The writer is a Researcher with the Peace Operations and Conflict Management Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Female peacekeepers from South Africa on patrol in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. July 2021. Credit: MONUSCO/Michael Ali
STOCKHOLM / THE HAGUE, Aug 4 2021 (IPS) - The first year of the Covid-19 pandemic saw wide-ranging impacts on multilateral peace operations.
The crisis simultaneously affected all operations, host nations, headquarters and contributing countries. It caused major disruption from the political-strategic level where mandates are drawn up, down to the operational and tactical levels.
Operations were forced to adapt in order to preserve continuity as far as was possible. While some of the effects of the pandemic are clearly reflected in the data most notably in mission mortality rates others are not.
Communiqué of the 1006th meeting of the PSC held on 21 June 2021, on the Situation in the Great Lakes Region - Burundi reliefweb.int - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reliefweb.int Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Middle-East Arab News and Opinion - Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities
ISS: AU balancing act on Chad s coup sets a disturbing precedent defenceweb.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from defenceweb.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Disagreement among African states on responding to the coup in Chad has resulted in a trade-off based on questionable assumptions. The African Union’s (AU) decision runs contrary to its principles, and will be difficult to implement, leaving Chadians with little guarantee of a constitutional transition. The AU’s decision was released on 14 May – two weeks after a fact-finding mission led by the AU Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security and representatives of the Peace and Security Council (PSC). Unlike previous coups in Sudan or Mali, the PSC did not sanction Chad or suspend it from the AU for what appears to be an unconstitutional change of government.