A second case in which it is clear the UN and the international community saw it fit to implement R2P is that of the Cote D’Ivoire after its presidential elections in November 2010. This occurred after opposing candidates Gbagbo and Ouattara declared themselves, individually, winners of a shambolic election process resulting in both men establishing government in the same city of Abidjan. (ICRtoP, n.d) The ensuing violence between the forces of both Ouattara and Gbagbo created a humanitarian crisis, which was reported by the UN to have killed over 1000 people, directly forcibly displaced nearly 500,000 people and led to the fleeing of 94,000 more to neighbouring Liberia. (Ibid) The international community did not shirk their ‘Responsibility to Protect’, the mandate of the United Nations operation in Cote D’Ivoire (UNOCI) was extended by passing resolution 1962. This resolution urged all parties to accept the UN’s review suggesting Ouattara’s election victory, it also weakened Gbagbo’s power by comprehensively freezing his assets in a similar manner to the Libyan conflict. (Daddieh 2016, p151) On January 19th, 2011 the UN Security Council enhanced measures against Gbagbo by unanimously voting to send in an additional 2000 UNOCI forces into the country. Sanctions were augmented by the UN through the passing of resolution 1975 on the 30th of March 2011, which urged Gbagbo to “step aside,” and supported the UNOCI in using “all means necessary,” to protect civilian life. (UN 2011) Gbagbo was arrested in April 2011 putting an end to the conflict. The impact of R2P would seem clear here as, simply without its concept, whilst one can only assume, the violent trajectory of the conflict would infer that there was a real possibility for mass atrocity. In this sense not only did R2P play a key role in shaping and alleviating the conflict, but also was vital in preventing greater human tragedy and protecting human rights.

R2P has not been unilaterally successful in its application within recent African conflict, however. Indeed Hilpold argues that in Darfur, the DRC and Yemen the concept of R2P has only been applied in an abstract fashion by using new terminology without greatly affecting the decisions made by the international community. (Hillpold 2014, p242) Darfur is a clear demonstration of how the rhetoric of R2P has far outweighed action taken on the ground. Darfur is a conflict which has taken the lives of nearly 300,000 people and displaced a further 2.7 million. (BBC, 2010) In comparison to both the Lybian and Ivorian conflicts, both death toll and population displacement would appear to constitute ‘mass atrocity’. It would appear, therefore, that the UN and the international community has failed to protect the c