Over the past decades, peace missions of the United Nations on the African continent succeed and failed. This thesis attempts to ascertain how success or failure can be explained. For assessment, the success criteria are derived from the academic literature and subsequently implemented into the hypotheses. Relevant indicators concerning peacekeeping success are used in African cases. The effectiveness of UN missions is fully investigated on UNOCI in Côte d'Ivoire, MONUC in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and UNMIL in Liberia. Then the results were compared in tested hypotheses. The findings show that host country's consent and willingness to cooperate, alongside the active engagement of major power, a clear, appropriate and achievable mandate, and the consistency of the UN's commitment to conflict resolution proved to be the most important factors for the peacekeeping effectiveness. The diplomacy and attention, given to underlying causes of conflicts, also contributed to the successful outcomes. The ethnic component and participating regional organisations, in contrast, overcomplicated the peace efforts but did not have a direct impact on missions' effectiveness. The effect of the missions' duration was found to be irrelevant, while ties to success with criteria of national ownership and...

Armed conflict and violence against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has persisted for years starting in the 1990s. The Eastern, Western and North-Eastern parts of the country have seen the presence of a multiplicity of armed groups that have caused an escalation of the humanitarian crisis. The United Nations, in the interest of civilian protection, peacekeeping and security sector reform in the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a mission under The United Nations Organisational Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). In spite of this mission, civilians continued in the Congo to suffer attacks and to endure human rights abuses by the armed militants that are fighting government and the government forces in shape of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). This study examines the problematique of the mandate of MONUC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in light of the challenges that have made its success debatable. The success of MONUC has become debatable in light of the fact that in spite of its presence and implementation in the DRC, between 2007 and 2010, conflict and the violence against civilians escalated to unprecedented levels. This study examines the causalities of the failure and observes its effect while making propositions towards amelioration of the challenges and the failure of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. / Political Sciences / M.A. (International Politics)

Women’s rights and female security is a growing concern in several conflicts around the world. In Congo, conflict-related violence has long been used as weapon and Congo has today become known as the “rape capital” beacuse of these war rapes. Further more, reports from South Sudan states that UN troops has ignored pleas for help by women being raped. United Nation Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was implemented by the UN Security Council to combat conflict-related violence and add a gender perspective in UN Peacekeeping operations.  The aim of this thesis is to analyze the impact of UNSCR 1325 by comparing UN Peacekeeping operations’ mandates and actions before and after the resolution was implemented. The thesis will also analyse the UN’s action to eliminate conflict-based sexual violence and war rape. The peacekeeping operations that will be discussed are MINURSO (West Sahara) MONUSCO (Congo) and UNMISS (South Sudan). In order to do so, the theory of Female Security Studies [FSS] and Militarized Masculinity will be applied. In our thesis, the UN’s actions were found to be insufficient. The main factors resulting in this insufficiency was found to be the systematic failure to take the actions needed to implement UNSCR 1325, such as the increasing the number of female involvement in peacekeeping and peacebuilding processes. In large, the impact of UNSCR 1325 could have been bigger if the resolution had been implemented more efficiently. While the written changes were significant with the implementation of the resolution, these changes were not as visible among the actual actions taken in the peacekeeping operations in West Sahara, Congo and South Sudan.

國際社會目前面臨如何減少全世界難民數量的問題，同時也面臨許多難民帶來的問題。為了要使國際社會的難民問題得到緩解，越來越多的國際人道救援機構在難民問題相當嚴重的區域，進行著人道救援行動，期望能改善大多數難民的生活狀況，並在許多方面給予難民支援，最終目標希望能根本減少全世界的難民數目，或是讓難民也能正常生活。 剛果民主共和國正是目前國際人道救援行動的主要目標之一，因為剛果民主共和國的鄰國多為長期內戰衝突的國家，因此有大量的難民逃至剛果民主共和國境內。再加上剛果民主共和國內部的種族衝突也在大國因為自身國家利益考量，未能及時阻止衝突蔓延的情況下，剛果民主共和國內戰也延續了十年，造成剛果民主共和國政府自身難保，而境內的難民問題亦日趨嚴重。 為協助剛果民主共和國政府處理相關的難民問題，國際人道救援行動投入大量人力與物力安頓難民的生活，並協助逃往國外的難民回到剛果民主共和國境內。在聯合國安理會的維和部隊，以及國際人道救援機構，如聯合國難民署與人權觀察等組織的協助之下，受到剛果民主共和國內戰衝突的難民，皆逐漸在剛果民主共和國境內衝突趨緩之際，重新回到家園或原居住地生活。而藉著國際人道機構對於剛果民主共和國難民的救援行動，也發現國際人道救援救援網絡漸形完整，因而一方面讓許多原本隱而不顯的人道危機，得到更多外界的關心與幫助，使國際人道救援行動能更加順利，快速改善當地的難民處境，另外一方面則也顯現出國際人道救援機構在難民問題上的重要地位。 / International society now is facing the difficulties of how to reduce the number of refugees and also the problems that caused by refugees. To help the refugees, more and more international humanitarian aid agencies conducting the humanitarian aid operations in the conflict zones. Their operations are to ameliorate the conditions of refugee’s life and the most important thing is help them repatriated to their homeland. The bloody conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) made the international humanitarian aid agencies aware that the government of DRC had no ability to manage the influx of the refugees from neighbors. So the humanitarian aid agencies spend lots of energy to help the refugees from DRC or in DRC to be repatriated or to help them integrate with locals. On the aid operations that international humanitarian aid agencies did to the refugees in DRC, we found that the network of international humanitarian aid becomes more and more complete. Those operations helped gather more attention from publics, so we can avoid the humanitarian crisis in the future or make the refugee’s situations better. And the importance of international humanitarian aid agencies is also evident in the case of refugee problem in DRC.

Armed conflict and violence against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has persisted for years starting in the 1990s. The Eastern, Western and North-Eastern parts of the country have seen the presence of a multiplicity of armed groups that have caused an escalation of the humanitarian crisis. The United Nations, in the interest of civilian protection, peacekeeping and security sector reform in the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a mission under The United Nations Organisational Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). In spite of this mission, civilians continued in the Congo to suffer attacks and to endure human rights abuses by the armed militants that are fighting government and the government forces in shape of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). This study examines the problematique of the mandate of MONUC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in light of the challenges that have made its success debatable. The success of MONUC has become debatable in light of the fact that in spite of its presence and implementation in the DRC, between 2007 and 2010, conflict and the violence against civilians escalated to unprecedented levels. This study examines the causalities of the failure and observes its effect while making propositions towards amelioration of the challenges and the failure of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. / Political Sciences / M.A. (International Politics)

The African continent has been beset with violent conflicts, civil wars and extended periods of instability. The continent’s future depends on the capacity to prevent, manage and resolve conflict. Reacting to conflict has proven highly expensive for the international community and has strengthened the case for a greater focus on conflict prevention. This study will examine the role, relevance and success of preventive diplomacy in responding to and preventing violent and protracted conflicts in Africa, in particular recent international efforts to seek a concrete, comprehensive and all-inclusive peace settlement to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had resulted in what many analysts considered to be ‘Africa’s First World War’. The aim and objective of this study will be to assess the role of preventive diplomacy, in particular efforts by the international community to resolve the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The study of the success of preventive diplomacy in responding to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo will cover three distinct phases. The first phase will assess the historical development of the crisis in the former Zaïre dating back from 1997 to 1998 and initial steps that were taken to address the conflict. The next phase will cover the period dating from 1999-2000 following the signing of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement, while the final phase will assess developments and efforts to secure peace by the international community from 2001 until 2004, while providing for a brief discussion on possible future developments. The research will commence by examining various theoretical contributions and insights produced on conflict prevention and the concept of preventive diplomacy. The examination of conflict prevention and preventive diplomacy will be rooted in theoretical insights produced by Michael Lund (1996) and other influential contributions on preventive diplomacy. The theoretical framework for this study will be based on Michael Lund’s model of preventive diplomacy. Although Lund’s conceptual framework provides a valuable insight into the theory of preventive diplomacy an additional theoretical consideration may be included into his assessment. Lund’s theoretical framework fails to address the impact of psychological variables and the extent to which prevailing conflict attitudes may exert a negative influence on a conflict situation. This may render the effectiveness of preventive diplomacy at the level of unstable peace obsolete if it fails to take prevailing conflict attitudes into account. This dissertation will also propose the inclusion of social-psychological approaches to augment the strategy of preventive diplomacy as developed by Lund. Very little conclusive and in-depth research has been conducted on how psychological variables, particularly conflict attitudes such as negative images, attitudes, perceptions and conflict behaviour can fuel and exacerbate a conflict situation, especially conflicts in Africa and how this may derail the success of preventive diplomacy in resolving such severe conflicts. In the numerous efforts to secure peace in the embattled Democratic Republic of the Congo scant consideration, evaluation and analysis has been produced on the way in which conflict attitudes such as misperception, fear, distrust, hostility and suspicion, became not only a major stumbling block to the peace process, but also negatively affected the outcome of the various peace agreements that were negotiated. One of the core arguments this dissertation will posit is that preventive diplomacy has not been successfully applied in resolving conflicts in Africa, and will continue to fail, unless greater emphasis is placed on structural prevention, that includes an assessment and strategy for responding to conflict attitudes, such as misperception, hostility, suspicion, fear and distrust. It could be argued that preventive diplomacy initiatives when taken alone and independently of a broader strategy of conflict prevention are likely to fail unless they are linked to measures and actions that tackle the deeper or structural causes of conflict. Greater emphasis should be placed on timely and adequate preventive action, through the vigorous promotion of preventive diplomacy, particularly structural prevention. The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is intermittently erupting and will continue to do so, unless the structural causes of the crisis and the various conflict attitudes are effectively dealt with. The study will commence with the theoretical and conceptual framework of the study, consisting of a discussion of conflict, preventive diplomacy, and conflict prevention. The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be discussed as well as the underlying factors that contributed towards the brutal and excessively violent nature the conflict came to assume. The study will also examine the international response to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as the immediate diplomatic efforts initiated to resolve the crisis from 1998-1999, which culminated in the signing of the Lusaka Cease-Fire Agreement on 10 July 1999. An assessment of the intervention efforts initiated by the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other key African states, in particular South Africa will also be undertaken. The impact of psychological variables and the importance of assessing the crucial contribution of social-psychological approaches towards understanding and resolving conflict will be briefly considered with particular reference to the protracted tensions which persisted between Rwanda and the DRC, despite the conclusion of numerous peace agreements between both countries. The final chapter will form an evaluation of the prospects for peace in the DRC beyond 2004 and will conclude the study with particular reference to the extent to which the research questions have been adequately addressed with final recommendations on the role of preventive diplomacy in addressing conflict. / Dissertation (MA (International Relations))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Political Sciences / unrestricted