The Fog of Peace: A Memoir of International Peacekeeping in the 21st Century - Hardcover

The corresponding chapters offer pointed and precise narratives of thesecrises, of their underlying causes, of the local, regional and international interests at stake, and of the role the UN played in each of them. That in itself should suffice to make The Fog of Peace a remarkable accomplishment." -IISS Journal "As can be expected from an author of Jean-Marie Guehenno's experience and prescience, The Fog of Peace captures well the moral conundrums and diplomatic obstacles that the United Nations and its Department of Peacekeeping face in the post-cold war era. At a time when the international framework established to curtail conflict and human suffering is under increasing pressure, his book provides valuable insights and timely advice on how to strengthen our global security architecture." Kofi A. Annan Secretary General of the United Nations, 1997-2006 "In Afghanistan and Sudan I shared with Jean-Marie Guehenno the accomplishments and the frustrations he portrays in The Fog of Peace. This honest and probing account captures the realities of peacekeeping in the twenty-first century. It is a first-hand recounting of some of the most difficult work the United Nations has undertaken." Lakhdar Brahimi former UN Special Envoy to Syria and special representative to Haiti, South Africa, Afghanistan, and Iraq "Jean-Marie Guehenno is a scholar-diplomat of immense integrity, intelligence, judgment, and charm. He won international respect during his eight-year stewardship of UN peacekeeping-no mean feat given those years coincided precisely with George W. Bush's presidency. What shines through this thoughtful and detailed account is the admirable way in which Guehenno maintained his own moral compass amid a swirl of competing pragmatic and political imperatives, never succumbing to the weary cynicism that so often afflicts international public servants. We could have no better guide to navigating the "fog of peace."" -Gareth Evans Foreign Minister of Australia, 1988-96, and President of the International Crisis Group, 2000-09

After over a decade of international engagement in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan, peace is far from secured in those three countries. A skeptical observer is left wondering if anything has been accomplished by costly interventions in faraway lands, especially as more immediate threats - most acutely in the form of terrorist acts orchestrated by individuals or small groups - loom in the streets of New York, London, Paris, and other major cities throughout the world. At the same time, there is a growing sense of outrage as the conflict in Syria enters its third year and more than one hundred thousand lives have been lost. Intervention is unpromising but abstention seems callous. In The Fog of Peace, Jean-Marie Guehenno reflects on some of the most difficult questions facing international interventions today. Guehenno draws on his experience as the head of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations from 2000-2008, a period that included intense negotiations and spiraling crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan. He returned to the United Nations in 2012 to act as Kofi Annan's deputy in negotiations designed to find a - so far elusive - sustainable solution to the war in Syria. From his experience in leading negotiating teams and overseeing the decisions that placed UN blue helmets into some of the world's most dangerous environments, Guehenno draws a number of important lessons for those who remain committed to international engagement in civil wars in far off lands, as well as for those who would prefer retrenchment.