Tag: United Nations
UN approves $5 billion plus peacekeeping budget
Five of the United Nations (UN) 12 peacekeeping and/or peace support missions are in Africa with a commensurate portion of the world body’s $5.4...
Peacekeeping at a precipice
There are few images as iconic as that of a United Nations (UN) peacekeeper clad in a blue helmet, ushering civilians to safety or...
Rise in central Africa violence reported to UN Security Council
Violence and insecurity in the Great Lakes region and the Lake Chad Basin of central Africa are on the rise, the senior United Nations...
Pretoria reaffirms peacekeeping commitment amid SAMIDRC fallout
South Africa’s participation in the now-defunct Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (SAMIDRC) was once lauded as an...
Peacekeeping is a lifesaving tool and a smart investment – top...
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the top man in the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping hierarchy, used the example of what is now Namibia (formerly South West Africa)...
South Africa spent more than R6 billion over four years to...
The three most recent continental peace mission deployments by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) cost more than R6.5 billion over the last...
Fallen peacekeepers deaths not in vain – Maphwanya
The 29th of May marked the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) commemorated the occasion with an...
Multilateral peacekeeping takes a knock
The number of personnel deployed to multilateral peace operations fell by more than 40% between 2015 and 2024 as geopolitical tensions and funding cuts...
African women honoured for gender efforts in peacekeeping
Two African women were this week honoured at the United Nations (UN) for their efforts in the fields of gender advocacy and policing.
Ghanaian Squadron...
“Triple crisis” in Mozambique – UN refugee agency representative
Northern Mozambique, destination for another rotation of Rwandan soldiers and police, is gripped by ongoing conflict exacerbated by natural disaster which has seen 25 000...
As the UN turns 80, is a new era of peacekeeping...
With the future of multilateralism hanging in the balance, the United Nations (UN) used this month’s Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin to mobilise political support...
Another Libyan ceasefire after Tripoli violence
Almost 15 years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi and the emergence of rival administrations in 2014, Libya remains divided, with an internationally recognised...
Multiple pledges made at UN Peacekeeping Ministerial
The just-ended United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Ministerial in Germany saw pledges across a range of peacekeeping activities, including military and police units, airlift and...
UN blue helmets essential to international peace – Guterres
In the light of worsening financial support for peacekeeping from the wider international community, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has it the world...
Over half DR Congo UN forces now in the country’s east
Termination of the SAMIDRC regional peacekeeping mission in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) earlier this month (March) saw 60% of deployed United...
UN Security Council urges Rwanda to stop supporting M23 in eastern...
The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday 21 February that strongly condemned the ongoing offensive by M23 rebels in the...
The SAMIDRC Deployment: peacekeeping or peace enforcement?
The ongoing conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) recently saw a major escalation of violence when the March 23 Movement (M23)...
UN confirms Rwandan troops in Goma
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, United Nations (UN) Chief of Peace Operations, confirmed during a briefing yesterday (Monday, 27 January) Rwandan troops are supporting M23 rebels in...
UN SG warns of increased threats in DR Congo
Warnings of “increased threats” and “regional war” in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should be of...
Top UN body hears Africa is world terrorism epicentre
Last year saw more than 3 400 terror attacks in Africa with a fatality count in excess of 13 900, the United Nations Security...
Two-month Conference on Disarmament underway
The United Nations (UN) Conference on Disarmament began its work this month amid a predicted increase in conflict levels across the world for 2025.
The...
Can Burundi afford to pull its troops out of Somalia?
The United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) decided in December 2024 to replace the current AU Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) with a...
Africa on the UN security council: why the continent should have...
Africa’s desire to be fully represented in all decision-making organs of the United Nations (UN), particularly in the security council, is informed by three...
Child soldier recruitment rife in Africa
Thirty-five years after a United Nations (UN) commitment – by way of a convention – to protect children from being recruited as soldiers, the...
DRC Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner details national security challenges and...
On Monday 9 December, the United Nations Security Council held a meeting on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This meeting’s debate included...
SAAF Rooivalks return from the DRC
The three South African Air Force (SAAF) Rooivalk attack helicopters serving with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)...
Slaughter in Sudan condemned by top UN official
In the wake of yet another round of violence in Sudan’s Gezira, the senior United Nations (UN) political affairs official echoed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres...
UN peacekeeping marks its silver anniversary
Twenty-five years ago, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decided protection of civilians (POC) in armed conflict was an issue of international peace and...
Guterres likens Sudan to a nightmare
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not hold back on Monday when he addressed ambassadors at the Security Council (SC) on what some...
United Nations publishes report on equal opportunity for women in defence
To take stock of the status of women in defence, the United Nations has developed the first-ever United Nations Report on Equal Opportunity for...
Four ways countries are strengthening women’s participation in security efforts
The full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all peacekeeping areas has been found to make United Nations operations more effective and lets...
SA an “ardent voice” for the urgent reform of the UN...
South Africa will continue to advocate for the “urgent reform” of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
This is according to President Cyril Ramaphosa who...
Peacekeeping challenges grow, more resources needed, UNSC hears
The dynamics of peacekeeping have grown to incorporate transnational organised crime, illegal resource exploitation, climate change impacts, a proliferation of cheap weaponised technology and...
Burkina Faso terror killings slammed
The world’s two most substantial international blocs – the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) – both came out strongly against last...
CAR arms embargo lifted
An 11-year United Nations (UN) arms embargo on the Central African Republic (CAR) is over.
The arms embargo came into force in 2013 against what...
UN medals for SA troops in DR Congo
Among the contributions which earned 132 South African peacekeepers United Nations (UN) medals this week were ensuring farmers could return to their lands and...
UNSC is “outdated” and needs African representation – Guterres
Addressing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday (12 August) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticised it as being “an outdated structure” with a “lack...
UN DR Congo mission authorised to assist SAMIDRC
A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution adopted this week makes available UN peacekeeping resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - under...
UN funds for AU peace operations: Somalia as a test case
Last December, the United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously agreed to consider case-by-case requests from the African Union (AU) for UN funding for peacekeeping...
22nd International Day of UN Peacekeepers marked
Wednesday 29 May marked the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, celebrating the 76 000 peacekeepers working towards bringing peace to conflict areas, and commemorating...
Fallen SA airman to be honoured posthumously with UN medal
A South African airman is among the more than 60 peacekeepers to be posthumously honoured with the Dag Hammarskjöld medal at United Nations (UN)...
Understanding the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s push for MONUSCO’s departure
Many Congolese dread the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers, believing government forces are unable to provide security in the eastern DRC.
Within weeks of the handover...
MONUSCO ends South Kivu operations
United Nations peacekeepers have ceased operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) restive South Kivu province after more than 20 years.
“MONUSCO,” a mission...
MONUSCO exits second eastern DRC base
Twenty years after first being a mobile operating base (MOB) and subsequently a permanent MONUSCO operating base, Bunyakiri in South Kivu has been handed...
Sexual exploitation and abuse incidents on the increase – UN
More than 750 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) were received by the United Nations (UN) last year – over 220 more than...
Inter-communal conflict a big killer in South Sudan
The last quarter of 2023 saw a surge in inter-communal conflict in what the United Nations (UN) Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) terms “pockets”...
‘Deeply irresponsible’ to send overstretched SANDF into SADC mission in the...
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is so underfunded and overstretched that it is deeply irresponsible to be sending soldiers into the Democratic...
SADC’s second military intervention in eastern DRC in a decade raises...
The long-simmering conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is starting to boil over again. On 2 February, a South African...
UN support for SAMIDRC under discussion
The M23 rebel group continues its offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the United Nations’ (UN’s) senior peacekeeping official during a...
Guterres looks back on challenging year for UN peacekeeping
Reviewing 2023 peacekeeping operations, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said 88 000 peacekeepers from 125 countries served in 12 missions worldwide in the...
