United Nations - African Union Partnerships in Peace Operations

The United Nations has increased its focus on strengthening regional partnerships to address growing global concerns of peace and security. As authorizing peacekeeping missions becomes more challenging and peace enforcement falls outside of the mandate of the United Nations, the UN is assessing ways for regional actors to fill this gap. Violent extremism and threats to state sovereignty are a growing concern in Africa. To address these concerns, the United Nations is looking into ways to strengthen its partnership with the African Union. 

The International Peace Institute asked the Columbia Capstone team to analyze previous partnerships between the UN and the AU. The team conducted three case studies to examine the previous UN/AU partnership models in Mali, Somalia, and Darfur. In each of these model cases, the UN and the AU collaborated in different capacities. The team assessed the successes, challenges, and lessons learned in each of these mission settings and made actionable recommendations for future missions based on the current capacities and limitations of the AU and the UN. The final report includes findings of what worked best, and what did not, within these partnership models to help the International Peace Institute expand their list of recommended tools and considerations for adaptive models that can respond to these emerging security challenges in the future.