From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#1 (August 1998), page 22

United Nations peace missions in Africa

WESTERN SAHARA: When Spain announced its withdrawal from Western Sahara in 1975, Morocco (and Mauritania briefly) took over the territory. But the Polisario Front pursued an armed struggle for independence. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was proclaimed in February 1976 and in 1984 won the recognition of the OAU. In September 1991, a UN-brokered settlement provided for a cease-fire and a referendum to enable the population to choose between independence and integration with Morocco. The referendum is tentatively scheduled for December 1998. Under the accord, the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, was assigned responsibility over all matters relating to ensuring a free and fair referendum, including identifying and registering eligible voters.

SIERRA LEONE: A few months after the 25 May 1997 military coup against the democratically elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), sent in the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). Supported by the UN Security Council and the Commonwealth, ECOWAS reached an agreement with the military junta on 22 October to reinstate President Kabbah by 22 April 1998. However, the junta reneged and in February 1998 ECOMOG toppled the junta, restoring President Kabbah in March. On 13 July 1998, the UN Security Council established the UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone, UNOMSIL, to monitor the military and security situation.

LIBERIA: Civil war in Liberia began on 24 December 1989, when rebels led by Mr. Charles Taylor took up arms against President Samuel Doe. ECOWAS intervened with a military presence, ECOMOG. President Doe was killed in 1990, but the opposition forces were divided into several warring factions and the conflict continued. ECOWAS, with the support of the UN, worked out a peace plan through a series of negotiations in Yamoussoukro, Cotonou and Abuja, and elections were held in July 1997. Mr. Taylor won the elections, which were monitored by the UN and other international observers. The war had displaced more than half the pre-war population of 2.3 million people. The UN Peacebuilding Support Office in Liberia, set up on 15 December 1997, is providing support for reconciliation, resettlement and reintegration.

ANGOLA: After almost 15 years of civil war between the MPLA government and UNITA and with the end of the Cold War, the first UN Angola Verification Mission, UNAVEM, was set up in January 1989 to monitor the withdrawal of Cuban troops. A larger mission, UNAVEM II, was set up in May 1991 to monitor a peace plan agreed by the warring parties in Lisbon earlier that year and to organize elections. The MPLA government won the 1992 elections, which UNITA refused to recognize, and this led to the resumption of civil war. However, after UN-brokered negotiations, the two sides signed the Lusaka Protocol in November 1994 and UNAVEM III was established in February 1995 to monitor the peace process. The UN Observer Mission in Angola, MONUA, set up in July 1997 to help consolidate national reconciliation, succeeded UNAVEM III. Currently UNITA is under Security Council sanctions imposed on 1 July 1998 for failing to implement fully the terms of the Lusaka peace plan.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Following military mutinies in 1996, the Presidents of Gabon, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali visited Bangui, at the request of President Ange-Félix Patassé, and mediated a truce - the Bangui Agreements - signed on 25 January 1997. An African force, the Inter-African Mission to Monitor the Bangui Agreements, MISAB, was deployed in Bangui in February 1997 to oversee implementation. The UN Security Council welcomed MISAB. With the end of MISAB, the Security Council on 15 April 1998 formally established the UN Mission in the Central African Republic, MINURCA, to pursue peacekeeping and facilitate preparations for elections.

SOMALIA: After the overthrow of President Siad Barre in January 1991, rival factions began fighting for state power. The civil war quickly degenerated into anarchy, resulting in thousands of deaths and widespread threat of starvation. The country has been without a central government since then. In April 1992 the UN Operation in Somalia, UNOSOM, was established to facilitate humanitarian aid to people affected by war and famine. Continuing insecurity led to the setting up in December 1992 of the US-led Unified Task Force, UNITAF, to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid. UNITAF was in turn followed by UNOSOM II in March 1993, which was withdrawn in March 1995 due to continuing warfare. The UN Political Office for Somalia, UNPOS, based in Nairobi, Kenya, was established in 1995, to monitor the situation and maintain contact with the warring parties with a view to bringing about national reconciliation.

RWANDA: In October 1990 the Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) launched a military campaign against President Juvenal Habyarimana's government. After several years of negotiations, supported by the OAU and facilitated by Tanzania, a peace plan was signed on 4 August 1993. The government and RPF called for a neutral international force to facilitate implementation of the peace agreement. In October 1993 the Security Council established the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda, UNAMIR, to help achieve national reconciliation, among other things, according to the terms of the Arusha Peace Agreement. But the peace efforts were torpedoed when on 6 April 1994 a plane carrying President Habyarimana and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of neighbouring Burundi was shot down on its approach to Kigali, killing the two presidents. This triggered the genocide in which between 500,000 and 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in three months. The genocide ended when the RPF marched into Kigali and overthrew the government. With the agreement of the new RPF government, UNAMIR left in March 1996.

BURUNDI: The country was plunged into a new period of crisis when the first elected Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, was killed in a coup on 21 October 1993. The crisis intensified when President Cyprien Ntaryamira, returning from a regional summit in Tanzania, was killed together with President Juvenal Habyarimana of neighbouring Rwanda in the 6 April 1994 plane crash. Insecurity continued to paralyze the country and in July 1996, Major Pierre Buyoya overthrew President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya. Civil war intensified as Hutu rebels tried to oust President Buyoya's government. However, the warring parties, meeting in Arusha in June 1998 under the mediation of former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, agreed to a "suspension of hostilities" to allow for a peaceful settlement. The UN Office in Bujumbura, UNOB, was established in November 1993 to facilitate the restoration of constitutional rule, while a UN observer mission, established in April-May 1996, promotes human rights by gathering information on rights violations.

[Back to index] [To Volume12#1 -- full graphics]

Material from this article may be freely reproduced, with attribution to "Africa Recovery, United Nations".
We would appreciate a copy of the reproduction.

Africa Recovery
Room S-931
United Nations
New York, NY 10017 USA

Tel: (212) 963-6857
Fax: (212) 963-4556
Email: africa_recovery@un.org

Website: www.africarecovery.org
Contact us by email: africa_recovery@un.org