UN REFORM AND FUNDING PEACEKEEPING IN AFRICA

The document examines the shift toward 'vertical deepening' of peacekeeping, where the UN relies more on regional organisations like the African Union (AU) and its 'building blocks' (SADC, ECOWAS, IGAD, ECCAS/CEEAC, and EAC). It highlights a critical gap between Africa's political will and its financial capacity, noting that while the AU can provide troops, it cannot fund large-scale missions. The author analyzes the EU Peace Facility as a model for external support and proposes seven funding options for regional operations, ranging from UN assessed contributions to bilateral arrangements. The paper concludes that African peacekeeping should be a 'bridging force' for UN deployments rather than a total replacement, requiring sustained international investment in capacity-building and DDR (disarmament, demobilization, and resettlement).

• Recent UN reports advocate for a 'vertical deepening' of peacekeeping by expanding the role of regional organisations and creating an 'interlocking system of peacekeeping capacities' to enable predictable partnerships between the UN and these organisations.
• There is a significant disparity between the cost of UN missions and the financial capacity of the African Union; while Africa can theoretically fund small observer missions, large-scale operations like UNMIS (budgeted at US$1 billion) or MONUC (US$746 million) are not viable as African-funded missions.
• The EU Peace Facility, which earmarked 250 million for AU-led operations, serves as a key tool for operational costs but is viewed as a 'once-off measure' and is inadequate to meet current demands.
• The author identifies seven potential funding mechanisms for regional peacekeeping: UN assessed contributions, voluntary contributions to special trust funds, multilateral-to-multilateral support (e.g., EU to AU), bilateral arrangements, funding by regional Member States, individual country burden-sharing, or combinations of these.
• Disarmament, demobilisation and resettlement (DDR) costs are often more expensive than the peacekeeping missions themselves and suffer from chronic under-funding because they rely on voluntary rather than assessed contributions.
• The African Standby Force (ASF) is intended to operate as a 'bridging force' for UN deployments rather than a replacement, meaning it must develop according to UN standards to ensure interoperability.

APA

CILLIERS, J. (2005). UN REFORM AND FUNDING PEACEKEEPING IN AFRICA. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/ECILLIERS.PDF

Chicago

CILLIERS, JAKKIE. UN REFORM AND FUNDING PEACEKEEPING IN AFRICA. Institute for Security Studies, 2005. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/ECILLIERS.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=CILLIERS |first1=JAKKIE |title=UN REFORM AND FUNDING PEACEKEEPING IN AFRICA |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=2005 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/ECILLIERS.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cilliers2005reform, author = {CILLIERS, JAKKIE}, title = {{UN REFORM AND FUNDING PEACEKEEPING IN AFRICA}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2005}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/ECILLIERS.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }