Support Models for African Peacekeeping, Uppsala, 15 &16 December

NUPI, in partnership with the Nordic Africa Institute and the Dag Hammerskjöld Foundation, organized a seminar in Uppsala, Sweden on 15 & 16 December 2011, that focused on the different support models that have been developed to date to support African peacekeeping operations.

Approximately 30 practitioners, policymakers and researchers, including senior representatives from the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations, considered the ways in which African peacekeeping operations in Sudan and Somalia have been supported over the past decade.

The seminar looked specifically at the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and the Join AU-UN mediation initiative towards Darfur, the AU-UN Hybrid Mission in Sudan (UNAMID), the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the UN Support Office to AMISOM (UNSOA). Each of these missions were represented by current or past staff members who made presentations reflecting their experiences. TfP's International Advisory Board member, General Martin Luther Agwai, who was a former Force Commander of AMIS and UNAMID, was one of the key presenters.

The seminar concluded that whilst there can be no one model that can serve all contexts and needs, more can be done to ensure predictable funding mechanisms, as well as to develop meaningful coordination mechanisms between the AU, EU and UN, especially at the strategic-political level.

A number of specific practical recommendations were made at the seminar that will be reflected in the report and presented to stakeholders at a follow-up seminar scheduled for approximately September 2012 in Addis Ababa.

Read more about the seminar here.