A Fritsch

The remaining security gap: Peace-building in Sierra Leone A Fritsch

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict Studies, Security, grade: 5, University of Geneva (Institut universitaire des hautes études internationales (IUHEI)), course: UN peace operations and Human Rights, 34 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: As the end of the relatively clear conflict situations of the cold war era has given space for dramatic changes, we are now facing a widespread and more unpredictable security situation than some years ago. In December 2004, the UN concluded, that "We cannot treat issues such as terrorism or civil wars or extreme poverty in isolation. The implications of this interconnectedness are profound. Our strategies must be comprehensive. Our institutions must overcome their narrow preoccupations and learn to work across issues in a concerted fashion." The last two decades have seen a dramatic increase in internal conflicts and instability, forcing the United Nations to rethink its definitions of peace and security. Peace keeping missions, often referred as intervention according to chapter 6 ½, as Dag Hammerskjöld has put it, have gradually increased, both in number and dimension. The complexity of internal conflicts and their dramatic social, humanitarian and economic consequences for societies remain a challenge for the United Nations. Step by step, the United Nations broadened their perception, and peace operations became multidimensional interventions, including military and police components as well as NGOs and other civil actors. As almost half of the post-conflict countries relapse into violent conflict within five years, one has to question some reasons. This paper deals mainly with the interdependent issue of security within the peace-building process, focusing on the case of Sierra Leone. My thesis is, that, besides questions of the coordination of efforts and the gap between traditional peace keeping and peace-building, there is