The perpetual conflict in Darfur, Sudan, which started anew in 2003, had dire humanitarian consequences and threatened international peace and security. The UN Security Council, which has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, adopted Resolution 1769 on 31 July 2007 and authorised a 26 000 person-strong joint African Union/United Nations hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to take over from AMIS (the African Union peace operation in Darfur). UNAMID was established with dual command and control linked to both the African Union and the United Nations and both organisations would have an equal say in its mandate and operations. Given this unique and unprecedented arrangement between a regional organisation and the United Nations in terms of maintaining international peace and security, the aim of this research was to: • Understand and describe the political motivations/reasons why the United Nations formed a hybrid peace operation with the African Union; • Establish in which way the aforementioned impacted on future efforts of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security, especially on the African continent; and, based on this, • To determine whether or not hybrid operations were a viable alternative for the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. By means of a thorough analysis of the theoretical underpinnings of international peace and security, an assessment of the peace and security architecture of the United Nations and the African Union, an investigation into the origins of the Darfur conflict, an examination of the structure and mandate of UNAMID, and through an empirical investigation, a new theoretical proposition is provided in the conclusion of the thesis. It is concluded that the UNAMID model, in practical terms, is not an optimal mechanism for the United Nations to use to maintain international peace and security because it suffers from numerous internal political inequities and operational inadequacies. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Political Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The perpetual conflict in Darfur, Sudan, which started anew in 2003, had dire humanitarian consequences and threatened international peace and security. The UN Security Council, which has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, adopted Resolution 1769 on 31 July 2007 and authorised a 26 000 person-strong joint African Union/United Nations hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) to take over from AMIS (the African Union peace operation in Darfur). UNAMID was established with dual command and control linked to both the African Union and the United Nations and both organisations would have an equal say in its mandate and operations. Given this unique and unprecedented arrangement between a regional organisation and the United Nations in terms of maintaining international peace and security, the aim of this research was to: • Understand and describe the political motivations/reasons why the United Nations formed a hybrid peace operation with the African Union; • Establish in which way the aforementioned impacted on future efforts of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security, especially on the African continent; and, based on this, • To determine whether or not hybrid operations were a viable alternative for the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. By means of a thorough analysis of the theoretical underpinnings of international peace and security, an assessment of the peace and security architecture of the United Nations and the African Union, an investigation into the origins of the Darfur conflict, an examination of the structure and mandate of UNAMID, and through an empirical investigation, a new theoretical proposition is provided in the conclusion of the thesis. It is concluded that the UNAMID model, in practical terms, is not an optimal mechanism for the United Nations to use to maintain international peace and security because it suffers from numerous internal political inequities and operational inadequacies. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Political Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012