In 2007, several countries that have long served as the poster children for failed states managed to achieve some unlikely gains. The Ivory Coast, which unraveled in 2002 after a flawed election divided north and south, experienced a year of relative calm thanks to a new peace agreement. Liberia, the most improved country in last year's index, continued to make gains due to a renewed anticorruption effort and the resettlement of nearly 100,000 refugees. And Haiti, long considered the basket case of the Western Hemisphere, stepped back from the edge, with moderate improvements in security in the capital's violence-ravaged slums.
A common thread links these most improved players: All three host U.N. peacekeeping operations. Nearly 15,000 U.N. troops have monitored Liberia's fragile gains since the end of its 14-year civil war in 2003, disarming former fighters, training new police, and repairing roads, schools, and hospitals. Haiti's U.N. mission, nearly 9,000 strong, has made notable progress in tackling the country's gang violence, though daily life for most Haitians remains steeped in abject poverty. And in the Ivory Coast, a U.N. force of more than 9,000 helps ward off a relapse into war, with troops remaining there to supervise the peace ahead of elections this November. These important, if incremental, gains suggest that, though U.N. peacekeeping missions are frequently dismissed as underfunded, poorly staffed, and even corrupt, they should not be written off. With the proper mandate and resources, peacekeepers can be a pivotal force in encouraging slow, steady progress in some of the world's weakest states."
Source: UN DPKO Civil Affairs Network; Failed States Index
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