Proof Africans are active contributors to peacekeeping operations on their continent comes in the latest UN statistics, which show that no less than 10 African countries make the top 15 list of contributors to UN operations with by far the majority of them serving in continental peacekeeping and peace support missions.
The continent is represented all the way down the list to 120, the final country internationally contributing to peacekeeping operations. This position goes to Guinea-Bissau.
At the top end of the list is Ethiopia, number four behind Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. The East African country has made 7 858 people comprising troops, military experts and police, available to the world body to serve in peacekeeping and peace support missions in Africa.
Other top African contributors to the nine UN peacekeeping missions on the continent are Rwanda (5 660), Senegal (3 079), Ghana (3 012), Nigeria (2 961), Egypt (2 673), Morocco (2 310), Tanzania (2 278), South Africa (2 153) and Burkina Faso (1 994).
The final country in the top 15 of UN contributors is China at position 11 with 2 370 people.
In numerical terms African countries supply well over half – 33 978 – of the 62 390 peacekeepers currently doing duty in Africa for the world body.
The nine UN missions in Africa are MINURSO (Western Sahara), MINUSMA (Mali), UNMIL (Liberia), UNOCL (Cote d’Ivoire), MINUSCA (Central African Republic), UNAMID (Darfur), UNISFA (Abyei), UNMISS (South Sudan) and MONUSCO (Democratic Republic of Congo).
The largest UN mission in Africa is MONUSCO with a total of 21 067 uniformed personnel as at the end of February. This is made up of 19 453 military personnel, 507 military observers, 1 107 police, 895 international civilian personnel and 429 UN personnel. Military personnel are from 50 countries, including 17 from Africa.
MINUSMA currently has 9 883 uniformed personnel, split between military (8 831) and police (1 052). Military personnel are from 41 countries including 18 from Africa.
Other UN peacekeeping missions worldwide are in Haiti, Kosovo, Cyprus, the Middle East, Syria, Lebanon and India/Pakistan.
