United nations peacekeeping is a contentious issue. What is mostly agreed on though, is thatthe brave men and women around the world risking their lives in peacekeeping missions around the world deserve the best security and protection the international community can offer. However, little research has been focused on the reasons behind violence against peacekeepers. This thesis theorizes that the presence of a third-party military operation that threatens theoperational capabilities of rebel groups has the potential to cause an increase in rebel violenceagainst a United Nations Peacekeeping operation in the same conflict. Through examiningconflict dynamics in the cases of Mali and the Central African Republic utilizing of astructured, focused comparison, the hypothesized relationship and causal explanations wereput to the test. The expectation was that in Mali, the high levels of violence would be explainedby the effectiveness of the French counterinsurgency operation in the country. In the CentralAfrican Republic, the contrary was expected. However, the hypothesis could not be confirmed. Due to some rather large caveats and limitations, the research gap could not be satisfied. Nonetheless, the study creates plenty for avenues of future research, and opportunities to learnfrom the challenges encountered.