The Role of United Nations in Conflict Resolution in Africa: A Case Study of Sierra Leone (original) (raw)

The Sierra Leone conflict which started in 1991defied all efforts to resolve it; government forces, civil defence and even the efforts of ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). The situation necessitated the intervention of United Nation and United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was deployed in 1999 to resolve the conflict. It was observed that even with the presence of UNAMSIL, the rebel group (RUF) continued their attack. The worst situation was experienced, in 2000, when the RUF attacked Freetown and took some UNAMSIL peacekeepers hostage. The continuation of attacks by the rebel group even with the present of UNAMSIL questions the preparedness of UN in the task of ensuring world peace and security. Thus, this paper examined the role United Nations played in resolving the Sierra Leone conflict. In doing this, paper utilized secondary data sourced from text books, Magazines, Newspapers and the internet materials. The paper found that United Nations helped to restore peace in Sierra Leone, but not without some challenges which hindered the efforts of UNAMSIL. The challenges include slow rate of deployment, inadequate manpower and logistics as well as non cooperation of warlords. The argued vehemently that UN can only carry out peacekeeping operation effectively, thereby maintain world peace and security if the identified challenges are adequately combated. The paper there] ore recommends quick and prompt deployment of troops by UN to conflict areas. The paper also recommends the strengthening of the sub-regional organizations in the African continent.