Defence Forces Review 2008

UNMIL – A UN Success Story
personnel from several international agencies, with a mandate to
conduct peace-building in a country that is just emerging from a civil
war’.
Even since the Brahimi report was published in 2000 the security situation throughout the
world has changed. The September 11 attacks, the London and Madrid bombings, the invasion
of Afghanistan and Iraq has had a global socio-economic, religious and geopolitical impact,
not alone on the UN, but these events all impacted on individual member states to varying
degrees.
The fallout from Brahimi was the development of a more complex and planned approach
to peacekeeping operations. Lessons learned would result in more efficient systems being
employed during mission planning at both operational and strategic levels. UNMIL was the
first major and most complex UN deployment since the Brahimi report. UNMIL was created
under UN Resolution 1509 (2003) on 19 September 2003. This mission deployed on Liberian
soil on 1st October 2003 and began operations immediately. 15
UNMIL – Th e Ne x t Ge n e r a t i o n – Th e Pr o d u c t o f UN Re f o r m
The UNMIL mission utilized recommendations that were submitted in the Brahimi Report. 16
The Security Council has been more active in authorising the use of force and providing
the UN deployed force with sufficient military flexibility through its rules of engagement 17 .
The UNMIL deployment can be classed as a new generation of peacekeeping forces 18 . The
Brahimi Reports recommendations, those that have been implemented have been employed
in peacekeeping operations in Africa. The UNMIL deployment embraced several key
components of the Report including rapid deployment teams’ mechanisms, pre-mandate
commitment authority, and strategic deployment stocks and integrated mission task force. 19
These developments were built into the fabric of the UNMIL deployment.
UNMIL Integrated Mandate Implementation Plan (IMIP) identified 8 Core Goals and 86
Projects based on UNSC Resolution 1509.
a. Consolidation and Strengthening Peace & Security.
b. Establishment of Mechanisms and Programmes for Disarmament and
Demobilization.
c. Rehabilitation and Reintegration of all ex-combatants in civil society.
d. Establishment of the Rule of Law.
e. Establishment of Safeguards for Human Rights.
f. Facilitation of, and the functioning and restoration of, State Authority.
g. Provision of factual information to the public through Public Media Campaigns.
h. Coordination of UN Agencies.
UNMIL would deploy into Liberia with a more comprehensive and structured mandate to
deal with the conflict that was engulfing the country. Liberia falls into the category of failed
state. The inability of the government to protect the population, to exercise effective control
over all of the states territory, and the existence of armed elements, political or otherwise
within the state creates instability 20 .
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