Escalating threats are increasingly impacting peacekeeping forces deployed in recent years to the Middle East, whether by the United Nations (UN), regional organizations such as the African Union (AU) or those formed as hybrid forces as evident in the joint missions operated by the UN and the AU. In particular, the efficiency and competence of military and civilian peacekeeping missions are seriously threatened in regional states hit by crisis and armed conflicts.
These pressing threats and challenges include being targeted by militias, limited self-defense capability, a multiplicity of raging conflicts, failure to duly accomplish missions, alleged affiliation of these forces with host states - which sometimes resist and obstruct their missions- while at the same time contributing, indirectly and in certain cases, towards funding terrorist groups, as well as a lack of coordination with parallel military forces.
Determinants
Determinants governing the work of peacekeeping forces include facilitation of political processes, protection of civilians, disarming and reintegrating warring parties, building peace and promoting human rights and the rule of law. Approaches pursued include sending observers to monitor the situation in targeted areas, conducting security and military missions to enforce ceasefires as well as building confidence in local authorities. Moreover, these forces are supposed to deploy upon approval from both host states and warring parties and should maintain impartiality except in the case of legitimate self-defense.
Multiple Roles
The most important missions carried out by peacekeeping forces in the Middle East can be summarized as follows:
1- Ending Armed Conflicts. Peacekeeping forces deployed to Libya, and headquartered at the UN Mission in Tunisia since 2014, gradually scaled up their presence on the ground in Libya. In recent months, it planned to increase its size. According to U.N. Special Envoy Ghassan Salamé, in statements delivered on September 8, the organization will send between 150 and 250 blue helmet military personnel to Libya to protect its base in the capital Tripoli as soon as next month, significantly expanding the U.N.’s mission to the country. The beef-up would allow the UN to lead a significant part of its activities in the country and to try to heal a rift between Libya’s UN-backed Tobruk-based government in the east and Tripoli-based government in the west.
2- Protecting Civilians. In South Sudan, for instance, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) deployed less than two years after the independence of the northeastern African state, was primarily involved in protecting civilians during the civil war over the past four years between forces of the government and opposition forces. The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) saved two aid workers and a number of UN staff, and foiled an attempt by armed groups to kidnap civilians. Between December 2013 and July 2016, more than 100 civilians and four U.N. peacekeepers were killed in attacks on U.N. bases when peacekeepers didn’t shoot back, fled, or delayed responding, according to according to data from the U.N.
3- Facilitation of Humanitarian Assistance in Conflict Zones. On June 29, 2017, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution reducing the numbers of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) in Sudan's troubled Darfur region where the conflict which erupted in 2003 between government forces and rebel groups has killed about 300,000 civilians and displaced some 2.5 million others. UNSC Resolution 2363 (2017) reduces the number of peacekeepers by 44 percent and the number of international police by about 27 percent in the Darfur mission. Accordingly, at the end of phase one of the draw-down, the authorized numbers of UNAMID troops and police would be 11,395 and 2,888, respectively; at the end of phase two, 8,735 troops and 2,500 police. [UNAMID currently has an authorized ceiling of 15,845 troops and 3,403 police.] Moreover, UNAMID troops will be redeployed to the Jebel Marra area, which was the scene of a recent wave of violence. Reacting to the cut, the Sudanese foreign ministry, on July 1, said the resolution confirms the Security Council's recognition that Darfur has turned the page of conflict.
4- Fending off Terrorist Attacks. In Mali, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) is tasked with preventing renewed conflict between the government and rebel groups, especially after the Sahel and Sahara region became a breeding ground for extremist groups. Much to the alarm of European capitals, and Paris in particular, some of these groups are al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliates that are posing potential threats to European national security, especially after they carried out attacks on high-profile targets inside Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.
The argument is supported by the fact that peace accords have failed to prevent the expansion of terrorist organizations and extremist groups. That is why the UN Security Council, on September 5, 2017, established a sanctions regime on Mali, introducing a travel ban and assets freeze that will apply to individuals and entities engaged in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the conflict-torn African country, including blocking the 2015 Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali, obstructing deliveries of humanitarian assistance, engaging in violations of human rights law, and using or recruiting children. The resolution is of special significance because the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) suffered the highest number of casualties among all peacekeeping missions in the world due to targeted attacks. Moreover, the African peacekeeping forces aim to weaken Al Shabab militant group in some areas in Somalia.
Obstacles
Obstacles blocking the efforts of peacekeeping missions can be summarized as follows:
1- Attacks by armed groups. In mid-August attacks on the MINUSMA deployed in Timbuktu, central Mali, one soldiers and four militants were killed. Another attack in August killed one peacekeeper, five security guards and a civilian. Earlier in June 2017, militants attacked three peacekeepers in Kidal, northern Mali. The attacks indicate that armed groups in the Sahel and Sahara region, stretching from Sudan in the east to Mauritania in the west, are escalating their activity despite the presence of UN peacekeeping force and a 400-strong French force conducting operations through “soft” border areas to eliminate them.
Moreover, al-Shabaab militant group attacked the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) in a southern base with a car bomb. The group also carried out attacks in neighboring countries including Kenya and Uganda in response to their deployment of troops in Somalia as part of the AU’s peacekeeping force. Concerns about the safety of peacekeeping forces was behind the Security Council’s rejection on December 23, 2016 of an arms embargo on South Sudan.
2- Peacekeeping troops’ limited ability to defend themselves. This is especially because these troops, in some situations, do not understand the political, security and social environment they operate in. This failure is what prompted Abdullah al-Azraq, the undersecretary of Sudan’s foreign ministry, to say that his country made the non-negotiable decision of expelling the UN troops because they are a burden on the Sudanese government as they are unable to protect themselves from gangs that can seize their arms because (the troops) have no motive to fight.
There are views that the Sudanese government, however, is not willing to expel the peacekeeping troops operating in Darfur because their presence ensures a continuous flow of US$1.1 billion annually into Sudan. It said its aim is only to weaken the mission.
3- Widening Conflict Zones. In some cases, there are several conflict fronts in regions where peacekeeping forces are deployed. On June 20, 2017, head of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and UN Special Representative for South Sudan said that South Sudan’s civil war has mutated from a two-way fight between President Salva Kiir and his ousted former deputy Riek Machar to a fragmented conflict, making it harder to put it back together and peace more elusive.
4- Failure to Accomplish Missions. Despite the UNMIS’ improvement in carrying out mandated operations to protect civilians, the peacekeeping troops in South Sudan were frequently criticized after the civil war broke out. The mission came under repeated criticism from active humanitarian aid organizations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) for failing to operate an adequate number of patrols to protect civilians in some areas thus undermining any attempts to establish peace and security in the country. Distressed by the findings of a report on deadly violence in South Sudan's capital in July and the failure of the UN mission to protect civilians, the United Nations fired the commander of the peacekeeping force in South Sudan Lt. Gen. Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki, of Kenya, on November 1, 2016.
Prompted by a similar case of UN mission failure, the US ambassador Nikki Haley, sharply criticised the UN peacekeeping commander in Lebanon Maj Gen Michael Beary, on August 25, 2017 , saying he is “blind” to the spread of an massive flow of illegal weapons from Iran to Hezbollah-dominated southern Lebanon, where neighboring Israel has long complained the militant group operates with impunity.
5- Alleged Affiliation of Peacekeeping forces with Host States. UNAMID, in statement issued on September 11, 2017, denied allegations of “improper handover” of team sites in North Darfur. Earlier, two Darfur armed groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Jibril Ibrahim and Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM), accused the Mission of handing over two former bases in North Darfur state to the notorious Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, an ally of Sudan’s government army. UNAMID said it will take a two-pronged approach incorporating both peacekeeping and stabilization. It said that in line with its mandate, it is reducing the number of military, police and civilian personnel, and has earmarked 11 team sites for closure across Darfur.
6- Host States Obstructing Peacekeeping Missions. For instance, in November 2014, the Sudanese government asked UNAMID to leave the country, and refused to let the peacekeepers visit the village of Tabit in North Darfur to verify persistent allegations of mass rapes. The Sudanese government dismissed the reports saying it would be better to use UNAMID’s budget for promoting development in Darfur.
7- Indirect Contribution towards Terrorist Funding. This represents a new problem for peacekeeping missions. For instance in September 2014, 45 Fijian peacekeepers from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), overseeing a buffer zone in the Golan Heights since 1974, were seized by al-Nusra Front. Thus prompting Qatar to negotiate their release for a huge million ransom. The ransom money supported an extremist group operating in the region, which proves Doha’s ties with al-Nusra and other terror groups, with direct support from Iran.
8- Failure to Coordinate with Parallel Military Forces. This explains why extremist groups continue to carry out attacks in Mali despite the presence of a UN peacekeeping mission, and the formation of an independent 5000-strong Group of Five Sahel (G5 Sahel) Joint Force by Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso, with support from France, to fight terrorist groups designated by the United Nations . The joint force’s mandate also includes fighting illegal drug trade, antiquities smuggling, human trafficking and facilitating illegal migration.
Various Approaches
It can possibly be concluded that the size and efficiency of international and regional peacekeeping forces should be increased to counter challenges facing involved regional states, especially in Somalia, Mali, Darfur, South Sudan, Western Sahara, Lebanon and the Golan Heights. Scaling up their capabilities would speed up efforts to reduce tensions in conflict zones using both civilian and military contributions, a path different from that pursued by the special representatives of the UN Secretary General to achieve comprehensive settlements. Various approaches are therefore needed to improve the performance of peacekeeping forces, including increasing the number of their troops, stepping up protection of their bases, cracking down on criminals attacking them, confronting violations committed by peacekeepers as well as avoiding politicized interventions.
