Sunday, September 29, 2013

Current UN peacekeeping missions


Kofi Annan's book, so far, is not that interesting. There are nuggets of cool factoids here and there. For example, from 1945 until 1988, the UN only had a dozen peacekeeping missions.

Today, there are 15 missions. They are:

  • Western Sahara, since 1991. The "country" is essentially controlled by Morocco.
  • Mali, since 2013.
  • Haiti, since Aristide's ouster in 2004. 96 peacekeepers died in the 2010 earthquake. Nepalese peacekeepers caused the cholera outbreak after the quake.
  • DR Congo, since 2010.
  • Afghanistan, since 2002.
  • Darfur, since 2007.
  • Golan Heights, since 1974.
  • Cyprus, since 1964(!).
  • Lebanon, since 1978.
  • Abyei (border region between Sudan and South Sudan), since 2011.
  • Kosovo, since 1999.
  • Liberia, since 2003.
  • South Sudan, since 2011.
  • India and Pakistan, maintains order in Jammu and Kashmir.
  • Ivory Coast, since 2004.
  • "Middle East", since 1948.
Apparently, it's a tradition/custom, rather than a rule/law, that prevents soldiers from the five permanent members of the Security Council from serving as UN peacekeepers.

More info here.

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