UNMISS

What the Pandemic Means for UN Peacekeeping Work

April 8, 2020

by Robert Ulrich Nagel and Melanne Verveer

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Covid-19 poses major challenges for people and governments around the world and for the United Nations. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a global cease-fire on March 23 in recognition of the pandemic’s potentially devastating effects on people in conflict-affected nations. Less noticed in the press coverage was the important point …

Covid-19, UN Peacekeeping

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As the UN Strives to Modernize Peacekeeping, the US Still Vows to Cut Funding

April 2, 2018

by Dulcie Leimbach

As peacekeepers sweat and toil and risk their lives in some of the world’s most lethal settings — South Sudan, Mali, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo — it is incumbent on the United Nations and its 193 members to alleviate the suffering and deaths of troops as fatalities keep rising. In …

Africa, Peace and Security, Secretary-General, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

The Art of Infinite Patience: Searching for Peace in South Sudan

December 26, 2017

by Kacie Candela

The South Sudan Council of Churches is an umbrella organization for seven Christian denominations — African Inland Church, Catholic, Episcopal, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Evangelical Presbyterian and Sudan Interior Church — working on peace and reconciliation in South Sudan and based in Juba, the capital. The country has been fighting a civil war for exactly four …

Africa, Geopolitics, Peace and Security, UN Peacekeeping

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GEOPOLITICS

Can a Trusteeship Rescue South Sudan? Unlikely, Experts Say

February 22, 2017

by Julie Vanderperre

The intense civil conflict in South Sudan that broke out in December 2013 and has brought the world’s youngest nation to the edge of genocide has not subsided, with no solution in sight. Once more, the United Nations Security Council will meet to discuss the newest status report from the UN Secretariat, as President …

Africa, Gender-Based Violence, Geopolitics, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US Foreign Relations

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As China Becomes a Major Player in UN Peacekeeping, Will It Respond to Crises?

August 17, 2016

by Barbara Crossette

As China has projected its economic and military power more widely not only in Asia but also in Africa and to some extent in Latin America, little notice has been paid by the general public to another arena of growing influence: United Nations peacekeeping. In coming weeks, the Chinese are expected to announce the …

Africa, Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Peace and Security, UN Peacekeeping

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UN Peacekeeping Deaths Reach 102 in 2013

January 1, 2014

by Dulcie Leimbach

The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations tried to maintain calm in many regions in 2013, but none more so than in Africa. In December alone, it lost numerous peacekeepers in three missions on the continent. By year’s end, the department lost 102 peacekeepers, including those who died from accidents and illnesses, and 36 …

Africa, Peace and Security, Security Council

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Peacekeeping’s New Chief Intent on Urgent Issues

October 14, 2011

by PassBlue

Hervé Ladsous, a French diplomat who is the new under secretary-general for United Nations peacekeeping operations, said on Thursday that though he had “no predetermined grand vision” for the agency, he would focus on cutting back on the UN’s presence in Haiti; its work in Sudan and South Sudan; and the death this week …