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U.S.-Funded Peacekeeping Force Gets Mixed Reviews

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
NEWS
May 14, 2004
Posted to the web May 20, 2004

By Thalif Deen
United Nations
A U.S. proposal to create a 75,000-strong standby peacekeeping force composed
primarily of foreign troops is receiving mixed reviews from non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) and peace activists.
Don Kraus, co-chair of Partnership for Effective Peace Operations, told IPS the
ultimate goal of the proposed Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) is to
build a well-trained, well-equipped force of non-U.S. troops over the next five
years.
"The United Nations is very excited about it," he said, since the world body
could draw troops from the GPOI for its own peacekeeping operations, which is
constantly short of manpower.
But, "if the global community is serious about peace," says Joan Russow of the
Global Compliance Research Project, "the emphasis must be on the
deligitimisation of war, prevention of conflict and respect for the rule of
international law" -- not the creation of new peacekeeping forces.
"There should be an end to the continued disproportionate use of funds on the
arms trade and the subsequent attempt to rationalise failure with
'peacekeeping', a moving away from the cycle of error -- the perpetuation of
error -- with vain attempts to rectify the error," Russow told IPS.
Sceptical of the U.S. plan for the new force, she suspects Washington might
have ulterior motives.
Russow suspects the U.S. project is perhaps to train and equip peacekeepers
from Africa and other developing nations as "a standby brigade to clean-up
after U.S. 'humanitarian interventions' or preventive/pre-emptive aggressive
strikes" -- as in Iraq and Haiti.
"The United States is moving from covert operations -- such as 'Operation
Zapata' against Cuba and 'Operation Condor' against Chile -- to overt
operations such as 'Operation Enduring Freedom' against Afghanistan and
'Operation Iraqi Freedom' against Iraq," she said.
The GPOI, to be codenamed 'Operation Equal Demise', fits into a new category of
overt/covert transparent operations, added Russow.
Kraus said that one of the major problems facing U.N. peacekeeping missions is
capacity-building. Now, deploying forces for those missions can take between 30
and 90 days, whereas ideally a fully-geared military contingent should be ready
for action in 15 to 30 days. The proposed GPOI might provide an answer, he
suggested.
Over the next five years, the United States, along with other western nations,
is expected to train, equip and provide logistical support to international
military forces willing to participate in peacekeeping operations, said Kraus,
who is also executive director of the Campaign for U.N. Reform.
About 65-75 percent of the U.S.-sponsored initiative is expected to be funded
by the group of seven (G7) industrial nations: United States, Britain, Germany,
France, Canada, Italy and Japan. "That's where the money is," Kraus said.
Washington has already pledged about 660 million dollars, he added.
At its peak, Kraus said, the intiative will help to double the number of troops
readily available for peacekeeping operations. It will be directed specifically
at Africa and will also help expand peacekeeping skills of the continent's
military forces.
"I suppose 660 million dollars is cheap in the grand scheme of things, although
I am not particularly optimistic about either the professionalism or usability
of the force we'd train with the funds," said an editorial in the April issue
of the online publication 'Outside the Beltway'.
"And they would still require augmentation from a professional military for all
but the lightest missions, since I can't imagine that we're going to equip this
force with anything above small arms."
Reverend Gabriel Odima of the African Centre for Peace and Democracy says, "The
United States and the European Union (EU) should work with the few
democratically elected governments in Africa to support peacekeeping in the
region."
The forces against the development and sustenance of peace and security in
Africa are "strong and powerful", and a political map of the continent would
show a number of states ruled by the gun, not by the ballot, he added.
"Additionally, the United Nations has a moral responsibility to help the
African people find peace and stop the bloodshed in countries like Uganda,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Cote d'Ivoire, Sudan, Somalia
and the Central African Republic," Odima told IPS.
The world body is gearing up for an "unprecedented" increase in its
peacekeeping operations worldwide. But most of the troops will continue to come
from developing nations like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, India, Ghana and
Nepal, with relatively few from the United States and the European Union (EU).
With new peacekeeping operations in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire -- and proposed
new missions in Haiti, Burundi and Sudan -- the overall troop strength will
rise from the current 53,500 to more than 70,000 by the end of 2004.
The United States and the EU, which have traditionally shied away from U.N.
peacekeeping operations -- particularly in Africa -- have given no indication
they will increase their troop numbers in upcoming peace missions.
As of April, the 10 largest troop contributors for U.N. operations were
developing nations: Pakistan (7,680 troops), Bangladesh (6,362), Nigeria
(3,398), India (2,930), Ghana (2,790), Nepal (2,290), Uruguay (1,833), Kenya
(1,826), Ethiopia (1,822) and Jordan (1,804).
In contrast, the number of troops from western nations averaged less than 600
each. The largest contributors from that group were Portugal (558 troops),
United States (562), United Kingdom (550), France (509) and Ireland (485).
Of the 14 peacekeeping missions, six are in Africa: Liberia (since September
2003), Cote d'Ivoire (April 2004), Democratic Republic of Congo (November
1999), Sierra Leone (October 1999), Ethiopia/Eritrea (July 2000) and Western
Sahara (April 1991).

   

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