War and Conflict in African Continent

War is a common thing on the African continent. Conflicts have occurred in Africa such as religious conflicts, civil wars, ethnic conflicts, opposition-government conflicts, and other domestic wars. As a result of the war, the African region is very vulnerable to experience the instability of the region and eventually cause a prolonged impact such as the emergence of a prolonged crisis both in economic, social, and political (www.journal.unair.ac.id). One of the countries in the African continent that is in conflict is the CAR. This was evident during the administration of President François Bozizé in 2003 to March. Since Bozizé led the CAR, there has been resistance from some of the rebel forces. The rebellion continues because of the economic and political weaknesses in the CAR government. At that time the CAR’s internal condition was very worrying. Extreme poverty, government institutions, and economic development that both have no power at all make the CAR population less supportive of the government. The anti-Bozizé northern population CAR considers Bozizé failed to uphold democratic commitments, delayed economic reforms and delayed the implementation of promised politics. It was then that made the rebel group take active resistance against the government (www.usip.org).

After 6 months after the fall of Francois Bozize, the CAR condition worsened, as it later found out that the Séléka Rebels are a Muslim Group that has committed gross human rights violations in this predominantly Christian country. This is where the conflict develops and extends from what was originally only a government-opposition conflict, then widened and transitioned into a Christian-Muslim conflict. On that basis, eventually, Christian groups formed a militia of resistance who called themselves as Anti-Balaka. As a result of this, there was a battle between the two. Bloodshed is inevitable. Therefore, the attention of the international community, such as the UN, especially the UNSC. The UNSC’s involvement in this conflict can be seen in the formation of a peacekeeping force called MINUSCA (Hermawati, 2016: 212). Based on the statement above, the conflict in the CAR is a conflict that is motivated by the dissatisfaction of opposition groups against the government. As a result of this, the UNSC must carry out its duties and functions in dealing with instability in the CAR. When MINUSCA served as a Peacekeeping Force in the CAR, a lot of inhumane cases occurred and one of them was sexual harassment. Victims of sexual harassment are civilians, women, and minors. This certainly destroys the image of MINUSCA as the Peacekeeping Force because MINUSCA is the troop in charge of maintaining state stability and protecting civilians who are in the midst of armed conflict. However, in its implementation, MINUSCA actually performs immoral acts that violate human rights.The mission of the UN peacekeeping force is multidimensional in that its duties and functions are not only to safeguard and monitor the peace process in the mission area, but UN peacekeepers also participate in the peace process, and it must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of International Law (Ambarwaty and Rina Rusman, 2009: 72).

In the context of a country experiencing extreme conflict, the main and most important goal of a formal peacekeeping operation or mandate of UNSC is to protect the civilian population. Peacekeeping forces have been sent to protect the people, but they are abusing power. It is a form of treason based on trust. The mistakes committed by these troops have made a disastrous impact on the UN and the loss of world confidence in UN peacekeeping forces. Therefore, the authors conclude that the role of MINUSCA as a Peacekeeping Force in CAR in 2013-2015 does not work as expected. MINUSCA commits sexual exploitation of women and children. As a result of this, they have to suffer physical and mental trauma as victims of human rights violations. This is what UNSC fears about the international distrust of the peacekeeping force formed by it.