Rethinking United Nations peacekeeping responses to resource wars and armed conflicts in Africa: integrating African indigenous knowledge systems
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-01-2022-0671 |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| Pages | 320-333 |
| Author | Evelyn B. Namakula |
Rethinking United Nations peacekeeping
responses to resource wars and armed
conflicts in Africa: integrating African
indigenous knowledge systems
Evelyn B. Namakula
Abstract
Purpose –As of November 2021,six out of the 12 United Nations (UN) peacekeepingoperations are in
Sub-Saharan Africa, spreadbetween the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Western Sahara,Mali,
Central African Republic, Abyei, South Sudan and Darfur. When considered alongside other recent
conflicts in Liberia, Angola, Sierra Leone, Co
ˆte d’Ivoire and Mozambique, many of these conflicts are
driven and sustainedbyresource lootingofoil, minerals, timber,gas and fertile land and sand. Although
other factors, particularlycolonialism, the creation of poorly governed states, ethnic polarization, greed
and extremism contributeto violence, the author argues that resource lootingis central. Taking the DRC
as the case study, the purposeof this paper is to examine why traditional UN peacekeeping, groundedin
the internationalliberal order, has failed to efficientlydeescalate wars and armed conflicts that are driven
by resourcelooting and how alternative homegrownpeace strategies can be more effective.
Design/methodology/approach –Deploying peacekeeping,peacebuilding and resource governance
and theories, thispaper examines the current UN peacekeeping effortsto increase our understanding of
how alternative peacekeepingstrategies found in African cultures, particularly indigenous
epistemologies canbe used to engender sustainable peace and security. Thesecond argument is that
sustainablepeace and security cannot be solely exogenous,without integrating Africancultural heritage,
specifically African indigenous knowledge systems or epistemologies, a factor that is consistent with
people’sright to self-determination and agency.
Findings –Peacekeeping that is exogenously enforced has failed to create sustainable peace and
securityin the DRC.
Originality/value –To the best of the author’s knowledge,this paper is original, based on the research
conductedin the DRC. Following the academic writingnorms, the data is backed up by literature.
Keywords Peacekeeping, Resource wars, AIKS, UNPKO
Paper type Case study
Since the founding of the United Nations(UN), Africa is the prime recipient of the blue
helmets (Akonor, 2017;Aertsen, 2008). As of November 2021, six of the 12 UN
peacekeeping operations (UNPKO) are in Sub-Saharan Africa. A close examination
of all these wars suggests they are being driven by a combination of factors starting with
colonial destabilization and its consequent poor governance of the African state, ethnic
polarization, extremism and access to resources. However, the militarized looting of the
continent’s resources (Bond, 2006;Burgis, 2015;Curtis, 2016) is central to the prevalent
wars and armed conflicts, especially when we consider that access to resources was also
central to colonialism (Rodney, 1981). In the neocolonial era, the demand for the shrinking
resources (Klare, 2012) has exacerbated violence and militarizationof resource rich nations
(Burgis, 2015;Engler, 2015;Carmody, 2016;Wengraf, 2018;Trefon, 2011). Various actors
Evelyn B. Namakula is
based at the Institute of
Interdisciplinary Studies,
Carleton University,
Ottawa, Canada.
Received 7 January 2022
Revised 29 January 2022
Accepted 29 January 2022
This work was funded by the
International Peace Research
Foundation (USA) and Arthur
Mauro Institute for Peace and
Justice, University of Manitoba
(Canada).
PAGE 320 jJOURNAL OF AGGRESSION, CONFLICTAND PEACE RESEARCH jVOL. 14NO. 42022, pp. 320-333,©EmeraldPublishing Limited, ISSN 1759-6599DOI 10.1108/JACPR-01-2022-0671
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