Peacekeeping Operations

The Effectiveness of Peace Keeping : Yugoslavia and Cambodia

INTRODUCTION

The United Nations peace keeping mission is a broard phenomenon that encompasses a number of peace keeping activities . When the UN started involving in peace keeping activities , the operations were mainly centered around putting UN forces on international bs or cease fire lines with the intention of keeping apart parties in conflict by positioning UN military observers or soldiers to play the role of third parties . The whole idea behind this is to bring about a halt in hostilities , calm down tension

, create the necessary atmosphere required for negotiations so that a lasting solution to conflicts may be arrived at

However , over time , there have new developments that have pushed forward the scope of UN peace keeping activities . These developments came with the end of the Cold War and the relative success in the Gulf War during the early 1990s . These developments produced a new world in terms of international politics and this new was spearheaded by the western powers led by the USA . This further broadened the role the UN have to play in maintaining peace and stability , especially as peace was now regarded in terms of sustainability and quantity . Moreover , the fact that most of the conflicts are fought by paramilitary groups and not the national armies , have made civilians the victims . It is this situation that has drawn the attention of the international community to look in to the matter . Thus recent developments like these have made UN peace keeping missions to have a wider range of activities to handle , of which failure in any of these activities could mean failure in the peace keeping operation . Some of these activities include disarmament demobilization of troops and armed paramilitary groups , promotion of national reconciliation , restoration of effective governments organization and monitoring of elections , provision of support for humanitarian aid mission , escort of relief convoys and the protection of safe areas . This essay will look at two countries where UN peace keeping missions have been operational with emphasis on whether the missions were successful or not and the reasons for the success or failure . The impact created by the outcome of these operations will also be taken into consideration . The study will concentrate on the UN peace keeping mission in the 1990s . The two countries that will be discussed in this will be the former Yugoslavia and Cambodia

UN PEACE KEEPING IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

Background

The Yugoslavian conflict is one of those conflicts around the world where the UN embarked on a peace keeping mission to help restore in the country . The country situated in the Balkans and over 500 years different European powers including Turkey have greatly influenced the political developments taking place in the region . However , the potential posed by a united Yugoslavia in the eyes of other European powers and the USA became crucial in the outbreak of conflict in the country . During the years 1991-1992 , there was tension in the country due...