SECURING CIVILIANS THROUGH PEACE SUPPORT OPERATIONS IN AFRICA; A CASE OF THE AMISOM IN SOMALIA

Abstract

This study was set out to investigate the challenges of securing civilians through peace support operations in Africa with a focus on the AMISOM operation in Somalia. The study made use of the following assumptions that were influential in designing of the questionnaire and interview schedule: Africa is making efforts to secure its civilians during peace support operations, the AMISOM operation in Somalia has strategies for ensuring protection of civilians, and that the AMISOM operation in Somalia experiences challenges in the course of securing civilians in Somalia. I was guided by the theory of constructivism which helped in explaining the conflict in Somalia, its causes, make recognition of the plight of civilians faced by the armed conflict, and to have an appreciation of the various ways of dealing with this conflict while at the same time looking into the issue of protecting civilians. The study adopted a mixed-approach research design where both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to collect data, with content analysis being used to analyze qualitative data and use of tables and pie-charts to analyze quantitative data. From the study, it was found that a lot need to be done on securing of civilians in Africa’s peace support operations in terms of the mandate, that is, it should be explicit from the outset; in order to achieve security of civilians both use of force and humanitarian approaches are essential; and that there is need for the host nation to take a lead role by securing its civilians as its primary responsibility. The study recommends that the issue of securing civilians in peace support operations in Africa, should be the priority in each and every subsequent mission.