Is United Nations Intervention Effective In Resolving Conflict

Zhang Chenxin (31)

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Is United Nation 's intervention effective in resolving conflict?

The United Nations (UN) is a large intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. One of its many duties is peacekeeping missions, helping to resolve conflicts in war-torn countries. Currently, there are 16 ongoing missions in various countries, with many more from its creation in 1948. Those missions are varied in terms of successes and failure, with some missions worsening the conflict, while others managing to restore the regions 's peace. Nevertheless, although there were numerous failures, I feel that the UN 's intervention does help and can be effective in resolving conflict, but only if the countries involved in the

A lack of impartiality, or neutrality, might cause the one of the conflicting parties who the UN is biased against to turn against the UN, further obstructing the peace process. With the case studies of Mozambique, a success, and Angola, a failure, these conditions will appear clearly within the peacekeeping missions, leading to their success or failures.

First off, this essay will use the case of Angola, a case where the UN has failed to resolve a conflict, instead making it worse. The United Nations Angola Verification Missions, (UNAVEM) I, II and III are such an example. UNAVEM is seen as a success, UNAVEM II is seen as a failure while UNAVEM III is seen in equal parts of success and failure. This essay will focus more on UNAVEM II, as it was seen as the biggest failure of all the UNAVEMs. UNAVEM II started on 19 February 1991 and ended in 19 February 1995, the period where the failed elections took place. It 's main mission was to observe and verify the disarmament process, support the creation of a new single national army, and facilitating the extension of state authority to the whole of Angola 's territory. However, it failed in completing almost all of

It was also once a Portuguese colony, and is a land rich with natural resources, and has also descended into a bloody civil war shortly after colonial rule. (Mozambique country profile n.d.) The two parties, Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO), the rebels, and the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), the government, started fighting in 1977, and ended in 1992, with the first multi-party elections held in 1994 (Mozambique Timeline n.d.). The fighting only ended with the UN-brokered peace deal, the Rome General Peace Accords, enforced by the United Nations operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ), was signed by both parties in 1992. The main mandates of ONUMOZ was: to facilitate impartially the implementation of the Agreement; to monitor and verify the cease-fire, the separation and concentration of forces, their demobilization and the collection, storage and destruction of weapons and irregular armed groups and bringing security to the elections and the country. (OMUMOZ n.d.)Thus, it is safe to say that the UN peacekeeping mission in this case has been a success, helping to end the long conflict in Mozambique. One of the reasons why the mission as such a success is because there was a strong interest in the project, especially compared to the UNAVEM missions in Angola. This strong interest can be seen in