2023: A challenging year for UN peacekeepers in Africa

United Nations  peacekeeping missions have struggled in 2023 to protect civilians and bring stability to the countries they operate in, especially in Africa.

In countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR), the UN troops have had little success.

According to some analysts, the UN missions that operate under strict guidelines have been overwhelmed in some of these countries.

"A clear case in point is Mali, [the security situation] has not been resolved because day by day the violence seems to be worsening," Adib Saani, director of the Jatikay Center for Human Security and Peace Building, told DW. "It looks almost like the [UN] mission is helpless."

For analysts like Saani, recent poor performances of UN missions in parts of Africa are disappointing.

"They have failed consistently to deal with the cycle of violence in those countries and the very reason for which they were brought in in the first place," Saani said.

UN peacekeepers restricted by mandates

UN missions have clear cut operational mandates that restrict their activities. For example, UN peacekeeping operations are not considered tools of enforcement.

They are not allowed to use lethal force except in self-defense or defense of their given mandate. Some experts blame the "weak" mandate for the peacekeeping struggles.

"I wouldn't say that the UN missions in Africa are all failing, but rather it is the nature of their mandate that limits their efficacy or effectiveness in the areas they are meant to operate," Fidel Amakye Owusu, an expert on conflict resolution, told DW.

He stressed that the limit to the operations of UN missions sometimes puts them in an awkward position where citizens consider them counterproductive to stabilizing volatile situations.

In Mali, citizens turned against the UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA) this year, and in June, the junta-led government demanded the mission's withdrawal, which was granted.

The mission was deployed a decade ago to quell separatist and Islamist insurgencies in northern Mali, but the military government accused the forces of escalating tensions.

In October, the UN said the mission is on track to leave the West African country by December 31 and "is fully committed to respecting this time frame."

The last German Bundeswehr soldiers deployed to Mali as part of the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping mission there have already departed. They left Mali this month.

Germany deployed a total of 20,000 soldiers over the course of the peacekeeping mission — representing the second-largest foreign deployment of Bundeswehr troops behind the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Governments to blame for UN mission's poor showing

Owusu said the governments, such as the one in Mali, are also to blame for jeopardizing the operation of missions.

"In the case of Mali, you would realize that in recent times, because of the coming in of Wagner, the UN mission in general was limited as to what it could do."

The Wagner Group, a private military firm often described as a Russian mercenary force, is preferred by Mali's military rulers to help them deal with the jihadist threats there.

Conflict situations in Africa are very fluid and unpredictable, and according to Owusu, the nature of UN mandates makes it very difficult to react in volatile situations.

"So mostly, it appears as if they are not doing their best," Owusu said. "However, it has to do with the limits of their mandate rather than how effective forces are involved or the mission itself."

UN peacekeeping missions still needed in Africa

However, Owusu warned against making UN missions unwanted and demanding their exit as Mali and Congo did, saying it could become counterproductive.

In the case of Mali and the Sahel region, "we still find an increased incidence of terrorism," Owusu said. Members of the extremist group, "Islamic State," are still around and, he says, "quite emboldened and capturing territories every day, every week."

The UN missions are coming under pressure, and their relevance is being questioned, but according to Mohamed Amara at the University of Letters and Human Sciences in Bamako, their role is still critical.

He told DW he is worried, for example, that once missions fail and exit, governments may struggle to fill the void left behind by the withdrawal of the peacekeeping forces.

"It is important to emphasize that MINUSMA, somewhere, acts as a buffer between the Malian authorities and the rest of the territory. If MINUSMA leaves, it will therefore be necessary to replace all these security posts occupied by MINUSMA," Amara added.

Winning the hearts and minds of locals

But peacekeepers have also not done much to win the trust of their host countries. Some of them have been accused of sexual exploitation and abuse.

The UN sent home a unit of 60 Tanzanian peacekeepers over allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in the Central African Republic this year.

Saani said that when such allegations of abuses aren't investigated and perpetrators not punished quickly, it complicates the work of the missions.

"For example, in the Darfur region there were some allegations of exploitation by peacekeepers, which I must say really dragged the peacekeeping mission in that area into disrepute," he said.

"So trust is, I must say, a problem. And there's another angle to it. Some feel that it is a ploy by Western powers to reassert, so to speak, their authority and control over the countries in which these peacekeepers operate."

Another concern is the political instability in some countries where the missions operate. According to Saani, nothing new would be achieved if there was a lack of effective democratic systems.

UN reforms needed

"One of the reasons is political instability. You would only succeed when there is solid commitment politically. If there is no such commitment, it becomes very difficult for them," Saani said.

Owusu is urging reforms in the operations of the UN missions if they are to succeed in the coming years in Africa.

"Maybe UN missions going forward must be redefined, maybe to expand their mandate or to make them more fluid," Owusu said.

Saani agrees, stressing that the work of the UN missions is still relevant in Africa.

"I can't deny the fact that Africa cannot do it alone. We are not self reliant. However, what I think should happen is for the UN to restructure," Saani said.