettisoned the traditional peacekeeping
method, and instead opted for preventive
peacekeeping1mission (Bjorkdahl, 2006: 214-8). If preventive
peacekeeping was deployed to prevent the outbreak of
hostilities in Macedonia, why it is that the same preventive
1
The preventive peacekeeping is one of the peacekeeping methods use to
prevent and forestall armed violence and hostilities in fragile/weak states.
This method which was used in Macedonia became necessary owning to
the concern among mainstream political commentators that first, the
conflict in Kosovo will spread to neighbouring Macedonia, and spark off a
war that could pose deadly threat to the whole of civilised Europe; and
second, to prevent inter-super power rivalries involving US and Britain on
one hand, and Russia on other hand, the latter who may be compelled to
arm its traditional ally of Slobodan Milosevic’s Serbs. It must however be
pointed out that the manner in which UN Security council quickly resolve
to extend the deployment of peacekeeping forces in order to stop the
spread of the wars in ex-Socialist Yugoslavian republic of Macedonia
despite Russia opposition against NATO led UN peacekeeping bombing
in Yugoslavia, raises fundamental question of whose interest was UN
Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) meant to serve? While I
agree that preventive peacekeeping was necessary to contain the threat of
war involving not only Serbia and Albania, but also Bulgaria, Greece and
Turkey; or that it would upset the fragile peace in Bosnia and set Serbs,
Croats and Moslems at each other throats, and raise the prospect of war
between two NATO members (Greece and Turkey), my contention here is
that ideological composition of UN Security Council and the national
interest of Super-powers especially US, Britain and France played a
crucial factor in the use of this method. Otherwise, why did the same
method not used in Rwandese case that plunge the whole of central Africa
into serious wars and humanitarian crises?
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo, University of Edinburgh, UK
923
peacekeeping was not used in case of Yugoslavia or Rwanda?
The answer lies in the national interest of the super-powers
in ensuring the success or failure of UN peacekeeping
operations.
The potential case of UN peacekeeping mission in DRC
justifies this argument. The success and failures of MONUC
can only be understood in the context of the French-US
rivalry in Africa, and the legacy of the ousted Mobutu regime.
While Britain supported the US in all its major international
campaigns, the French consider Anglo-American interest in
central Africa as a threat to the sphere of its economic and
political influence1. Extensive literatures on the DRC indicate
that Mobutu played his role as a bulwark against the
‘communist’ threat during the whole of the Cold War period.
But by the end of the 90s, after the collapse of Soviet Union
and the end of cold war, Mobutu was no longer a useful
element for imperialism, owing to the extent of his corruption
and mismanagement that called the reputation of his
western allies into question. As Ted Grant argues, ‘the
United States and its allies abandoned Mobutu and other
dictators that they supported previously, and converted to
‘democracy’ in the ex-colonial Africa because they find such
democratic regimes much more reliable than the previous
dictators’2.
Mobutu quickly shifted his allegiance to France
(Collins and Askin 1993: 76) and helped the latter to
consolidate its political and economic interest in central
Africa. This was received negatively by the United States and
its allies, thus culminated in Washington’s’ sponsorship of
Kabila to remove former ally Mobutu from power. The
overthrown of Mobutu's regime was a blow against French
interests in the region, as Kabila chose to oppose France's
1
The national interest of super-powers aftermath of the cold-war is purely
economic, and not political and ideology of democratization as claimed by
some mainstream commentators. In DRC case, struggle to maintain access
to mineral resources, market and investment opportunities dominate the
national interest of the super-powers involved.
2
See Ted Grant (1996) Crisis in Central Africa available at
http://www.marxist.com/crisis-centralafrica141197.htm
The Factors Behind Successes and Failures of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions: A
Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
924
interests. The outcome of the fallout between Kabila and the
allied forces (Uganda and Rwanda) that culminated in the
second Congolese crisis, highlighted how the interest of
super-powers (US and Britain against France) was
fundamental to the understanding of Congolese crises in
general and MONUC operation in particular. The continued
trade and exchange of weapon between the two superpowers
(US and France) to Uganda and Rwanda supported
rebels in DRC and ex-Mobutuists respectively( Huliaras
1998: 595) in the aftermath of the Second Congolese crisis
provided a combination of military strength for both rebel
forces and Kabila’s military and allied forces of Zimbabwe,
Angola and Namibia. This however undermined the peace
process and MONUC peacekeeping operations in DRC
especially in the areas of disarmament. One can argue that if
US and Britain severed their ties with Uganda and Rwanda,
who are maintaining a rebel regime in the DRC, or controlled
the access to weapons by imposing sanctions on any
American, British and French firms selling arms and
ammunitions to Uganda and Rwanda, and its supported
rebel forces in DRC, then the MONUC operation would be
able to disarm a higher proportion of rebel forces, and
restore peace and order to the DRC.
In comparison with other peacekeeping efforts in
Africa, external influence is germane to peacekeeping
missions. In the case of Somalia, humanitarian intervention
went well at the outset such that emergency aid reached the
needy; ceasefires came into force among the clans, and there
was significant progress made at a conference of ‘national
reconciliation’, until The United Nations and the United
States in particular impeded the peacemaking progress by
dictating terms to the parties involved (Thomson 2000: 172)
In Congolese case, the voluntary and unilateral
withdrawal of Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia armies from
the country as contained in the Lusaka peace treaty, cannot
be said to be the magnanimity and benevolence of the
departing Kabila allied forces, rather it is a product of
behind-the-scene pressure from Anglo-American interest. As
Bourque and Sampson (2001) argue ‘the super-powers
especially US and Britain exert strong diplomatic pressure
on Rwanda and Uganda to withdraw from the DRC, and to
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo, University of Edinburgh, UK
925
provide some support to a regional dialogue, that is, to
support the establishment of permanent dialogue between
civil societies in the region’. This shows the extent to which
national interest of super-powers formed the basis for the
success recorded by MONUC in enforcing the terms of the
Lusaka ceasefire agreement to the invading foreign troops.
Second, the MONUC’s success vis-à-vis peaceful
transition to democratisation as evident in 2006 election, is
not as a result of the willingness of the actors (the rebels and
Joseph Kabila regime) to allow democracy to prevail, rather
the pressure from the West especially the United States and
its allies who felt that democratic regime is much more
reliable than the Kabila unelected dictatorial regime.
Nzogola-Ntalaja (2002) observed that, barely two weeks in
office, Joseph Kabila set out on his first diplomatic mission,
to Paris, Washington, New York, London and Brussels,
where he seduced the international community with his
apparent willingness to change course. And the international
community promised more assistance provided the regime
embrace democracy and commitment to end the crisis.
The pressure and promise of aid and assistance by the
US and its allies was premised on the condition of
democratic norms in the DRC, and thus provided impetus
for Kabila’s change of direction in constituting transitional
government that spearheaded peaceful elections in 2006.
Bourque and Sampson (2001) further contend that ‘all
donors including the western government and international
financial institutions recognise the Lusaka Accord as the
framework for interventions to help resolve the regional and
military crises. The donors main mandates in relation to
these issues are the deployment of the UN Observation
Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC),
and the implementation of the Disarmament,
Demobilisation, Reinsertion and Reintegration (DDDRR)
programme’1. In the aftermath of 2006 election that ushered
1
See Bourque, A. and P. Sampson ‘The European Union’s Political and
Development Response to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’, 2001.
Accessed at
www. fletcher.tufts.edu/humansecurity/con2/ws4/bourque.pdf on 12 June
2009
The Factors Behind Successes and Failures of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions: A
Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
926
democracy back to the DRC, International Monetary Fund
and World Bank missions met with the DRC’s government to
help it develop a coherent economic plan, and President
Joseph Kabila promised to implement the future reforms. In
2007, the World Bank granted up to US$1.3 billion
assistance funds over the next decade to the DRC1.
MONUC peacekeeping achievement in terms of
democratisation could not have happened if external actors
like US and its allies did not prevail on the Kabila regime to
change course to democratic practice and allow opposition
and rebels to be part of his cabinet. In this regard, the
national interest of Super-powers among the UN Security
Council members, especially the US and Britain, played a
huge role in MONUC’s success in achieving its mandate in
the DRC.
However, looking at the factor behind the failures of
MONUC peacekeeping operations is not fundamentally
different from the national interest of super-powers as
already discussed. The failure of MONUC peacekeepers
which includes failure to protect civilians as a result of fresh
conflict, inability of MONUC peacekeepers to completely
disarm the rebel groups, and inability to resettle displaced
refugees to their homes under the atmosphere of peace, law
and order, did not occur in isolation of the social and
political milieu that warranted such mission itself. In fact
they can be attributed to the capacity problems (shortage of
troops, funds and logistical problems) implicit in MONUC
operations. As Gilligan and Stedman (2003) noted
The Western states have been reluctant to send
military forces to Africa in particular, preferring to
assist the development of African capabilities, though
in the short term this reinforces African dependence
on external equipment and expertise. The mere 800 or
so EU-led troops sent to the Congo in mid-2003 to deal
1
World Bank in 2007 granted over US$ One Billion to Democratic
Republic of Congo. Available at
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-03/2007-03-10-voa4.cfm
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo, University of Edinburgh, UK
927
with widespread violence in Bunia are indicative of this
reluctance to engage in wars of endurance
The reluctance of five permanent members of Security
Council to send their troops and military hardware to
enforce the UN Security Council resolution demonstrates
that the deployment of peacekeeping missions reflect the
interests of the Security Council permanent members (Neack
1995:181; Gibbs 1997). MONUC would achieve its entire
mandate if US, China, Russia, and France could deploy their
troops and financial resources to peacekeeping mission in
the DRC, as this would help to forcefully demobilise and
disarm all warring parties to the crisis, and promote peaceful
conflict resolution and restoration of law and order in few
months. Moreover, this is unlikely as the super-powers are
not prepared to risk the lives of their soldiers in conflict
zones but willing to send UN peacekeepers to where the
permanent members of the Security Council (especially
where the United States, Britain and France) have national
interest.
5. Conclusion
The current balance sheet on UN peacekeeping effort
suggests that, while the UN has served an effective role in
legitimizing enforcement coalitions for interstate, armed
collective security (as in Korea and against Iraq in Gulf War
I), it has also proven to be a very ineffective peacekeeper in
the many intrastate and civil conflicts that emerged in the
Post–Cold War world, as evident in Rwandese and Congolese
case. Since it has been established that the choice of where
the UN peacekeeper goes is determined by the extent to
which the interests of one or more of the members of the P-5
has important national interest (David Gibbs, 1997; Laura
Neack; 1995 and Bennis; 1996) and the extent to which the
conflict is believed by the P-5 to constitute a threat to
international peace and security (Chantal De Jonge Oudraat
1996:518-519), the argument of critical scholars like Robert
Cox (1981) and Mark Duffield (2001) that peacekeeping was
to protect the ideological interest of a specific order within
The Factors Behind Successes and Failures of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions: A
Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
928
the international system seems relevant as far as the crisis
in the DRC is concerned.
Since the traditional peacekeeping method demand
neutrality, impartiality, and consent of the states, the superpowers
are limited in taking overt role in any peacekeeping
operation, but they are prepare to work through the UN as a
proxy for justifying their geopolitical and economic interest.
States where UN peacekeeping mission succeeded, like
Macedonia, Suez Canal (Egypt-Israel crisis and DRC), it is
because the super-powers especially the United States,
Britain and France have primary interest, and as such are
more committed to the ‘peacekeeping’ mission. However, in
states where UN peacekeeping failed, it is because one or
more of the super-powers have only secondary interest in the
states or regions. Secondary interest here suggests that if the
state(s) or region is not strategic to the national interest of
one or more of the super-powers, then they are not
committed to making overt overtures such as sending troops
and financial commitment to the operation. This is evident in
Russian and Chinese attitude to the peacekeeping mission in
the DRC.
This inevitably suggests that the more the great
powers have strategic interest in conflict regions of the
world, the more they will be willing to actively participate in
the peacekeeping missions, and the more they will be
committed to ensure a successful peacekeeping outcome. In
other words, when the great powers have little or secondary
interest in a particular state conflict, they would have less
interest in peacekeeping mission, and would be less
concerned about the success of the mission. Although a
certain measure of success may sometimes be achieved
when a super-power does not have a fundamental interest at
stake, it will not have the same incentive to participate in a
peacekeeping mission. It is likely that if all super-powers are
overtly and strongly committed to any UN peacekeeping
operations and genuinely committed to resolving disputes in
the trouble spots of the world without having any primary or
secondary interest in the conflicts involved, the UN
peacekeeping operations will be successful and sustain
permanent peace in the affected state(s). Otherwise, the UN
may only achieve fragile peace that may snowball into full-
Ogunrotifa Ayodeji Bayo, University of Edinburgh, UK
929
blown armed and violent conflicts as experience from Angola,
Somalia and the DRC suggests.
Therefore, the national interest (whether primary or
secondary) of the permanent members (Super-powers) of the
UN Security Council plays a significant role in determining
the success or failure of any UN peacekeeping mission, given
the experience of the MONUC operation in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
The Factors Behind Successes and Failures of United Nations Peacekeeping Missions: A
Case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
930
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