The UN at Bay, 1990-2011 » The UN in Mozambique and Sudan

Mozambique: ending a civil war

Mozambique became independent from Portugal in 1975. Soon afterwards a civil war began between the FRELIMO government and the rebel group RENAMO, which was backed first by white-ruled Rhodesia and then by apartheid South Africa. The war lasted until 1992. Hundreds of thousands of people died and millions were forced from their homes. It was a civil war, a war fought between groups inside one country.

By 1992 both sides were exhausted, and the outside backing they had once relied on had faded. On 4 October 1992 the government, led by President Joaquim Chissano, and RENAMO, led by Afonso Dhlakama, signed a peace agreement in Rome. The key point is that the sides asked the UN to help after they had agreed to peace.

Key terms:

• Identity war: a civil war between groups defined by ethnic group, religion or clan.
• Demobilise: to send soldiers home and end their service in an army.
• Referendum: a vote in which people decide a single question, such as whether to become independent.

The UN mission in Mozambique, 1992-94

In December 1992 the Security Council set up a mission called ONUMOZ, with about 7,000 peacekeepers and a UN special representative, Aldo Ajello, in charge. Its jobs were to:

• watch over the ceasefire;
• help demobilise the soldiers of both armies and collect their weapons;
• bring aid to people who had been driven from their homes;
• supervise the first free elections.

The mission was slower than planned. Many soldiers were afraid to give up their weapons, and the elections were put back by a year. But the sides kept to the deal. The elections were held on 27-29 October 1994. Chissano won the presidency and FRELIMO won the most seats, but RENAMO accepted the result and became the main opposition party. The UN mission left in December 1994.

Sudan: a long war and a peace agreement

Sudan, in north-east Africa, had a civil war from 1983 to 2005 between the government in Khartoum in the north and rebels in the south. The south was mainly Christian or followed traditional African beliefs, while the north was mainly Muslim. The southern rebels said the south was neglected and unfairly treated. An estimated two million people died, and millions fled their homes. This was an identity war.

On 9 January 2005 the government and the southern rebels signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Nairobi, Kenya. It promised a share of the oil wealth, a government of the south, and a referendum after six years in which southerners would choose between staying in Sudan or becoming independent.

The UN in Sudan, 2005-11

In March 2005 the Security Council set up the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). It watched the ceasefire, helped bring back people who had fled, and helped to prepare for the vote. In the referendum in January 2011 almost 99 per cent of voters chose independence. South Sudan became an independent country on 9 July 2011, and the UN set up a new mission, UNMISS, to help the new state.

This was a success for the UN's search for long-term peace: a long civil war ended in a peaceful vote, backed by an agreement both sides had signed.

The crisis in Darfur

While the south was moving towards peace, a separate war began in Darfur, in western Sudan, in 2003. Rebel groups from local peoples said the government had ignored them. The government and an Arab militia called the Janjaweed fought back by attacking villages. Hundreds of thousands of people died and more than two million were driven from their homes. The International Criminal Court later issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir.

The UN faced a much harder problem here. There was no peace agreement that all sides had signed, and the Sudanese government at first refused to let in UN troops. An African Union force was sent, but it was too small. In 2007 the Security Council set up UNAMID, a joint force of the African Union and the UN, which began work on 1 January 2008. It was one of the largest peacekeeping forces in the world, with about 26,000 personnel, yet it was slow to arrive and short of equipment. It could not stop attacks on civilians, and the crisis continued beyond 2011.

What does this tell us about the UN?

Changed: since 1990 most UN peace work was inside countries, in civil and identity wars, not between states. Missions now ran elections, disarmed soldiers and helped to build governments. Stayed the same: success still depended on the sides agreeing to peace and on member states giving troops and money, as in Korea and the Congo.

• Mozambique and southern Sudan: the sides had signed an agreement, so the UN could help.
• Somalia and Darfur: there was no agreement, so the UN struggled.

Exam-style question

Explain TWO ways in which the UN mission in Mozambique (1992-94) was similar to the UN mission in Namibia (1989-90). [6 marks]

(In Namibia, South Africa, Angola and Cuba agreed a deal in 1988, and the UN mission supervised a ceasefire and elections that led to independence in March 1990.)