The United Nations and Peacekeeping in West Africa: Effectiveness, Challenges, and Prospects

Abstract

The United Nations has taken a key role in the peacekeeping in West Africa which has traditionally been characterized by frequent conflict as well as unstable politics in the region. This researcher uses the document analysis method to determine the effectiveness, difficulties and future outlook of the UN peacekeeping operations in the region. Based on the official reports of the UN, the resolutions of the Security Council and corresponding academic sources, the paper takes a critical look at key peacekeeping missions which include their successes and limitations of operations. The results indicate that although the interventions of UN peacekeeping have played a significant role in settling conflicts and establishing a stable situation in the post-conflict, their success and impact are often limited by systemic and operational problems. The interventions are poor funding, bureaucratic costliness, inefficiency of the political commitment by the member states and logistical challenges of delays of troops deployment and lack of operational capacity. Also, the dynamic aspect of security threats especially terrorism, transnational organized crime and weak institutions by states have presented more complexities that have proven to be difficult to tackle using the traditional peacekeeping structures. The paper concludes that to improve the performance of the UN in peacekeeping in West Africa, there is the need to shift to more adaptive and context-sensitive approaches. The major suggestions are more specific, realistic requirements, closer cooperation of the regions, and more investment in the preventive diplomacy. Conclusively, the study highlights the need to have a more responsive and adjustable structure of peacekeeping that can respond to the multidimensional and dynamic character of current conflicts in West Africa.

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