Introduction
In
the last five decades, both inter and intra-state conflicts of variegated
magnitude with different humanitarian implications confronted the African
continent. According to a recent study 16 wars
took place between 1990 and 1997 in Africa. Of these, 14 were intrastate
conflicts (Algeria, Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra
Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Western Sahara, and the Republic
of Congo). Only 2 were interstate (Chad/Libya and Rwanda/Uganda) (Tadesse,
2009). This situation necessitated numerous peace-making and peacekeeping
interventions in Africa especially from the United Nations.
The
UN Charter gives the Security Council primary responsibility for the
maintenance of international peace and security. In fulfilling this
responsibility, the Council can establish a UN peacekeeping operation. UN
peacekeeping operations are deployed on the basis of mandates from the United Nations Security Council. Their
tasks differ from situation to situation, depending on the nature of the
conflict and the specific challenges it presents (http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/pkmandates.shtml).
Peace-making interventions are often administered along with peace-keeping
operations when conflicts have passed prevention stage so as to build peace
after a ceasefire.