UNAMID: A Path Towards Hybrid Peacekeeping?

In 2007, the United Nations - African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) was established as the first joint peacekeeping operation (PKO) of the United Nations (UN), with the African Union (AU) in Darfur, Sudan, which became known as the first hybrid PKO, bringing together two of the largest international organizations and taking over AMIS (African Union Mission in Sudan). In this paper, we want to understand the purpose of this bilateral relationship, since this hybrid operation opened a window of opportunity for future operations to adopt this typology. Firstly, the responsibility of managing certain conflicts is distributed among other regional organizations, giving them more autonomy and responsibility. Secondly, the “burden” – human and financial – of the UN is somehow eased. To this end, we will gather and process the data relating to the strengths and weaknesses of this PKO typology, with the help of a SWOT analysis, to find clues and bring evidence to light that demonstrate the possibility of this model being replicated in future situations, while respecting the due differences inherent to each mission and each country and region. We concluded that the hybridization of more PKOs could be a reality, albeit dependent on a greater investment by regional organizations in adapting to UN procedures, namely through diverse types of training. In addition, it will always be necessary a prior and careful analysis regarding the implementation of a PKO of this typology, with a concrete and clear definition of the roles of each organization. KEYWORDS: hybrid peacekeeping; United Nations; peacekeeping operations; UNAMID; African Union.