The Congo controversies

Peacekeeping always has an underlying political character. There are three possible reasons for this. First ‐ and this will be true of all peacekeeping activity ‐those states who authorize an operation and, in one way or another, contribute to it will do so because they hope that it will advance certain goals. Second, those who control the day‐to‐day conduct of the operation ‐ in the case of the UN, the Secretary‐General and the soldiers and officials on the spot ‐ may have certain agendas of their own, and find themselves able to use their position to advance them. And thirdly, even if the latter are doing no more than trying impartially to execute the will of their political masters, an operation may none the less have an impact on the local political balance. This may be particularly so in the case of missions which operate not at a border but throughout a jurisdiction. The UN's Congo operation, 1960–64, was political in all three respects. And because the dominating political purposes were not shared by all the interested actors, the operation created much controversy. Given the points of comparison between the Congo and some current peacekeeping operations, these earlier controversies may have contemporary relevance.