Ian Katusiime | Kampala, Uganda Uganda is the world’s second largest contributor to peacekeeping operations, with 6,162 personnel as of December 31, 2021. A new analysis by SIPRI, a global security think group, confirmed this.
Ethiopia was top, with 8,611 personnel participating in peacekeeping missions. The information was made public ahead of the United Nations’ International Day of Peacekeepers on May 29.
Ugandan troops are serving in the African Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), where they are the mission’s leading nation. It was the first country to participate in UN-backed operations in 2007, and for that it has gained international acclaim.
ATMIS is also the world’s largest international peacekeeping mission, with 19,384 military men.
ATMIS is also the world’s largest international peacekeeping mission, with 19,384 military men.
“At the end of 2021, sub-Saharan Africa continued to host the highest number of multilateral peace operations (22 of the 63). The region is likely to remain the main focus of multilateral operations—both within and outside the scope of SIPRI’s definition of multilateral peace operations,” wrote Dr. Claudia Pfeifer, the author of the report titled ‘Multilateral peace operations in 2021: Developments and trends.’
Complex African missions
“In 2021 a number of complex constellations of peace operations continued to be concentrated in a handful of host countries,” the report noted. It said that Multilateral peace operations were particularly numerous in the Central African Republic (CAR), Kosovo and Mali. “Moreover, a new constellation appears to be developing in Mozambique, where two of the four multilateral peace operations that started in 2021 were established. These joined the Rwandan Joint Force, a bilateral military operation (not considered a multilateral peace operation).”
The study noted that CAR which has been wrecked by instability hosted five operations as of December 2021 deploying approximately 15,000 personnel, while Mali hosted four operations, with a total of approximately 16,000 personnel.
“Along with Somalia (hosting three operations), South Sudan (hosting two operations) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (hosting one operation), these were the countries or territories with the largest deployments and hosting the largest operations in 2021. The personnel deployments in the four operations in Kosovo were much lower, totaling approximately 4,000.”
Meanwhile Somalia has just elected a new President and there has been another significant development: redeployment of 450 U.S. troops to bolster operations against the Al Shabaab terror group.