By Brian Okoth
There were at least 24 peace operations in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, a United Nations report has revealed.
World over, there were a total of 64 multilateral peace operations conducted in 38 countries, the report released on Monday indicated.
In Africa, new operations were launched in Somalia, Guinea-Bissau, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.
In the DRC, the operation was launched to restore peace in eastern part of the country, where M23 rebels and other insurgent groups had taken control.
“On April 1, 2022, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was officially reconfigured as the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), with a mandate that includes supporting the national government in the fight against al-Shabab, developing national capacity and supporting the peace process,” said the report.
In Ethiopia’s Tigray region, previously marred by conflict, the African Union launched the Monitoring, Verification and Compliance Mission (AU-MVCM) in Mekelle following an agreement between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
In Guinea-Bissau, the Stabilisation Support Mission was established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) following a coup attempt against President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
The UN report said relations between some peace operations and host governments reached a “new low in 2022”.
“The problem was intensified by public demonstrations demanding the closure of UN peacekeeping operations in the DRC and Mali, which the demonstrators alleged had been ineffective,” said the report.
The perception that peacekeeping missions are ineffective will likely hamper future efforts to restore normalcy in conflict-hit parts, the UN report said.
Besides the 24 peace operations that were launched in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, eighteen were launched in Europe, 14 in the Middle East and North Africa, five in Asia and three in the Americas.
“The number of international personnel deployed to multilateral peace operations around the world increased by 2.79 per cent during 2022, reaching 114,984 by December 31,” the report, which was unveiled on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, said.
