Africa’s contribution to UN peacekeeping: Issues and stakes of a growing commitment

The participation of African countries to United Nations peacekeeping operations started in 1960 with the deployment of the ONUC in Congo. Since then, more than forty so countries have at least once sent soldiers to a peacekeeping operation in a way that up to this day the African continent is the UN second Human provider of the Organization. If that huge contribution to the peacekeeping efforts is to be encouraged, one should noticed that it is getting more and more self-interested and this shows disparities that need to be quickly put right. The same thing occurs with regional and linguistic inequalities that have been noticed as far as the origin of African contributors are concerned. Those African peacekeepers are directed with priority towards current operations in the continent while the contribution of female soldiers is still limited although encouraging. 

Crédit photo : Casques bleus sénégalais – Mission des Nations unies en Côte d’Ivoire (source : ONU/Eskinder Debebe)