Publisher's Synopsis
The book considers the role of the UN and the OAU, African states and regional organizations, also the big powers, in African peacekeeping. This has developed an extraordinary range of functions, involving securing cease-fires, with UN civil and military missions collaborating with African organizations. Preserving a fragile peace is difficult, as conflict often breaks out again. On the civil front, it involves all kinds of human rights issues. The huge numbers of refugees and displaced persons which African conflicts generate requires relief work of all kinds ? food, shelter, protected camps and demilitarization of these, ?safe areas?, resettlement, rehabilitation and integration of communities. Peacekeepers also assist in democratization processes. These issues are discussed in general chapters and then in case studies ? Zimbabwe, Chad, Somalia, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Liberia, Rwanda and Burundi. The final chapters are on the role of the military and NGOs, also examining a new angle ? the interface between peacekeepers and the ?peace-kept?.
