Darfur Peacekeepers
The African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (AMIS) from the Perspective of a Hungarian Military Advisor
János Besenyő
L’Harmattan, Paris, 2021, 230 pages
Book Review published on: April 14, 2023
Author János Besenyő, an established acquaintance of the African region, visited several times during his missions as a colonel with the Hungarian Armed Forces, and his academic research activities are also closely related to this region. Because of the fortunate meeting of personal experience and research curiosity, a unique personality and career emerged, which makes Besenyő unique in the academic world as well. Besenyő’s career is unique but not without precedent. He previously served in the Hungarian Armed Forces from 1981 to 2013; and he taught at Miklós Zrínyi National Defense University between 1993 and 2013, where his main fields were the organization of information, communication, and telecommunication systems and its security.
The book, Darfur Peacekeepers: The African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (AMIS) from the Perspective of a Hungarian Military Advisor, can be divided into several major parts. In the first part, the author presents the geographical and historical background, then the African Union Mission in Darfur (AMIS) missions (AMIS I, AMIS II, AMIS III), and finally the role of the European Union (EU) in the missions. The next part should be highlighted and is present in all Besenyő’s scientific work to highlight the Hungarian experience. Finally, Besenyő summarizes and analyzes the whole mission in the concluding chapter. A very important part of the volume is the timeline because readers who want to visualize this area get a detailed guide. In the chapter “Geography and History of Darfur,” the author analyzes the region. The readers learn about Darfur's geographical features, the borders of neighbouring countries, and the topographic features of the major cities. The tropical savannah climate becomes drier heading to the north when it transforms into desert climate on the way. The next section presents the AMIS missions, starting with the AMIS I mission and ending with the African Union intervention. The author draws attention to the problems that have arisen because of the cooperation or noncooperation of different organizations. The AMIS II–history, structure, and operation AMIS IIE (enhanced), or AMIS III is a separate but cohesive chapter. Besenyő illustrates his work with precise data and figures by combining the exploratory work of a historian and the mission-focused approach of a soldier. The next chapter covers the support mission of the EU, and its subsections are beginnings EU/NATO airlift and logistics advisors of the EU supporting operation in Darfur. Not only did the chain of command and unexplained requirements constitute a problem but also no European observer was trained to the conditions in Darfur. The EU believed that—like in other missions—the AMIS personnel would be trained in the area of operations, while the AMIS leadership believed that the EU would send perfectly prepared people. These are the problems in African missions that are always present, and the author emphasizes these problems in his previous works as well.
Health care was carried out by Medical Support Solutions, a South African company, but apart from the classic medical work, they did not engage in other activities. Through the Hungarian role, Besenyő presented how important these tasks were to the success of military operations and what their pitfalls could be, and he did all this based on his own experience. I recommend this book to readers who are interested in the subject because it is easy to read and exciting to soldiers who want to increase their experience. In addition, scientists who research this field will appreciate the book as well, because the book was written with scientific thoroughness and objectivity. I also recommend the book to those ones who love history, the background of military operations, or those ones who just want to read a meaningful good book.
Book Review written by:L. A. Szabo, Budapest, Hungary