Regional Peacekeeping Force: Ouagadougou Political Agreement (OPA)

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Regional Peacekeeping Force: Ouagadougou Political Agreement (OPA)

Implementations

Regional Peacekeeping Force – 2007

In the Ouagadougou Political Agreement (2007), parties agreed to request additional African peacekeeping troops for Ivory Coast. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) were providing military troops for peacekeeping purposes in Ivory Coast.1

In an effort to increase the number of African troops in the post-agreement period, the President of Ivory Coast requested troops from Burkina Faso. In July, Burkina Faso decided to send 150 troops.2 This contribution was supposed to strengthen the United Nations Operation in C™te d’Ivoire (UNOCI). The actual departure date of the military unit was not given. As of December 2007, the Secretary General’s Report to the Security Council did not suggest a substantial increase in the contribution of African or Burkina Faso troops as.3

  1. “Eleventh progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2006/939), December 4, 2006.
  2. “Burkina to deploy a military unit in Ivory Coast,” Agence France Presse, July 24, 2007.
  3. “Fifteenth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2008/1), January 2, 2008; “Thirteenth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2007/275), May 14, 2007; “Fourteenth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2007/ 593), October 1, 2007.

Regional Peacekeeping Force – 2008

There was no information on any additional requests on the part of the Ivory Coast government for additional African troops for UNOCI. The United Nations Security Council, however, did not increase the strength of the peacekeeping force beyond 8,000, which could be the reason for blocking additional peacekeepers from African states. Nevertheless, various ECOWAS countries and AU members contributed troops to UNOCI.1

  1. “Seventeenth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2008/451), July 10, 2008; “Nineteenth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2009/21), January 8, 2009.

Regional Peacekeeping Force – 2009

No information was found on any additional request on the part of the Ivory Coast government for additional African troops for UNOCI. While ECOWAS and AU members had troops in UNOCI, there was no increase in African troops on the ground.1

  1. “Twentieth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2009/196), April 13, 2009; “Twenty-third progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2010/15), January 7, 2010.

Regional Peacekeeping Force – 2010

No information was found on any additional request on the part of the Ivory Coast government for additional African troops for UNOCI. Because of contentious presidential elections and the recurrence of violence, the U.N. Security Council authorized the deployment of up to 500 additional personnel in Ivory Coast.1 It was, however, not clear whether the increased personnel would be coming from African countries.

  1. “US eyes bigger UN force in Ivory Coast,” Associated Press, December 22, 2010.

Regional Peacekeeping Force – 2011

Additional peacekeepers were deployed in Ivory Coast in 2011 and were drawn from Malawi and Niger. According to reports by the Secretary General to the Security Council, Malawi contributed 856 troops1 and troops from Niger increased from 401 in June to 941 in December.2 This increase, however, did not come from the request of the Ivory Coast government. Nevertheless, it helped increase the number of African peacekeepers in Ivory Coast.

  1. “Twenty-eighth report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2011/387), June 24, 2011.
  2. “Twenty-ninth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2011/807), December 30, 2011.

Regional Peacekeeping Force – 2012

After a substantial increase in troops from Malawi and Niger in 2011, there were no substantial increases in additional African troops in 2012.1 The troop levels remained the same as they were in December 2011.

  1. “Thirtieth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2012/506), June 29, 2012.

Regional Peacekeeping Force – 2013

“In consultation with the Government, UNOCI continued to plan the drawdown and reconfiguration of its military presence, which will consist of 7,137 military personnel by 30 June 2014, concentrating on high-risk areas.” Moreover, UNOCI and UN Mission In Liberia (UNMIL) planners continued to “develop options for the establishment, within the UNOCI authorized military strength, of a quick-reaction force configured and equipped to respond to incidents in C™te dÕIvoire. The force would also provide support in the event of a serious deterioration in the security situation in Liberia once UNMIL reaches its residual military strength in mid-2015, and to respond to other crises in the subregion, as required.”1

As of December, levels of African troops remained relatively the same, with slight reductions in troops from Senegal and Togo; the largest drop came in troops from Malawi, which were reduced from over 800 to 10.2

  1. “Thirty-third progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2012/761), December 24, 2013.
  2. Ibid.

Regional Peacekeeping Force – 2014

“The UNOCI force continued to reconfigure so that it would be more mobile and concentrated in high-risk areas, pursuant to resolution 2162 (2014), in which the Security Council decided to reduce the mission’s authorized military strength to 5,437 personnel by 30 June 2015. As at 1 December, 840 troops had been withdrawn.” A large number of those withdrawn were African troops; notable reductions included about 50-60 troops each withdrawn for Senegal, Togo, and Niger while Ghana levels reduced from over 500 to 161.1

  1. “Thirty-fifth progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in C™te dÕIvoire,” United Nations Security Council (S/2014/892), December 12, 2014.

Regional Peacekeeping Force – 2015

UN Resolution 2162 (2014) called for the reduction of the mission’s authorized military strength to 5,437 personnel by June 30, 2015; in March, troop levels stood at 5,883. African troop levels are thus far unavailable.1

  1. UNOCI, “Facts and Figures,” accessed May 7, 2015, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unoci/facts.shtml.