Presence on the Ground: Expectations, Resources and Tactical Moves in the Negotiation of a UN Peacekeeping Operation in the Central African Republic

ABSTRACT

How do local situations matter? It is tempting to explain the creation of a new peacekeeping operation (PKO) by the willingness to solve a local security problem. However, main contributor countries to UN and EU PKO in the Central African Republic in 2014, have sent hundreds of troops without a genuine interest in the local situation. Thus, how, why and when links to the ground are made? Having presence on the ground gave some actors levers in the negotiations. The contact with the ground impact the construction of expectations. It is a resource for pressuring on hesitating countries.

KEYWORDS:

• UN
• peacekeeping operation
• Security Council resolution
• sociology of negotiation
• MINUSCA
• Central African Republic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Yves Buchet de Neuilly is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and member of CESSP. His research is mainly focused on multilateral decision-making processes and crisis management. After several publications on EU external security instruments, he is now broadening his work to UN Security resolutions on peacekeeping operations.

Notes

1. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2149 (10 April 2014), creating the Multidimensional Integrated Mission of the United Nations in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). This article is based on interviews conducted in 2014 and 2015 as part of broader research on international intervention in the Central African Republic. The persons interviewed came from Missions of UN member states to the Security Council, the UN Secretariat, UN humanitarian agencies, NGOs (based in New York, Washington and Geneva), the US State Department, the IMF, OCHA, UNHCR, the Red Cross, the French Presidential diplomatic cell, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Defence Ministry (Paris), and the European Commission, Member States’ Permanent Representations, European External Action Service. This work also relies on institutional and media sources. The approach is sociological and qualitative.

2. Interview, French diplomat, Paris, October 2014.

3. Interview, French diplomat, Paris, October 2014.

4. Interview, high-level civil servant at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), New York, October 2014.

5. Interview, high-level civil servant in the UN DPKO, New York, October 2014.

6. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

7. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

8. Interview, diplomat from a non-permanent Member State of the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

9. Interview, high-level civil servant at the DPKO, New York, April 2014.

10. Interview, high-level civil servant at the DPKO, New York, October 2014.

11. Interview, negotiator of a non-permanent Member State to the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

12. Interview, American diplomat, New York, April 2014.

13. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

14. Interview, diplomat from a non-permanent member at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

15. Interview, American negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

16. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, September 2014.

17. Interview, French military, New York, October 2014.

18. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2015.

19. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2015.

20. Interview, American diplomat, Washington, October 2014.

21. Déclaration de M. François Hollande, Président de la République, sur les défis et priorités de la communauté internationale notamment de l'ONU, 68^ème Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies, New York, 24 septembre 2013, http://discours.vie-publique.fr/notices/137002180.html

22. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2015.

23. Christophe Châtelot, ‘La France refuse d'intervenir en Centrafrique’, Le Monde, December 12, 2012, https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2012/12/28/la-france-refuse-d-intervenir-en-centrafrique_1811177_3212.html?xtmc=hollande_bozize&xtcr=3

24. Interview, Advisor to the French President, Paris, July 2015.

25. Interview, French negotiator to the UNSC, New York, April 2015.

26. Pierre Pinto, ‘La Centrafrique est-elle au bord du génocide ?’, RFI, 21 November 2013, http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20131121-rca-centrafrique-seleka-djotodia-misca-fomac-genocide

27. UNSC Working Methods Handbook, http://www.un.org/en/sc/about/methods/bgarriaformula.shtml

28. Reuters, 1 November 2013.

29. CNN, 13 November 2013.

30. Testimony of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Robert Jackson Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. Department of State House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on African Affairs, Global Health, Human Rights and International Organizations 19 November 2013. https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-crisis-in-the-central-african-republic/

31. Interview, high-level civil servant at the UN Secretariat, New York, October 2014.

32. Interview, Advisor to the French President, Paris, June 2015.

33. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

34. Interview, American negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

35. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

36. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

37. Interview, American diplomat, Washington, October 2014.

38. Interview, French negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

39. Interview, American negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

40. New York Times, 23 December 2013.

41. Interview, American negotiator at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

42. Interview, a high-level civil servant of the US Congress, Washington, October 2014.

43. Interview, negotiator of a non-permanent Member State at the UNSC, New York, April 2014.

44. Interview, high-level civil servant of the DPKO, New York, April 2014.