DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS IN PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS BETWEEN THE UN AND REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. A RECENT REPORT OF THE UN SECRETARY GENERAL ON THE TRANSITION IN MALI AND IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Developing effective partnerships between the UN and Regional organizations involved in the delivery of Peace-keeping Operations (PKOs) has become a key element to improve the effectiveness, credibility and sustainability of these missions. The recent trend of transferring authority from a regional Organization to a UN PKO represents an interesting tool based on the principles of complementarity and comparative advantages. At the request of the Security Council, the UN Secretary General carried out a lessons-learned exercise on the transition from African Union peace operations to UN PKOs in Mali and in the Central African Republic (CAR). This article provides a critical analysis of this Report and argues that a smooth transition phase from one operation to the other is possible provided that a set of conditions are fulfilled. Moreover, the present contribution highlights that the two cases offer interesting lessons to be learned, which could prove to be essential for the future transition from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to a UN operation.