Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
专业名称:国际关系
指导教师:刘德斌教授
教授 Mr. Wuyenfei
学位类别:全日制硕士
论文答辩日期:年月日
I
PTER 1: Introduction
ABSTRACT
This thesis is an important analysis of the role United Nations plays in resolving
conflicts in various conflicting nations; the case study is Sudanese first civil war. The
study investigates the role of the United Nations in the peace initiatives of the conflict in
Sudan that caused millions of peoples life from decades of deadly civil revolt from 1955-
1972. The Sudan conflict is one of the worse tragedies that has ever befallen mankind,
the conflict brought great disrupt to the system of government of the country placed their
natural and human resources at the brim of extinction alongside the ethnic, religion as
well as finance all of which had enormous consequence on the neighbors of the country;
although the conflict escalated real quick the UN was slow in coming to their aid which
is why the conflict went on for long while with lots of lives lost, homes and properties
destroyed; a lot more fleeing the country and seeking refuge in another country.
Domestically, the conflict came about due to the inequality and uneven distribution of the
income gotten from their natural resources between the northern and the southern
Sudanese and the religious differences; whereby the northerners are Muslims and want
the implementation of the sharia law while the southerners are Christians and so wouldn’t
give up their culture and religion. This creates hatred between the two conflicting sides,
blossoming into a full out war.
Furthermore, the fact that the Muslims and the southerners are mostly occupying
the government seats were excluded from decision-making and treated as inferior. The
southerners began to seek for justice in distribution and allocation of seat and funds after
they got their independent in 1956 but the northern leaders were not ready to let go or
share the leadership of the country with the south so the conflict began to build up and
people began to choose sides, but the conflict came to full fledge when the newly elected
government decided to implement the sharia law; the southern Christians rose in revolt
while the north fought back. For this reason, both sides began killing each other, abusing
and destroying properties worth millions so much that the international humanitarian
community became disturbed and fearful that the fight might spill out to the neighboring
countries in terms of refugees and become an international dispute, if it’s not settled.
II
Therefore, this thesis aims at finding out the UN role in settling the conflict in
Sudan. The research will also be exploring the question of why the UN does not bother to
find out the root cause of conflicts before resolving it.
This thesis argues that the United Nations mission is usually successful but not
permanent and the reason is because the method they used in resolving the conflict does
not touch, the root of the problem and so given chance for a reoccurrence of the same
previously tackled conflict over and over, which is why in the case of Sudan, the rise of
the second civil war which also saw a second UN mission followed by the secession of
south Sudan came also resulting in a temporary peace agreements. This paper highlights
the reform strategies of the united nations and shows an analysis that these reform
exercises are still not enough to prevent future conflicts from reoccurring, regardless of
the temporary peace achievements tackling issues that is most crucial and at the right
time with every available method with enough personnel and intervening at the earliest
sign of potential dispute is what needs to be done in order to put out the fire while no life
is lost yet.
In Chapter 1, the thesis gives detailed explanation of the background that talks
about the Sudanese independence; the early signs of potential conflict and the reason
behind it. Moving down to the significance of the research, which is showcasing how
relevant the United Nations intervention really is in the Sudan conflict and the reason
behind its outcome with the hope that corrections will be applied for future purposes.
Next is the research methodology and question on why the UN does not bother to find out
the root cause of conflicts before resolving it? This chapter also explains theoretical
application in which Frustration Aggression Theory will be used to explain the conflict, a
strategy that argues that social movements occur when frustration leads to collective and
often aggressive behavior to prevent social conflict.
Chapter 2, in this chapter the thesis explains the history of Sudanese conflict
starting from when the country of Sudan got its independence and power relocated and
remained in the north while the southern part of the country suffered from neglect and
poor allocation of revenue, pushing the southerners into revolting for change.
III
Chapter 3, within this chapter the thesis continues explaining the evolution and
purpose of the formation of United Nation and United Nations peace keeping mission
which aim at making and keeping peace; also explaining its reform and conflict evasion
and supervision.
Chapter 4, under this chapter the main focus is placed on UN’s intervention under
organizations like WHO, FAO, UNDP, UNFPA, The chapter explains these
organizations and their involvement based on their objectives and missions in Sudan.
Chapter 5 explains the United Nations task towards resolving the conflict in
Sudan; started with the proposed mission shading light on Darfur situation moving on to
explain the process of the development of UNMIS, the Darfur peace treaty and the
expansion of UNMIS. The referendum process and the termination of UNMIS, this
chapter also talked about the United Nations advanced mission in Sudan and new UN
mission in south Sudan, highlighting the Faults in of the UN first mission in Sudan.
Nevertheless, this thesis contributes and highlights the reform role of the united
nations and goes ahead to explain that these reform exercises are not enough to prevent
future conflict despite the temporary peace; this research hopes to unearth ideas on what
needs to happen in the future to ensure a more improved and successful mission and also
identify the key failures in the UN’s method of rendering assistance to conflicted nation.
Keywords: United Nations, Sudan, Darfur, conflict, election, civil war, Muslim,
Christian.
IV
LIST OF ABREVIATIONS
CW Cold War
UN United Nations
US United States
WB World Bank
V
WFP World Food Program
VI
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ I
I
4.3 UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) .............................................................................. 24
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 34
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... 39
II
PTER 1: Introduction
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
The peace body since its establishment in 1945 has been faced with series of
challenges in achieving its objectives worldwide as a result of its struggle to deal with its
structural and internal crisis, entrenched and out–pouring conflicts around the globe,
particularly post conflict nations that has contributed to significant portion of the body’s
operations
1
PTER 1: Introduction
Nations in combating future conflicts situations as a means of achieving the best possible
result in attuning durable and lasting peace.
The result of the role played by united nations in this post conflict nation and the
approach that led to the outcome will be analyzed and the result will inform as to what
measures should be instituted in resolving conflicts permanently in the future ,I am
positive that this research will uncover issues deeply entrenched in processes that lead to
temporary peace outcomes which results to conflict/war, it will also account for lasting
peace and solution and pave way for the adoption of strategic measures that can harbor
better formulation of lasting peace discussions as well as cultivating interest of
civilization in conflict and post conflict societies, it will also improve previous
discussions relating to the above –mentioned topic, but with different case studies and
will launch a strategic framework on which multiple ideas and analyses can be built.
In a well articulated research book on the role of the United Nations and regional
organizations in preventing deadly conflict and fostering a dynamic interplay between
theory and practice. It suggests effective preventive diplomacy to keep disputes from
turning into violence conflict and backs it up with a long term approach to tackle the
structural causes of conflict and the development of institutions to promote just solutions
to underlying problems. It states that the most secure states are those which provide the
greatest human security to their populations.
Connie Peck in his book argued that peace and security agenda and social
development agenda with practical emphasis on preventive diplomacy are the executing
mechanism of the United Nations achieving lasting peace in its member states entrenched
1 Author’s note- Nlebedum Anthonia, candidate M.A, international relations :school of international and public affairs,
Jilin university-china 2016
2
PTER 1: Introduction
with conflict. He also argued that the application of different standards to different cases
by the U.N’s Security Council was due to the clear fact of favoring and pursuing the
geopolitics aims of the permanent members states of the U.N. which was a major obstacle
to its success in previous peace missions. Peck links good governance with conflict
prevention on a path to sustainable peace provides a comprehensive agenda for the
international community in the decades ahead. This work gives useful insights into the
United Nations community in the decades for preventing deadly conflict2.
Miller (1961),explained the role of the united nations in winning and maintaining
peace in post conflict African nations .he asserts that the role of the united nations in
these initiatives ranges from forcefully expelling the Belgian adversaries from the Congo
to conducting a referendum in the southern Cameroon, from supplying capital for
building a huge dam in northern Rhodesia to financing a new railroad in Mauritania,
from combating sleeping sickness in Tanganyika to conducting courses for midwives in
Sierra Leone and from helping educate children in Nigeria to helping educate adult
illiteracy in Liberia. In analyzing the various roles played by the united nations in Africa,
he classified the various activities as political, economic, social welfare and educational.
Although the primary role of the U.N. is to keep the peace but Richard I. Miller in his
article provided and analyzed other subservient role played by the U.N in post conflict
building, which he analyzed as political or economic.3
Kaldor and Vincent (2002) informed that between 2000 and 2002, the focus of the
United Nations was on demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR), the return
and resettlement of displaced people and the extension of state authority with both line
ministries and traditional authorities forming part of the initiative. In addition, they
argued that after 2002, the united nations helped to implement the interim poverty
reduction strategy and national recovery strategy, which included the establishment of the
special court and the truth and reconciliation commission, justice and security sector
reform and poverty alleviation .expenditure by the united nations runs at 80 percent of the
gross national income and is more than double government expenditures. They also
2 PECK, Connie, sustainable peace: The role of the United Nations and regional organizations in preventing conflict.
Rowman and Littlefield publisher,incorporated;1998
3 MILLER, Richard I., the role of the united nations in emerging Africa, south of the Sahara, journal of negro
3
PTER 1: Introduction
informed in this article that the United Nations development program (UNDP) played a
pivotal role both in strategic coordination and in filling gaps that other agencies are
unable or unwilling to fill with targeted interventions. their argument further maintained
that since 2002, UNDP’s programs have covered three practical areas (1) recovery and
peace building (2) governance and democratic development (3) poverty reduction and
human development, they argued .the first area is the largest, particularly important
projects like arms for development, innovative community based DDR program; youth
policy, support for elections, especially local elections, and access to justice.4
UN debate (2009), the human security debate continued also in academic circles.
Stewart (2009), argued that poverty and inequality were the root causes of human
vulnerability, and that the absence of pervasive and chronic insecurity was fundamental
to people’s sense of wellbeing. This was a more accurate measure of development than
simple indices of per capita income. She also argued that the lack of security impedes
economic growth both through the physical and infrastructural damage wrought by
violence and by the adoption of short term survival strategies.
4KALDOR, Mary and Vincent, James: evaluation of UNDP Assistance to conflict affected countries: The case of
Sierra Leone. Journal of united nations development program office in new York;2002
4
PTER 1: Introduction
I analyzed the role of the United Nations as a world body under the support it
provided in the conflict and analyzed the impact on intervention relatively to failure or
success.
Due to resource constrain, I couldn’t travel to the focus areas in this thesis to
conduct interviews and give out questionnaires but significant primary and secondary
sources were referenced in providing me with the necessary details required to complete
this paper. This research was conducted here in china from October 2015 to April 2016,
referencing the required primary sources such as books, articles, government documents
(official website), organizations website (UN), speeches, briefing notes, my balanced
experience as well as some secondary sources. I choose Sudan as my case study because
it is one of the countries that experienced the harshest conflict in history of mankind and
the united was present and active in the resolution of the conflict but the problem was
never permanently resolved, also the UN initiative began at almost the same time period
as the first Sudan civil war, I will be posing the question; Why does the UN not bother to
find out the root cause of conflicts before resolving it?
5
PTER 1: Introduction
To better articulate this phenomenon in the theoretical context, I shall explain the
role of the UN on post conflict initiatives using the ethnic conflict theory because no
particular theory can explain it.
In the environment of chaos, where the lives of people are wasted, threatened and
abused against the slightest respect to international humanitarian law based on the lack of
security, the UN place sufficient interest on the lives of the people of that environment,
hence, taking human security as the core during its intervention, as provided for in article
1 of its charter. Therefore, in applying the theory to this thesis, my analysis will center on
the primary objectives of the UN intervention in Sudan as a defining variable of how it
leverages significant focus on human security under the pillar of peace initiative, given
the factors aligned to human security by the UNDP.
6
PTER 1: Introduction
Also for human security to fit in the context of this application, we need to
understand what human security constitutes. In 1994, the united nations development
program (UNDP) in its human development report, defined human security according to
seven (7) dimensions, which included; personal security, environmental security,
economic security, political security, community security, health security and food
security (UNDP, 1994). Now, with this understanding, we can analyze that the issues
associated with the conflict situations in the above case study that saw the intervention of
the UN is centered on these problems.5
5 WENDT, Alexander, collective security identity formation and the international state, the American political science
review, vol. 88,NO.;june 1994,pp.384-396
7
CHAPTER 2: Background and Survey of Events
The nation got its independence in 1956 from the joint administration of Egypt
and the United Kingdom, Each of these groups became loyal to their historical cultures
and values; thereby opting for convenient society to enhance the future of their country
which became a serious segregation issue to face before or after independent. The initial
step taken to avoid the resolution of this issue before independent was not perfect to be
corrected after independent; the deaf ear however played to these issues after the
country’s independent triggered the bitter resentments and escalated the conflict between
the two sides.6
6Authors note-Nlebedum Anthonia, candidate of M.A: School of international and public affairs, Jilin university –
china 2016
8
CHAPTER 2: Background and Survey of Events
the Nations, 2010). The Sudanese population consists of about 19 different ethnic groups
and almost 600 subgroups (ibid). Most of the inhabitants are of Black origin, accounting
for 54.8% -Nilotic 24.4% who predominantly inhibit the Southern region and Sudanic
12.9%, Nuba Mountain people 6.5%, Cushitic 6% and other 6% all spread across the
Centre, Eastern and Western regions (Operation World, 2010). Arabs account for 45.2%
of the population and are predominantly in the North (ibid). Because of the deep rooted
religious nature of the Sudanese people, most of the populations are loyal to a certain
faith, mainly to Christianity or Islam, however native religions still persist.
Islam served as both faith and a way of life in the north and a particular cultural
and ethnic identity associated with Arabism. Northerners believes that “human history is
a salvation history that has reached its culmination with the prophetic mission of
Mohamed” (Ajwain & De Waal, 2002:275). For that reason, the Northerners have always
aspired to build a bridge connecting them to the Arab world in order to collectively
revive the divine plan of salvation communicated by Mohamed and spread Islam, the
divine truth (Insoll, 2003). Conversely, the identity of Southern Sudan has been shaped
primarily by the prolonged resistance to the imposition of Arab and Islamic culture from
the North (Deng, 2001), which unified them as Black Africans and has geared them
toward Christianity as means of combating Islam and Arabism. For Southerners, Islam
symbolizes not just a religion, but also (and linked to Arabism) an ethnic and cultural
phenomenon that historically suppressed them as slaves and remains to exclude them as
Black Africans and adherents to a different faith (Yoh, 1999). The Southerners have long
resisted that their religious and ethnic identity be constructed any differently, which
therefore led to the civil war.
9
CHAPTER 2: Background and Survey of Events
the South possesses rich land which fuels the economy (Levy & Latif, 2007). Due to the
many streams of the Nile in southern Sudan, the south has greater access to water, and
has therefore much more fertile soil while the north of the country is on the edge of the
Sahara desert (Pantuliano, 2007). The rapid expansion in the oil production since its
discovery in the Southern region played an important part in the economy. Because the
Oil revenues makes up 70 percent of sedans export earnings and contributes 50percent of
its GDP (De Waal, 1999; Switzer, 2002), it becomes very important for the General
Government of Sudan (GGOS) .The attempts by the GGOS to control these resources to
ensure survival of the Northern regime, and the Southern resistance have also contributed
to Sudan’s civil unrest.
10
CHAPTER 2: Background and Survey of Events
11
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
The purpose for the creation of united nations among other reasons was to tackle
and correct those flaw that led to the failure of the league of the nations, which was
originally formed to stop and prevent inter-state conflicts, which included the lack of
commitment to the collective security arrangements for the preservation of international
peace and security and the contradiction of member states to use force for settlement.
Instead of adhering to the collective security arrangements, a balance of power was
encouraged, thus undermining the principles of the League of Nations. The outlaw of
their action was so obvious that there wasn’t a binding authority on member states of the
12
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
league and as such every nation conducted its own wishes at its pleasure 8 . Many
deficiencies in the collective security of the League of Nations compositions contributed
to its failure. Those flaws associated with the collective security assumptions as noted by
the League of Nations are some of the many reasons actually responsible for the collapse
of the body’s operations. The first assumption is that the states will identify their own
security with the existing world order to an extent that they will be prepared to defend
that order by involvement in situations that is unrelated to their national interests, States
will be able and willing to agree on the determination of attacker in a particular situation,
offenders will be so weak or lonely that it will be possible to confront him with a superior
international force;
1. The loyalties built around nations-state cannot be relocated to one nation of the
world community.
2. The cause of conflict in a one nation might be considered self defense in another
nation.
3. Many small powers may possess very valuable weaponry that the international
community could find difficult to contain, like the issue with North Korea and its
nuclear weapon.
4. Nations just like human beings, are not excused from laws of human nature, they
do not react with equally or grant indulgence toward adversaries and allies.
8 LATIF, DILEK, the united nation changing role in the post cold war era: eastern Mediterranean university
13
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
5. Statesmen will not surrender their discretionary response on such crucial issues as
the use of their country’s armed forces. Even the harmless use of forces for agreed
peacekeeping and humanitarian purposes causes strong resentment when there are
casualties.
These collective security principles failed to reach the standard for international
acceptance because it did not reflect the spirit of contemporary age. It was introduced in a
world of nation’s states, yet it called on states to suddenly behave in a way that states had
never behaved in the history of man, one of the most tormenting aspects of collective
security was the decision of immaculate legality which became harmful and isolated from
the chain of consequences. In addition to the league convenient, decisions affected some
member of the league and immune a greater number due to some conflict of interest or
balance of power theory practiced. The action against the Soviet Union including its
expulsion from the League of Nations as the result of its invasion of Finland provides an
unquestionable example of the lip-service collective security.9
With time the problem became an inevitable weakness and the interwar period
aggravated these obvious weakness, the alliance system became a matter of must and the
issue of collective security as an integral principle of the league became a lip-service and
member state refused to take action against aggressions and aggressors, due to these
accounts, the league of nations broke down and plunged the international community in
9 EBAN, Abba , the united nations idea: The slow death of collective security ,council on foreign affairs 1995; p. 4-11
14
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
to the chaos of World War II. The formal dissolution of the body came in 1945, when the
United Nations came into being, taking over some major assets/properties of the
dissolved body. 10
Findings reveal that the formation of the world peace and security body was
engineered by prime minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill and the president of the
United States, Franklin D Roosevelt on an occasion of the British prime minister’s visit
to the United States of America in 1942. Its intent and goal has to a larger extent been
achieved since the World War III has been avoided up to date, its formation was intended
to prevent nations from engaging in brutal global conflict that took so many lives (Kraus
-2011).11
The post cold war era of the United Nations can be viewed as a material gain
towards the many efforts of the body in its peace seeking initiatives around the world as it
can be observed; the body became more viable in its peace seeking efforts after its post
cold war reform. The UN after the cold war, undertook a major reform exercises,
particularly the united nations principle of non intervention/interference in the domestic
affairs of any state, outlined in article 2 chapter 7 of UN charter, where there is no
10 LATIF , DILEK, united nations changing role in the post cold war era: eastern Mediterranean university;1999
11KRAUS , DON , evaluation of the united nations security council. Citizens of global solution, 2011; p.1-8,
https://globalsolutions.org/files/public/document/the_evaulation_of_the_united_nations_and_the
_security_council_0.pdf
12 Author’s note- Anthonia Nlebedum ,candidate of M.A: school of international and public affairs , Jilin university ,
china ,2016
15
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
provision for intra-state or civil conflicts, as well as its prescribed role to maintain
international peace and security concomitant with its efforts to resolve those conflicts
around the world at the time.
Prior to the climax of the cold war, the United Nations was involved in two
controversial peace and security operations in the Republic of Congo and the West New
Guinea as it attempted to fill the power vacancy created as the result of decolonization,
where the organization experienced horrible casualties including the death of its secretary
general. In both situations, the lines of sovereignty and security (non use of force in peace
keeping operations) were crossed by the United Nations which made the organization to
stay out of the business of running the internal affairs of other countries after learning
enough lessons.13
At the climax of the cold war, the number state of the United Nations amplified its
programs, signaling a change in the relation between what is in the legitimate authority of
state sovereignty and what is subjected to legitimate international intervention. During
the period between 1990 and 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted a smart
intrusive interpretation of UN charter chapter VII, the provisions concerning the
application and enforcement of international peace and security. However, the
endorsement of member states of a radical expansion in the range of collective
intervention just as a series of ethnic and civil wars erupted across the globe, signifying
a resounding support to the other , soon provoked a severe crisis in peace enforcement.14
Since the end of cold war, the activities of the UN shifted and expanded its field
operations from customary missions, which involved observer initiatives carried out by
military/paramilitary personnel to a complex multiple dimensional enterprises. These
multi dimensional activities were developed to foster the execution of comprehensive
peace agreement and assist in solidifying the foundations for sustainable peace. The
characterization of conflicts also changed over the past years, the UN peacekeeping,
originally developed as a means of dealing with inter-state conflict, was increasingly
13 KABUNDURGURU, Mathias, peacekeeping and the UN lessons from Rwanda , Asian pacific press / Australian
national university , 1999, https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/bitsrtream/1885/41691/cem99-.pd
14 DOYLE, Michael W. And SAMBANIS, Nicholas, making war and building peace: the United Nations peace
operatio ns. The international organization review, vol 1. Issue 4, 2006; pp. 401-403
16
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
being applied to intra state conflicts and civil wars. the united nations peacekeepers were
tasked with various responsibility that is very different, ranging from monitoring the
human right condition to reforming the security sector to giving a helping hand in
restructuring and or rebuilding institutions etc, while the military department of
peacekeeping remained the main body of UN ,the post cold war reform saw to the birth
of so many more departments that is as well important in the organization.15
At the closure of the cold war, the material and ideological interests of the cold
war rivals however changed the course and direction of international affairs, thereby
mounting significant pressure on the United Nations to engage new frontiers, such as
conflict prevention /peacemaking, conflict management and post conflict peace building.
The United Nations was therefore expected to fill the vacant space after the pullback of
the armed and humanitarian assistance by the superpowers from their global interest,
which were focused mainly on the third world or developing countries. The United
Nations secretary general in his agenda for peace initiative in 1992 showed the main
problems that the united nation was facing and the factors behind it. He complained of
the, he complained of the oppositions that the organization is facing .However, the UN’s
presence in terms of peacekeeping missions subsequently increased in countries where it
initially had limited involvement due to the decrease in the number of support.
Meanwhile, the quality and efficiency of the UN peacekeeping intervention was still an
issue to contain. The UN’s failure at peace initiative at the time was a conclusion to tag it
on such analysis.
17
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
initiatives at the time and the United States huge debt to the United Nations also
magnified the situation, leaving the UN in such a strangled picture.17
The UN’s new direction of reform according to former SG, Boutrus Ghali, was
later on welcomed by the new UN strongman, Kofi Annan, whose reform program was
endorsed by the UN’s General Assembly late the same year that it was recommended. A
historical and water shed paper came out at the beginning of the new century when the
United Nations published the renowned Brahimi Report on the UN reform agenda.
Lakhdar Brahimi was an eminent UN diplomat and a former Algerian foreign minister,
who prepared his report on the United Nations peace operations at the request of the
secretary general Kofi Annan. As I said earlier, the UN had encountered severe crisis of
confidence when the internal structure of the body was questioned in the reports, which
constitute the genocides in Rwanda and the massacres of Srebrenica. The report was very
negative and in all fairness reprehended the United Nations.18
The United Nations document A/55/305, 2000, revealed that the Brahimi’s report
proposed through extensive reform changes in the UN subsequent operations to create an
effective international security presence and According to the document, Brahimi
lamented that the United Nations had repeatedly failed to meet the peace and security
challenge of protecting people from the scourge of war, which has undermined its
principle mandate. The report emphasized on the importance of adjusting the UN to the
new reality of field work and peace operations, unlike its conference work focus
originally envisaged to be the main activity of the UN.19
17 LATIF, DILEK, the united nations changing role in the post cold war era: eastern Mediterranean university;1999
18 DURCH,WILLIAM J.,HOLT, Victoria K., EARLE, Caroline R. and SHANAHAN, Moira K., the Brahimi report
and the future of the UN peace operation; the Henry L. Stimson press center, 11 DuPont circle , NW, Washington DC
20036;2003
19 United nations document/a/55/305/2000: The united nations security council on A comprehensive revision on its
18
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
The collapse of the cold war has encouraged many countries to pursue
independent policies toward their individual survival in the newly competing
international arena, which brought about a new world order. As Mesquita, Morrow,
Siverson and Smith states that ‘in contemporary age, the diplomat’s responsibility has
also shifted due to the promotion of high tech human security issues on the international
top table and the solution of the traditional national security concerns.20
In 2002,another reform package under the auspices of ‘An agenda for further
change’ from the UN- strongman , Kofi Annan Was approved at a resolution assembly
of the UN General Assembly as part II of Annan’s UN reform, under the strengthening
of the united nations future operations. The resolution emphasizes the alignment of
priorities of all the United Nations organs with the must talk about MDGs (Annan,
2002).21
20 MESQUITA, B.B. De., MORROW, J., SIVERSON, R.M. and SMITH, A., an institutional explanation of the
democratic peace. American political science review;vol.93.no .4,1999
21 ANNAN, Kofi, strengthening of the united nations: An agenda for further change , report of the secretary general ,
2002 http://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/images/nepad/a-res-57-300.pdf
22 LUND, Michael S., conflict prevention: theory in pursuit of policy and practice. the sage handbook of conflict
resolution, 2009
19
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
working towards realizing this peace settlements, government envoys, state groups,
regional organizations, the United Nations or non-governmental organizations as well as
non state actors are included in the facilitation to achieve peace, for instance, in the
negotiation leading up to a peace accord for Mozambique .as for peacekeeping, it is an
age old activity that has transformed overtime due to its significance in the operation of
the UN in the last decades, its transformation had grown from traditional military model
of observing ceasefire and force separation after inter-state wars, to a more complex
method ,which now includes military and civilians working together to build and
maintain peace in dangerous aftermath of civil conflicts.
The success of conflict prevention and peacemaking are often quiet and politically
discreet. The implementers of these successes are often not brought to the limelight ,but
just to provide a courtesy of their efforts, those personalities are made the personal
envoys and representatives of the secretary-general (RSGs) or special representatives of
the secretary-general (SRSGs) they are the heroes and heroines that have complemented
the diplomatic initiatives of member states of the UN and at other times have taken into
account that member states could not readily duplicate, for example ,the ceasefire
achievement in the Islamic republic of Iran - Iraq war in 1988,the freeing of the last
western hostage in Lebanon in 1991 and the avoidance of war between the Islamic
republic of Iran and Afghanistan in 1998.
20
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
conclude that long preventive strategies are necessary complements to short term
initiatives, prior to the climax of the cold war, the united nations peace keeping
operations mostly had traditional cease fire monitoring mandates and no direct peace
building responsibilities, thus, limiting the entry and execution strategies or sequence of
events and decision leading to united nations deployment as a straightforward jacket,
which included war, ceasefire, invitation to monitor ceasefire compliance and
deployment of military observers or units. At the same time, significant efforts continued
for a political settlement in the improvement of the above mentioned initiatives.
All peace and security related issues on the role of the United Nations around the
world became a deep-rooted strategy for thorough reform as the result of their
straightforwardness, which in real sense lacked ‘plan B’ and posed serious risks to the
intelligence and deployment requirements to peacekeeping. But traditional peacekeeping
which treats the symptoms rather than sources of conflict has no bulletin exit strategy and
associated peacemaking was often slow to make progress. As a result, traditional
peacemaking has remained in place for over 50 years (as in Cyprus, the Middle East and
India/Pakistan). By the standard of more complex operations, they are relatively low cost
and politically easier to maintain than to remove, however, they are also difficult to
justify unless accompanied by series and sustained peacemaking efforts that seek to
reform a ceasefire accord into a durable and lasting peace settlement.23
23LATIF , DILEK, the united nations changing role in the post cold war era: eastern Mediterranean university, 1999 ,
http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/44/670/8528.pdf
21
CHAPTER 3: The United Nations Conflict Management and Prevention
precisely what the UN has been increasingly called upon to do after some horrible
experience.
Against this background a loose consensus has emerged about the need to bring
the political, developmental and humanitarian sides of the UN closer together in an effort
to make peace building efforts more coherent. The challenges has been defined in terms
of how best to harness the expertise and resources in these respective policy fields, which
are all important in preventing violent conflict and rebuilding war-torn societies. The
efforts however, are proven difficult.24
The need to secure and maintain peace is still a work in progress and with great
assistance from the local government and local organizations, the future of conflict
resolution might be very successful and permanent,
24 See 27
22
CHAPTER 4: The United Nations Intervention
The UN family is led by the Office of the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator
for Sudan and is composed of the following individual agencies:
23
CHAPTER 4: The United Nations Intervention
The success of the FAO relies on effective coordination across various institutions
also partners perhaps more than most other UN agencies. It has noticed major
breakdowns across internal and external agencies regarding program planning and
implementation, lack of incentive to collaborate effectively, and no indicators of success
for constituents to strive towards. The FAO is now taking the lead in establishing these
catalytic steps that will help not only this individual agency, but also the UN System as a
whole. Funding received in 2003 was $3,103,476 compared to $18,907,587 needed25.
24
CHAPTER 4: The United Nations Intervention
post-conflict environment.”The total funding required for UNMAS in 2003 was $8.5
million and amazingly not one dollar of funding was actually raised!27
In 2003 the WHO required a total of $12 million while they received a total of $4
million28.
27 http://www.unsudanig.org/system/index.jsp?agency=UNMAS
28 http://www.unsudanig.org/system/index.jsp?agency=WHO
25
CHAPTER 5: Proposed Unamis Tactics
With regard to the mission structures, the SG stressed that UNAMIS would reflect
a multipurpose dimension ,with a wide range of components all of which would be
aligned with the UN agencies operating in the country, he highlighted politically, civil
affairs, military, civilian police, rule of law, human rights, public information, electoral
assistance, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, sustainable development,
mine action, gender, recovery, return, sustainability, development, and personal conduct.
26
CHAPTER 5: Proposed Unamis Tactics
, on 28 April 2005, the AMIS force in Darfur was increased by the AU Peace and
Security Council to a total of 6,171 military personnel and 1,560 civilian police. By
September 2006, UNMIS military and police components were at full strength at 8,727
troops, 695 military observers, 186 staff officers, and 666 police officers.
On 17 May 2011, the Secretary-General urged the parties and the Security
Council to consider a three-month extension of UNMIS due to ongoing security concerns
in South Sudan that were directly related to security issues that the North and South had
to address together. In his report to the Security Council (S/2011/314) the Secretary
General explained that this period would allow the mission to begin downsizing its
presence in Khartoum while assisting the parties in seeking resolution to the ongoing
security issues, as well as the residual CPA and post-referendum issues, including finding
a mutually acceptable arrangement, for monitoring the border. On 31 May 2011, the
Secretary-General transmitted a letter from the Government of Sudan (GOS) to the
Security Council (S/2011/333), announcing the Government of Sudan’s decision to
terminate the presence of UNMIS as of 9 July 2011.
27
CHAPTER 5: Proposed Unamis Tactics
The UN does not have a strong chain of command in place to create the sense of
accountability and responsibility necessary for permanent and successful execution of the
organization’s agendas in Sudan. According to Don Peterson of his time in Sudan, the
top UN official in Khartoum had the title of UN coordinator. As far as was observable,
the coordinator was not empowered to direct any of the agency heads on what to do. The
only power at the disposal of the UN coordinator was apparently the power of persuasion
which, to state the obvious, will not always be successful.
A high-level official of the United Nations gave the account that a more assertive
approach would make it even more difficult for UN agencies to accomplish their mission.
Ultimately the UN effort in Sudan is much like a bunch of very talented players trying to
win a game without actually playing against any opponent. These players can play hard,
but they have a healthy and well warranted fear of playing “hard ball”. The chances of
28
CHAPTER 5: Proposed Unamis Tactics
such a team overcoming a formidable opponent are extremely slim—so far the team has
not beaten the odds.
Inefficient land travel has posed serious problems for the delivery of UN care. In
one example, World Food Program (WFP) Director Khalid Adly reported that a relief
train to Wau had not even reached its final destination due to repeated instances of
looting while en route. Only 300 of the train’s load of 1500 metric tons of grain were
delivered to intended targets. Even if the SPLA leadership in the South intended to honor
its agreement to protect the train, it could not control its local commanders. The sad
reality is that malnutrition levels are already so high that that people are utterly desperate
leaving the looting of trains full of food a near certainty. Given this status, it no longer
made sense to continue sending food by train; however, the next alternative would be air
delivery which is extremely expensive by comparison. The additional financial strain
consequently imposed on UN donors can easily lead to insufficient funding. Although in
many locations people have become totally dependent on airlift and airdrop operations,
individual needs often cannot be met. On the basis of such news, which is being
corroborated by many different locations, extremely serious food shortages are likely to
occur.
29
CHAPTER 5: Proposed Unamis Tactics
and should also be accorded sufficient time and adequate resources in order to make
proper investigations and conclusions.
Unfortunately it appears that the strategy of the UN is flawed in places where that
are still experiencing war. The UN’s passive approach to providing support is great for
situations when battle has subsided. It is under these conditions that humanitarian access
is the greatest and the UN is perhaps the best organization imaginable to come to the
rescue of those in need. to become more effective, the UN must identify the root cause
of the conflict and treat it from there to avoid any resurgence or reoccurrence in the near
future. a mechanism for attracting the international community and their leverage to put
down the antics of the parties at war should also be put in place to remind and prevent
bad people from walking free from the trouble they caused, it is a huge so focus should
therefore be put on goals more within the scope of reasons such as to embark on more
aggressive fundraising efforts and introduce a meaningful chain of command within the
UN to facilitate inter-agency coordination for a more effective and permanent outcome .
30
CHAPTER 6: Conclusion
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Sudan has experienced civil unrest for so long that it has become a pattern withing
the country’s political society. I believe that this paper has provided the reader with the
background knowledge to understanding the issues of the Sudan civil war and how it
came to existence. The analysis shows my fair opinion about the UN operation in Sudan
regarding its success or failure based on the UN intervention or role mentioned,
particularly in peace and security and technical benchmarks in which expectations were
aligned to address and achieve lasting peace and humanitarian relief.
My analysis critically evaluates the situation that brought about the crisis in Sudan
and I applaud the Sudanese and the UN for coming to terms on the agreement of ending
the UNMIS mission after the completion of UNMIS mandate. This clearly speaks to the
fact that something positive has happened, whether it is permanent or not, it shows that
the Sudanese have agreed to take their own peace and security and other important issues
under their own control, which to a larger extent was the sole purpose of UN intervention,
but did the conclusion of UNMIS lead to permanent peace?
31
CHAPTER 6: Conclusion
The UN mission in the Sudan accomplished lots of tasks but not permanently,
obviously the UN lack of competence in the case of Sudan is drawn from ignoring the
persistent confrontation in the red zones or flashpoint areas in Sudan and conducting
secession process of southern Sudan climaxing the UN mission tasked with the
responsibility of reaping lasting and durable peace in the Sudan. Establishing new
mission in southern Sudan clearly shows that the previously concluded mission was not
completely resolved and that the conflict had restarted again. I believe that as a peace
body, the UN should have tried to squash out the fire before separating the two sides
because the tension between the two side was bound to instigate into another round of
conflict, which it did .allowing the secession of southern Sudan before attempting to
settle scores in those flashpoint areas was a bad move on the side of the united nation,
because no matter how good and successful you are at keeping peace, without rooting out
and dissolving the root cause of the problem, the probability of reoccurrence is very high
and that is what my paper have tried to show case here, that the united nation may have
put in a lot of effort into keeping peace in Sudan but because the most crucial step was
neglected ,it brought about disrupt and a second civil war.
With the new mission established in southern Sudan ,the strategy is now
underlining the gains made by the UN in the Sudan and as the result of this very issue
that cannot be excused from the bigger picture of the Sudan saga, the reformed image of
the united nation may have been tainted. With the secession of south Sudan, a part that
constituted huge portion of the initial UN Sudan mission, success cannot be claimed
because the threats posed by the uprising conflicts in these new areas have the potential
to destroy the entire UN image and the previously achieved peace. I believe that the
32
CHAPTER 6: Conclusion
success achieved by the UN in the Sudan settlement would be permanent if the UN had
focused on resolving the tension before the succession of south Sudan, they wouldn’t
have had to embark on a second mission in south Sudan. Because the agreement that
ended the first civil war in 1972 did not get rid of the tension that had originally caused it
at first leading to another start up of north south second civil war which lasted from 1983
to 2005.although the second war is over now, the tension is still in air between these two
country.
The crucial point to get across is not to dwell on arguing about the possibility of
war, but to make the united nations and the Sudanese people realize that if the tension
between the two country is not resolved starting from the root cause, the probability of
them slipping back into war no matter the form of agreement that is reached, will
continue to be high.
33
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38
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express gratitude to all my professors for the guidance and patience
through my masters studies in Jilin University. It was a privilege and a great experience
to be taught by them. My gratitude also goes to my supervisor Mr. Liu Duben for his
directions and patience, also my co supervisor Mr. Wu Yen Fei who have guided me and
whose support was essential in order to make this thesis complete.
I want to also appreciate other lecturers who have empowered and enlightened me in one
way or another, Dr Raj Verma and Dr Wang Li both of whom have always been very
supportive and kind to students, Mr. Jung for his spectacular way of imbibing knowledge
to student, making it very fun and easy to understand even the hardest topic, Dr Alex for
his never discouraging attitude toward every attempt, makes it comfortable for everyone
to participate and share their views on topics discussed in class.
39