Ahmed Mansur

By this author

Mandates in the success of a peacekeeping missions: a case study of Liberia

Issue 7 from 27.08.2018

This article focuses primarily on the peacekeeping efforts in West Africa by sub-regional and international organizations such as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations (UN). Particular emphasis was made on the peacekeeping activities of UN and ECOWAS in resolving the perennial Liberian conflict. The article analyzes the positions of researchers and scholars on the question of peacekeeping in Liberia with the aim of determining the significance of sub- regional peacekeeping missions during an armed conflicts in West African sub-region on one hand and the pivotal role of UN peacekeeping activities in Liberia on the other hand. Quite a lot of materials on the Liberian Civil War and the role played by ECOWAS in bringing the crisis to an end have been written. However, none of these works has critically examined the initial mandate of the ECOMOG mission in Liberia and why the mandate was later changed. Mandate is central to the success or otherwise of a peacekeeping mission. This research work will attempt to fill this missing gap in the existing literature on the Liberian crisis and ECOMOG intervention. The article is aimed at examining some Peacekeeping Missions in Africa and their Mandates particularly the ECOMOG Mandate in Liberia during the Liberian Civil War and to see how it led to the success or otherwise of the Mission. The mandate as an instrument has a dual nature, on the one hand, it’s considered to restore peace, maintain security, strengthen governance and the rule of law, but on the other hand, it has weaknesses, unclear, ambiguous or lacked peacekeeping potential.

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