23 August 2000
Annan Endorses Plan to Recast UN Peacekeeping Operations
(U.S. promises careful review of panel's proposals) (790)
By Ralph Dannheisser
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has endorsed
a far-reaching report by an independent, international panel that
proposes extensive structural and management changes designed to
strengthen UN peacekeeping operations.
Urging world governments to join him in implementing the group's
recommendations, Annan said in a statement issued August 23 that
prompt action is "absolutely essential to make the United Nations
truly credible as a force for peace."
In Washington, the U.S. Department of State issued a statement
commending "the panel's work to strengthen the United Nations' ability
to conduct peacekeeping operations" and promising to "carefully review
its recommendations."
Besides calling for extensive restructuring of the world
organization's Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the 10-member
panel, with representatives chosen from all six continents, proposes a
host of changes including:
-- A new emphasis on information and strategic analysis, with a new
unit set up to service all UN departments concerned with peace and
security.
-- Establishment of an integrated task force at UN headquarters in New
York that would plan and support each peacekeeping mission from its
inception.
-- More systematic use of the latest in information technology.
-- A new approach under which the UN Security Council would hold off
on authorizing large peacekeeping missions until after getting
assurances that member states would supply the needed troops and
resources.
-- More funding to strengthen the peacekeeping support staff at UN
headquarters, with peacekeeping treated as a "core activity" of the UN
after 52 years of being considered a "temporary responsibility."
The UN's press statement on the panel's report takes note that it does
not call for establishment of a standing United Nations army. But, the
statement points out, it does propose that the Secretariat establish
"on-call" lists of about 100 military and 100 police officers and
experts who would be available on short notice to establish new
mission headquarters.
The panel was chaired by Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria, that
nation's former foreign minister.
Brian Atwood, the U.S. member of the 10-person panel, told a
Washington audience August 23 that "this is true reform that we're
recommending. This isn't just cut, cut, cut."
Speaking at a luncheon meeting at the Brookings Institution, Atwood,
former administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development,
called the group's 70-odd-page report "a wakeup call to the leaders of
the member states." He warned that "without major changes, the UN can
no longer perform its principal mission, the mission of peace."
Atwood said that while "it will take additional resources to fix the
system," those costs would be "less than you would imagine, and less
than what it would cost to bail the UN out when it fails."
He said he thinks that publics in UN member nations -- including the
people of the United States -- would be inclined to support the
reforms because "they do not like to see the United Nations
embarrassed in places like Sierra Leone," where UN peacekeeping forces
were captured and held hostage.
Asked how the panel's message might best be conveyed to members of the
U.S. Congress -- many of whom have been critical of the United Nations
and disinclined to provide extra funds for its efforts -- Atwood said
he would like to see both of the major party presidential candidates
address the report during the current election campaign.
"Many members of Congress take their lead from the President of the
United States," he said.
Annan, who forwarded the panel's report to the presidents of the
General Assembly and the Security Council, said he had asked his
deputy, Louise Frechette, to follow up on implementing its
recommendations and to submit an action plan in time to permit UN
General Assembly consideration this Fall.
He said he hopes that the report will also be considered by world
leaders who will be attending the Millennium Summit scheduled to be
held in New York in September.
Annan established the panel in March. Citing two earlier UN reports
that had highlighted the world body's inability to prevent genocide in
Rwanda in 1994 and to protect the inhabitants of Srebrenica (Bosnia
and Herzegovina) in 1995, he declared that "we must all do our utmost
not to allow such horrors ever to happen again."
He called on the panel to develop "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."
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