UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Lacks Support for Peacekeeping in Africa

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 5 1996 (IPS) - U.N. diplomats are decrying the lack of international support for peacekeeping missions in Africa.

According to Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, missions in Africa continue to suffer from the slow deployment of troops and equipment.

These difficulties were dramatically underscored in the “painfully slow” expansion of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in May last year, the Secretary-General says in a report released here.

“At a time when scores of people were being massacred every day, it took about three months…to obtain the necessary troops, prepare them for deployment, procure essential equipment, and transport the troops and equipment to the mission area,” the report says.

This delay eventually compromised U.N. mission itself.

“Any effort to examine means of strengthening capacity for peacekeeping in Africa should, therefore, address these constraints as a priority,” he points out.

The troubled peacekeeping missions in Africa include the now- defunct U.N. Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM), the U.N. Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), the U.N. Verification Mission in Angola (UNAVEM) and the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Addressing a debate on peacekeeping last month, Ambassador Ngoni Francis Sengwe of Zimbabwe cited the “sterling job” done by the United Nations in its peacekeeping operations in Mozambique and South Africa.

“But many have asked why the patience of the United Nations seemed to run out faster when the organisation is handling peacekeeping missions in Africa,” he said. “That continent has been host to an inordinate number of aborted or abandoned peacekeeping missions.”

Sengwe said the application of double standards in determining conditions for the deployment or withdrawal of peacekeeping missions clearly undermined the credibility and universality of the United Nations.

“Given the growing number of peacekeeping operations, peacekeeping should not be the preserve of a few economically powerful countries,” he said.

Subramaniam Thanarajasingam of Malaysia said there was a sense of disillusionment with U.N. peacekeeping operations.

The U.N. Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in the former Yugoslavia cost the Organisation about four million dollars a day and has as yet failed to safeguard the victims of ethnic cleansing and aggression.

“What were the prospects for mounting operations given the Organisation’s financial crunch? Would financial considerations become the sole determinant of U.N. peacekeeping operations? Or would peacekeeping relapse into the pattern of the pre-Cold War era or would it be franchised to the major powers?,” he asked.

He singled out the U.N. mission in Rwanda as an instance when the Security Council failed to assume its responsibilities.

In his report, Boutros-Ghali says that the United Nations has been increasingly joining hands with the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in peacekeeping efforts in Africa.

Since 1990, the United Nations and the OAU have cooperated in initiatives to prevent, manage or resolve, conflicts in many parts of Africa, including Angola, Burundi, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa and Western Sahara.

“Yet, there is a need to strengthen further mechanisms for coordination, consultation and cooperation in the respective headquarters as well as in the field,” he says.

The Secretary-General has proposed the posting of a U.N. liaison officer at OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa in order to strengthen the relationship between the two organisations in peacekeeping.

The Secretary-General says he is also exploring the possibility of building up a stockpile of military equipment in Africa for use at short notice by African contingents.

“This would require the United Nations to procure either the estimated equipment or to solicit equipment donations from other member states,” he said.

But he warns that both options will cost money.

“I have not as yet received indications that member states are prepared to undertake, through the United Natins, the up-front costs of equipping the contingents of a peacekeeping operation,” he says.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has established at Brindisi, Italy, a U.N. Logistics Base for the storage of mostly surplus non- military equipment from defunct peacekeeping missions.

The United Nations says that if the need arises, some of this equipment can be shipped to virtually any port in Africa within two to three weeks.

UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Lacks Support for Peacekeeping in Africa

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 5 1996 (IPS) - U.N. diplomats are decrying the lack of international support for peacekeeping missions in Africa.
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