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Africa: UN Peacekeeping
Africa: UN Peacekeeping
Date distributed (ymd): 000908
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+
+security/peace+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains excerpts from a press release concerning
the special Security Council summit meeting on peacekeeping, with
special attention to Africa, as well as the text of the
resolution. It also contains a press release on the report on
peacekeeping presented last month by a special panel headed by
former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi. The full report
from the panel can be found at
http://www.un.org/peace/reports/peace_operations/report.htm
One of the greatest obstacles to implementing the called-for
reforms in peacekeeping is unpaid peacekeeping obligations, which
as of July 31 totaled $2.4 billion, $1.4 billion of it owed by
the United States. News reports indicated behind-the-scenes
progress in negotiating to lower the proportion of peacekeeping
dues owed by the U.S., in order to overcome congressional
opposition to paying the U.S. debts.
For more background on the issue of the UN's financial crisis,
due largely to unpaid U.S. debts, see:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Security Council leaders articulate vision for more effective
peacekeeping
7 September -- Leaders from the 15 members of the Security
Council, in a summit meeting today, articulated a vision of a
more effective collective endeavour to maintain international
peace and security in a debate which addressed fundamental issues
of conflict prevention, more effective peacekeeping, intervention
in the internal affairs of a State and Council reform.
The need to broaden the concept of security was a theme
articulated by a number of speakers. This concept encompassed
pressing social and economic problems, such as the spread of
infectious disease, poverty and the illicit trade in natural
resources, particularly diamonds, they argued. Such factors were
identified as the root causes of many conflicts which must be
tackled as a fundamental part of efforts to establish peace and
stability in many regions of the world, particularly Africa.
There was a strong consensus on the need to strengthen conflict
prevention efforts. A number of speakers called for the
establishment of early warning mechanisms and other measures for
this purpose.
The question of when the Council should intervene was also a
focus of many statements, with some speakers emphasizing the
primacy of State sovereignty and others the imperatives of action
to prevent human rights abuses and other humanitarian crimes. The
working methods and size of the Council itself were also at
issue, with several participants emphasizing the need for reform
in these areas. Proposals for improving the UN's peacekeeping
performance, especially those contained in the recent Report of
the Panel on Peace Operations, were also widely discussed -- and
widely endorsed -- by the leaders. They drew particular attention
to the Report's call for bolstering the UN's capacity to deploy
effectively by giving it the tools it needs to carry out the
tasks entrusted to it by the Council.
At the outset of the meeting, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said
there was a "crisis of credibility" facing the United Nations and
called on the leaders present to give the world body the "means
to make the difference between life and death." Referring to the
recommendations in the Report, he pledged to "make those changes
for which I am responsible" and urged the Council to do the same.
...
The President of Namibia, Sam Nujoma, said that while the use of
sanctions had shown varying degrees of success, "they remain a
valuable tool to use in various situations where wars and rebel
atrocities are fuelled by the illegal trade in diamonds and other
natural resources." By way of example, he said the situations in
Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone
were cases in point. "Sanctions can be used in the same way to
curb the illicit arms flow to and from Africa, which endangers
lives and threatens peace and security."
Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare said that while weapons of
mass destruction must be dealt with, for regions like Africa,
small arms were the weapons of massive destruction. They were
sometimes given away free of charge, sold under conditions that
defied all agreements, or sold on credit on the promise of raw
materials. He called for international normative standards to
control the circulation of small arms. ...
"Rightful concerns over sovereignty cannot allow us to turn a
blind eye to the forces of evil, but the speed and yardstick for
collective action cannot be determined solely by strategic
geopolitical considerations," said Prime Minister P.J. Patterson
of Jamaica. He also addressed the issue of Security Council
reform, saying it was "high time" to move forward with that
process. "By failing to take note of changes in the relative
standing of States in the past half century and the expansion of
United Nations membership, the Security Council has allowed its
representative character to be diminished and its democratic
legitimacy to suffer," he said.
The President of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, stressed the
need to improve the Council's working methods and expand its
membership. "The aim is to ensure that the Security Council
becomes more representative, keeps pace with the different
developments on the world scene, and its resolutions assume
greater effectiveness and greater credibility away from any form
or manifestation of double standards," he said. ...
The only other time that the Council has met at the level of head
of State or Government was on 31 January 1992. That summit was
convened under the theme "the responsibility of the Security
Council in the maintenance of international peace and security."
September 7, 2000
Security Council Declaration on Ensuring an Effective Role for
the Security Council in the Maintenance of International Peace
and Security, Particularly in Africa
The Security Council,
Meeting at the level of Heads of States and Government in the
course of the Millennium Summit to discuss the need to ensure an
effective role for the Security Council in the maintenance of
international peace and security, particularly in Africa,
I
Pledges to uphold the Purposes and Principles of the Charter of
the United Nations, reaffirms its commitment to the principles of
sovereign equality, national sovereignty, territorial integrity
and political independence of all States, and underlines the need
for respect for human rights and the rule of law;
Reaffirms the importance of adhering to the principles of the
non-threat or non-use of force in international relations in any
manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations, and
of peaceful settlement of international disputes;
Recalls its primary responsibility for the maintenance of
international peace and security, and resolves to strengthen the
central role of the United Nations in peacekeeping and to ensure
the effective functioning of the collective security system
established by the Charter;
II
Pledges to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations in
addressing conflict at all stages from prevention to settlement
to post-conflict peace-building;
Reaffirms its determination to give equal priority to the
maintenance of international peace and security in every region
of the world and, in view of the particular needs of Africa, to
give special attention to the promotion of durable peace and
sustainable development in Africa, and to the specific
characteristics of African conflicts;
III
Strongly encourages the development within the United Nations
system and more widely of comprehensive and integrated strategies
to address the root causes of conflicts, including their economic
and social dimensions;
Affirms its determination to strengthen United Nations
peacekeeping operations by:
- Adopting clearly defined, credible, achievable and appropriate
mandates,
- Including in those mandates effective measures for the security
and safety of United Nations personnel and, wherever feasible,
for the protection of the civilian population,
- Taking steps to assist the United Nations to obtain trained and
properly equipped personnel for peacekeeping operations;
- Strengthening consultations with troop contributing countries
when deciding on such operations;
Agrees to support:
- the upgrading of United Nations capacity for planning,
establishing, deploying and conducting peacekeeping operations,
- the provision of a more up-to-date and sounder foundation for
financing peacekeeping operations;
Underlines the importance of enhancing the United nations
capacity for rapid deployment of peacekeeping operations and
urges Member States to provide sufficient and timely resources;
IV
Welcomes the report of the Panel on United Nations Peace
Operations of 21 August (S/2000/809), and decides to consider the
recommendations which fall within its area of responsibility
expeditiously;
V
Stresses the critical importance of the disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants, and emphasizes
that such programmes should normally be integrated into the
mandates of peacekeeping operations;
VI
Calls for effective international action to prevent the illegal
flow of small arms into areas of conflict;
Decides to continue to take resolute action in areas where the
illegal exploitation and trafficking of high-value commodities
contributes to the escalation or continuation of conflict;
Stresses that the perpetrators of crimes against humanity, crimes
of genocide, war crimes, and other serious violations of
international humanitarian law should be brought to justice;
Emphasizes its determination to continue to sensitize
peacekeeping personnel in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS
in all operations;
VI
Calls for the strengthening of cooperation and communication
between the United Nations and regional or subregional
organizations or arrangements, in accordance with Chapter VIII of
the Charter, and in particular in respect of peacekeeping
operations;
Emphasizes the importance of continued cooperation and effective
coordination between the United Nations and the Organization of
African Unity and African subregional organizations in addressing
conflict in Africa, and of enhanced support for the Organization
of African Unity Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management
and Resolution;
VIII
Underlines that the ultimate responsibility for resolving
disputes and conflicts lies with the parties themselves and that
peacekeeping operations aimed at helping to implement a peace
accord can succeed only to the extent that there is a genuine and
lasting commitment to peace by all parties concerned;
Calls upon all States to intensify efforts to secure to world
free of the scourge of war.
23 August 2000
Press Release SG/2066 PKO/94
Secretary-general Promises Major United Nations Peacekeeping
Reform; Calls on Member States to Provide Funds, Improve
Decision-making
Fully Endorses Far-Reaching Report by Independent Panel
NEW YORK, 23 August -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged
world governments to join him in implementing far-reaching
changes in the structures and management of United Nations peace
operations recommended by a panel of international experts,
saying that prompt action was "absolutely essential to make the
United Nations truly credible as a force for peace".
The Panel's report recommends, among other reforms: extensive
restructuring of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations; a new
information and strategic analysis unit to service all United
Nations departments concerned with peace and security; an
integrated task force at Headquarters to plan and support each
peacekeeping mission from its inception; and more systematic use
of information technology.
Many of the proposed changes require political, financial or
operational decisions from the United Nations Member States. For
instance, the Panel urges the Security Council not to finalize
resolutions authorizing large peacekeeping missions until Member
States have pledged the necessary troops and resources; and
recommends an increase in funding to strengthen the peacekeeping
support staff at United Nations Headquarters.
In letters forwarding the Panel's report to the General Assembly
and the Security Council, the Secretary-General today said he had
asked his Deputy, Louise Frechette to follow up on implementing
its recommendations, and to submit an action plan in time for the
Assembly to consider it during this autumn's session. He also
hoped the report would receive attention from world leaders, who
will be in New York next month for the Millennium Summit.
The Secretary-General set up the Panel in March, after publishing
two reports last year which highlighted the United Nations'
failure to prevent genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and to protect the
inhabitants of Srebrenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 1995.
Saying "we must all do our utmost not to allow such horrors ever
to happen again", he asked the Panel to make "a clear set of
recommendations on how to do better in future in the whole range
of United Nations activities in the area of peace and security".
Chaired by Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian Foreign Minister,
the Panel included members from all six continents, with wide
experience in humanitarian, development and police work, as well
as military peacekeeping.
Among other key changes recommended in the report are the
following:
Doctrine and strategy: The Panel calls for more effective
conflict prevention strategies, pointing out that prevention is
"far preferable for those who would otherwise suffer the
consequences of war, and a less costly option for the
international community than military action, emergency
humanitarian relief, or reconstruction after a war has run its
course". It says peacekeepers must be able to defend themselves
and their mandate, with "robust rules of engagement", against
those who renege on commitments or seek to undermine peace
accords by violence. And it urges the Secretariat to draw up a
plan for developing better peace-building strategies.
Peacekeepers and peace-builders, it says, are "inseparable
partners", since only a self-sustaining peace "offers a ready
exit to peacekeeping forces".
Mandates: The Secretariat "must tell the Security Council what it
needs to know, not what it wants to hear, when formulating or
changing mission mandates".
Transitional civil administration: A panel of international legal
experts should explore the idea of an interim criminal code, for
use in places where the United Nations is given temporary
executive powers (as currently in Kosovo and East Timor), pending
the re-establishment of local rule of law and law enforcement
capacity.
Timelines: "Traditional" United Nations peacekeeping operations
(sent to monitor ceasefires and separations of forces after
inter-State wars) should be fully deployed within 30 days; more
complex peace operations, sent to help end intra-State conflicts,
within 90 days.
Personnel: Member States should work together to form "coherent,
multinational, brigade-sized forces", ready for effective
deployment within those timelines; and should each establish a
national pool of civilian police officers. The Panel does not
call for a standing United Nations army, but says the Secretariat
should establish "on-call" lists of about 100 military and 100
police officers and experts, from national armies and police
forces, who would be available on seven days' notice to establish
new mission headquarters. Conditions of service for civilian
specialists should also be revised so that the United Nations can
attract more qualified personnel, and reward good performance
with better career prospects.
Speed and efficiency: The Secretary-General should be allowed
funds to start planning a mission before the Security Council
approves it, so that when approved it can be deployed quickly.
Field missions should be given greater freedom to manage their
own budgets. Additional ready-made mission "start-up kits" should
be maintained at the United Nations Logistics Base in Brindisi,
Italy.
Funding for peacekeeping support: The Panel remarks that, after
52 years, it is time to treat peacekeeping as a "core activity"
of the United Nations rather than a "temporary responsibility".
Headquarters support for it should, therefore, be funded mainly
through the regular United Nations budget, instead of the current
"Support Account" which has to be justified year by year and post
by post.
The report begins by saying that "over the last decade, the
United Nations has repeatedly failed to meet the challenge" of
protecting people from war, "and it can do no better today". It
concludes, on a more hopeful note, expressing the Panel's "shared
vision" of a more effective United Nations in the future
"extending a strong helping hand to a community, country or
region to avert conflict or to end violence ... a United Nations
that has not only the will, but also the ability, to fulfil its
great promise, justifying the confidence and trust placed in it
by the overwhelming majority of humankind".
Panel Members:
Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi (Algeria), Chairman,
Under-Secretary-General for Special Assignments in Support of the
Secretary-General's Preventive and Peacemaking Efforts;
Mr. J. Brian Atwood (United States), former head of the United
States Agency for International Development;
Mr. Colin Granderson (Trinidad and Tobago), former head of the
Organization of American States (OAS)/United Nations
International Civilian Mission in Haiti (MICIVIH);
Dame Ann Hercus (New Zealand), former Special Representative of
the Secretary-General to Cyprus;
Mr. Richard Monk (United Kingdom), former Police Commissioner of
the International Police Task Force (IPTF);
General Klaus Naumann (Germany), former Chief of the German
defence staff and former Chairman of the Military Committee of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO);
Professor Hisako Shimura (Japan), President of Tsuda College in
Japan, former official in the United Nations Department of
Peacekeeping Operations;
Ambassador Vladimir Shustov (Russian Federation), Ambassador at
large, former Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian
Federation to the United Nations;
General Philip Sibanda (Zimbabwe), former Force Commander of the
United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III); and
Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga (Switzerland), former President of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC provides
accessible information and analysis in order to promote U.S.
and international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of human
rights.
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