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Need
for greater UN peacekeeping role stressed
Dawn.com - Thursday, January 08, 2004
ISLAMABAD - The UN under-secretary-general, Jean-Marie
Guehenno, here on Wednesday underscored the role of world body
in peacekeeping in view of the fact that 20 to 30 conflicts
have raged at any given time over the past five decades.
He was speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies here
on Wednesday. He said lack of resources was a major handicap
in the inability of the UN to fulfil expectations.
The major contributors to the Support Account, which
financed these operations, were Japan, Germany, France and UK,
while the United States Congress continually showed
unwillingness to pay its share of the contributions, he added.
Peacekeeping, the UN official emphasized, was a reflection
of the international system, which had changed its scope and
nature over the decades. "Whereas earlier, peacekeeping
missions sought to maintain a peace agreement already reached,
missions of today do not always have a peace to maintain."
He said highly complex and challenging tasks assigned to
these missions were multidimensional, which resulted in
successes such as El Salvador, Cambodia and Namibia. These
successes led to unrealistic expectations from the UN, he
said, adding hence the criticism it had received in the wake
of genocide in Rwanda, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and civil
strife in Somalia.
"The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, therefore,
commissioned a panel to analyse the future of peacekeeping
forces." Mr Guehenno highlighted the positive contributions
Pakistan had made to UN peacekeeping. As the largest troop
contributor, Pakistan had been involved in the successful
completion of missions in Somalia, Sierra Leone and Congo, he
added.
While the UN was still fulfilling its commitments to issues
of peace and security in Africa, which had claimed over seven
million lives in 1990s, he regretted, the world allowed its
attention to be focused only on terrorism, Middle East and
Balkans.
Rich countries of the North had reoriented their budgets to
address issues and concerns of terrorism with the result that
their monetary contributions to UN peacekeeping budget had
fallen to one-seventh of its total contributions.
He said the peacekeeping missions of today were not only
confined to maintaining ceasefire but also busy in
post-conflict activities of peace building and reconstruction.
"This new dimension is important from the human solidarity,
ethical as well as strategic standpoint," Mr Guehenno
stressed.
He cited the example of Afghanistan where neglect on the
part of international community spelled unprecedented human
tragedy and spawned terrorism.
Stressing the need for looking at the broader picture, he
noted that commitment to the ideal of the UN Charter had led
Pakistan and India (their political differences
notwithstanding) to serving jointly on a number of missions
and provide a platform for common action under the UN
auspices.
Responding to a question by Mr Agha Shahi, the chairman of
the institute, Mr Guehenno said any decision to maintain a
standing army of the UN under the command of the secretary
general was a political one. It would alter the authority and
the relationship between the secretary general and the
security council. Key members of the security council were
reluctant to take up this issue, he added.
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