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Mission Comes Amid New Era in Peacekeeping - UN Military Adviser

United Nations (New York)
NEWS
September 11, 2003
Posted to the web September 12, 2003

As the United Nations prepares to launch a major peacekeeping effort in Liberia
- with perhaps 15,000 troops - the world body's chief military adviser declared
that a new era of peacekeeping operations is dawning as the nature of conflict
had evolved over the years.
"The era of peacekeeping operations is changing," Major-General Patrick
Cammaert, Military Adviser to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO),
said at a press briefing today.
Conflict situations had evolved over the last 30 years, and often involved
armed groups, rebels and broken agreements, he said, updating reporters on
peace operations in general as well as the military aspect of the UN operation
in Liberia.
"This requires a new attitude and a new way of operating in the business of
peacekeeping," he said. One important lesson that had been learned over the
years was the need to avoid an incremental approach. Another was that
peacekeeping forces should be well equipped and sustained so that they could be
rapidly deployed.
With Jacques Paul Klein, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative
for Liberia set to ask the Security Council as early as next week to authorize
a major operation in Liberia, with approximately 15, 000 troops plus 900
civilian police officers, General Cammaert said DPKO was pressing ahead with
arrangements to that effect.
The UN force would be taking over peacekeeping duties from ECOMIL - the
military force of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) - on 1
October. This placed a great deal of pressure not only on DPKO, General
Cammaert said, but also on the Member States that were to provide resources and
support. He planned to attend a second troop contributing meeting for Liberia
later today.
He said that was the first time that so many nations had indicted their
positive reaction and their willingness to participate in a mission even before
a Security Council resolution had been issued. General Cammaert hoped the
Council's authorization would come on 19 September, and then DPKO could start
deploying the forces.
Asked which countries had expressed interest in contributing troops to the new
mission, General Cammaert said he was reluctant to reveal this information, as
most of these countries had only informally expressed their interest and some
of them were still considering the matter. There was also some pressure to
provide troops to Iraq and he did not wish to compromise countries that may
change their minds.
To further questions on possible contribution, he replied that the United
States was indeed considering a contribution and that India and Pakistan were
already on the list of possible troop contributors.
Meanwhile on the ground in Liberia, the transfer of some 30,000 internally
displaced persons (IDP) who had been living in 116 temporary shelters and
buildings in and around the capital Monrovia, began today.
UN agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP), the High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) and various non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and local
authorities made the arrangements for the transfer.
The IDPs presently located in 56 school buildings and one health clinic in and
around Monrovia would return to eight camps within Montserrado County - 15
kilometres from the city centre - that sheltered IDPs before conflict surged in
May.
To allay the fears of the returnees, security for the eight camps in
Montserrado is being provided by ECOMIL. IDPs returning to the camps are
receiving a full food ration from WFP.

   

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