Enhancing U.S. Support for Peace Operations in Africa

In the last fifteen years, fifty new peacekeeping operations have been initiated in Africa. Most often led by the United Nations or the African Union, there are now over one hundred thousand uniformed peacekeepers deployed across the continent serving on a range of missions. The demand on peacekeepers and the countries providing such troops is high due to escalating violence and instability in North Africa and terrorist groups such as al-Shabab. Not surprisingly, the system is under severe pressure, both strategically and financially.

Paul D. Williams, an associate professor in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, argues in this Council Special Report that greater U.S. involvement is necessary to enhance the quality and success of peace operations in Africa, which tend to suffer from a lack of trained manpower and inadequate funding.

Enhancing U.S. Support for Peace Operations in Africa offers clear steps that Washington should take to reform the global enterprise of peacekeeping. It provides serious analysis of the current inadequacies of the system and makes recommendations for how to address them. The result is a report that provides a thoughtful assessment of the challenge and a number of recommendations that merit serious consideration and debate.