DEVELOPMENTAL PEACE MISSIONS SYNERGISING PEACEKEEPING AND PEACEBUILDING IN TRANSITION PERIODS

Guehenno’s comments are especially true in Africa, currently the region with the highest concentration of large costly multi-dimensional peace missions. Across the Continent, ceasefires and peace agreements are fragile; and while UN peacekeeping frequently fails to effectively disarm and demobilise combatants, peacebuilding efforts struggle to reintegrate former ones leading to societies in transition often relapsing into violent conflict in the face of chronic unemployment, poverty, famine and disease. 2 Evidently, there is a need for an alternative approach to respond to contemporary armed conflict and to assist countries recovering from war.