A Publication of Department of Political Science and International Relations
Journal VOL. 1 NO. 1, June. 2019, ISSN: 2714 - 4054
The United Nations and Conflict Resolution in Central African Republic: An Appraisal
Daspan Makplang, Assibong Patrick
ABSTRACT
After seventy-two years of the existence of the United Nations Organization (UNO), scholars and laymen alike expect the organization to have been performing more than when it was institutionalized in terms of managing violent conflicts. With the start of the Central African Republic (CAR) civil war in 2013, the demand for the UN to help mitigate conflicts in the world and the CAR civil war, in particular, became even more urgent especially as there were frightening reports of killings, rape, lootings orchestrated by the war situation. This study which is anchored on the structural-functional theoretical direction carried out a qualitative research which gathered data exclusively from secondary sources. The objective of the study is to investigate how the United Nations managed the violent conflict in CAR and how the peacekeeping force was able or unable to guarantee peace and stability in the country. The study revealed that instead of ushering in peace and stability, the UN via their peacekeeping troops and police were raping the people and taking sides with one of the warring groups. In most cases, the “Blue Helmets” could not protect the civilian population particularly women and children. The study recommended that for the CAR conflict to stop the entire population wants to see justice in all spheres of life, perpetrators of crimes against the people including foreign soldiers and police must be arrested and jailed.