African states and regional organizations have increasingly turned to new forms of African-led security arrangements that differ in mandate, composition, and structure from African Union (AU)–led peace support operations. These ad hoc security initiatives (ASIs) and enterprise security arrangements (ESAs) have provided flexible and rapid responses to complex security threats. However, they are heavily militarized and poorly aligned with evolving frameworks for the protection of civilians (POC).
This issue brief examines how ASIs and ESAs, while offering speed and adaptability, often lack civilian components, rely on external support, and do not consistently draw on a coherent normative framework for POC. As a result, protection frequently becomes secondary to counterinsurgency objectives, creating logistical weaknesses, alienating local populations, and reinforcing perceptions that protection is transactional or secondary to other interests. The brief highlights emerging practices—such as Rwanda’s deployment in Mozambique and the Multinational Joint Task Force’s Civil-Military Cooperation Cell—that suggest the potential for more protection-conscious approaches, though these remain uneven and underdeveloped.
The brief concludes that ASIs and ESAs are likely to remain features of Africa’s security landscape, but their effectiveness will remain limited unless they systematically integrate AU and UN POC frameworks. Stronger pre-deployment planning, the inclusion of AU civilian cells in the field, and alignment with broader political strategies are essential to ensure that these mechanisms contribute not only to counterinsurgency but also to the protection of civilians.
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With UN peacekeepers increasingly deployed in areas experiencing local-level conflicts that do not involve state forces, responding to communal violence has become an acute challenge for missions. Such contexts require peace operations to adopt a dialogue-based approach to the protection of civilians (POC), focused specifically on local political solutions.
This issue brief examines the engagement of the UN mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in the town of Batangafo, where communal violence between Christian and Muslim communities has been pervasive. It highlights how MINUSCA’s dialogue-based engagement helped reduce violence and strengthen local peace agreements. It identifies four lessons:
The post Political Solutions to Political Problems: UN Peacekeeping Operations and Dialogue-Based Protection of Civilians in Communal Conflicts appeared first on International Peace Institute.
UN peacekeeping missions are often criticized for failing to act when civilians are under threat. Yet recent empirical evidence suggests that peacekeepers can and do respond to violence by adjusting where and how they deploy forces in the field. This issue brief examines patterns of subnational deployment across African missions from 2012 to 2022, focusing on whether and how missions with protection of civilians (POC) mandates adjust their military presence in response to attacks on civilians. The findings indicate that peacekeeping missions are more likely to strengthen their presence in areas experiencing recent violence—especially violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups—but also respond to state-led violence, albeit less consistently. This responsiveness highlights the operational flexibility some missions can exercise and challenges the assumption that host-state consent fully constrains the implementation of POC mandates. The brief also underscores the need to assess peacekeepers’ behavior not only in terms of mandate design but also in terms of how missions adapt on the ground.
The brief concludes with important considerations for peacekeeping stakeholders committed to POC:
The post Being Present Where It Counts: Peacekeeping Responsiveness to Violence against Civilians appeared first on International Peace Institute.
Le Programme des Nations unies pour le développement (PNUD), en partenariat avec les gouvernements du Bénin, du Burkina Faso, de la Côte d'Ivoire, du Ghana et du Togo, organise à Cotonou un Dialogue régional sur les architectures de paix, les 18 et 19 septembre 2025.
La rencontre de Cotonou représente une étape clé pour « renforcer la paix, la stabilité et la résilience » , « face à la montée des menaces transnationales dans le Golfe de Guinée », selon un communiqué du PNUD.
Les chiffres donnent la mesure des défis. Selon l'Indice mondial du terrorisme 2025, le Sahel a concentré 51 % des décès dus au terrorisme en 2024, soit deux fois plus qu'en 2019. À cela s'ajoutent plus de 4,3 millions de personnes déplacées de force, des tensions socio-économiques croissantes, la pauvreté, le chômage des jeunes et les inégalités.
Pour le Golfe de Guinée, les menaces s'accumulent : expansion des groupes extrémistes depuis le Sahel, prolifération des marchés illicites, déplacements forcés et effets du changement climatique. Ces dynamiques fragilisent les communautés locales et mettent à l'épreuve les mécanismes nationaux de paix, « souvent isolés et sous-financés », note encore le communiqué.
Responsables gouvernementaux, experts régionaux, universitaires, représentants de la société civile, leaders communautaires et religieux, ainsi que des groupes de femmes et de jeunes prendront part aux échanges. Le dialogue vise à « promouvoir l'engagement (…) à collaborer dans le sens d'une réponse collective et intégrée pour prévenir les conflits et renforcer la stabilité régionale ».
Ce dialogue s'inscrit dans le cadre de la Facilité de prévention pour le Golfe de Guinée, soutenue par le PNUD et des partenaires tels que le Japon, le Danemark, le Luxembourg et la Corée du Sud. L'initiative vise à renforcer les réponses régionales aux défis de l'extrémisme violent, de la criminalité transnationale organisée, de la piraterie maritime et des trafics illicites.
Vers une feuille de route commune
Au terme des deux jours de travaux, les participants devront aboutir à une compréhension partagée des défis, à des recommandations concrètes pour améliorer les mécanismes d'alerte précoce et à « un projet de feuille de route régionale pour la paix durable et le développement en Afrique de l'Ouest ».