SECURITY COUNCIL WEIGHS FUTURE OF PEACEKEEPING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 USUN NEW YORK 000644 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: UNSC PHUM PREL SUBJECT: SECURITY COUNCIL WEIGHS FUTURE OF PEACEKEEPING REF: USUN 61 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Security Council members, senior Secretariat officials, and major troop contributing countries debated the future of United Nations peacekeeping operations (UNPKO) in a full-day session on June 29. UN Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Le Roy said in his opening remarks that the Security Council's design of increasingly complex mandates for UNPKOs coupled with resource and financial constraints have created a need to generate "better capabilities, not just numbers" of troops. Under Secretary-General for Field Support Malcorra called for an overhaul of the UN's approach to mission support to allow provision of logistics services on a regional and global basis rather than relying on strictly mission-by-mission supply chains. Ambassador Rice agreed that UN peacekeeping faces significant challenges as described by Le Roy and Malcorra, adding that the United States is ready to do its part to overcome them because "UN peacekeeping operations save lives." Security Council members generally supported in broad terms the suggested reforms previewed by Le Roy and Malcorra. Several Troop Contributing Countries (TCC) said any peacekeeping reform had to provide the basis for a more effective partnership between the Security Council, the UN Secretariat, and the TCCs. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) On June 29, Security Council President Turkey presided over a full-day debate on the agenda item "UN Peacekeeping Operations" (UNPKOs). In addition to Council members, participants included under secretary-generals Alain Le Roy (Peacekeeping Operations) and Susanna Malcorra (Field Support) as well as representatives of several significant troop contributing countries and other interested member states, including Bangladesh, Canada (as Chair of the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations),the Czech Republic (as European Union President) Egypt, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, Nigeria, Jordan, Morocco (as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement),Pakistan, Rwanda, and Spain. Secretariat Wants More Coherent, Smarter-Resourced UNPKOs -------------- ¶3. (SBU) U/SYG Le Roy opened the debate by observing that UNPKO mandates (i.e., Security Council resolutions) have become more complex than ever. That complexity, he suggested, results more from the ambiguity of political compromises reached by Council members as they draft resolutions than from any effort to provide real operational guidance to peacekeepers on the ground. He said UNPKOs are often left confused about the particulars and prioritization of mandate tasks and the appropriate means for achieving them. He singled out the "protection of civilians mandate" and the "political, strategic, and operational aspects of 'robust peacekeeping'" as particularly lacking in common member understanding and coherent articulation. ¶4. (SBU) Aside from a call for a "renewed consensus" on UNPKO mandates, Le Roy stressed that a successful UNPKO must be grounded in "an active, functioning peace process" addressing the roots of the conflict and providing clear political goals. A UNPKO conceived with clear mandates and political goals still needed to be adequately resourced and deployed, Le Roy noted. He suggested that a "new partnership" among primary stakeholders featuring improved Secretariat planning and dialogue with troop and police contributors was essential to finding resources and deploying them. In addition to fostering clarity of mission purpose, he believed such a partnership would be likely to yield better trained, increasingly professional UNPKO troops and police. He concluded by saying that modern peacekeeping deployed pursuant to robust mandates in dangerous environments demanded a focus on "how to better generate capabilities, not just numbers" of troops. ¶5. (SBU) U/SYG Malcorra's presentation was pragmatic. She said that past logistical innovations for supporting UNPKOs -- such as strategic supply reserves and Secretariat authority to commit up to $50 million in advance of a formal UNPKO mandate -- had proven their worth but have been outstripped by the sheer volume of the collective needs of UNPKOs. She said bluntly that "more of the same will not do" and called for "a more nuanced, targeted approach -- with some elements of mission support provided globally, others from a regional center and others at the level of individual missions." She argued that the current model of separate USUN NEW Y 00000644 002 OF 004 supply lines for each mission -- created by applicable regulations and accounting practices -- needed to give way to a model that would allow faster and smarter deployment of resources, decentralized decision-making, revised procurement rules that allow better calibration of supply, asset-sharing between missions, greater financial flexibility, and the development of a truly global and mobile UN Department of Field Support workforce. U.S. Pledges Active Leadership and Support -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Ambassador Rice called for and signaled willingness to entertain a new wave of reforms required to better plan, manage and responsibly drawdown UN peacekeeping operations. She outlined key principles that will guide the U.S. approach to UN peacekeeping. The U.S. will insist on "credible and achievable" mandates and judicious decision-making about where and when to establish new operations. In this regard, the U.S. believed conditions are not appropriate for successful UN peacekeeping in Somalia, but it urgently needs other forms of sustained, if not increased, international support. The U.S. will intensify diplomatic efforts to give new momentum to some of the stalled or faltering peace processes in areas where UN peacekeeping operations are deployed, starting with Darfur and the North-South peace process in Sudan. The U.S. will assist the UN and other partners to expand the pool of willing and available troop and police contributors. To that end, the U.S. is prepared to consider directly contributing more military staff officers, military observers, civilian police and civilian personnel, including women, to UN peacekeeping operations and will explore ways to provide enabling assistance, either by ourselves or together with partners. The immediate priority will be to help UN peacekeeping operations in Darfur, Chad and the DRC to acquire the missing forces and enabling units needed to better protect civilians from physical violence, including sexual violence. And, starting in September with discussions on Liberia and Haiti, the U.S. will use the occasion of mandate renewals to consider how its assistance to local institutions, particularly for security and rule of law institutions, can accelerate the transfer of responsibilities from the UN peacekeeping operations to the host country while avoiding arbitrary or abrupt downsizing of missions. Other Permanent Five Find (Some) Common Ground -------------- ¶7. (SBU) French PermRep Ripert France broadly agreed with the summary of UN peacekeeping efforts laid out by Le Roy and Malcorra and said that France believes that the UN is moving in the right direction. He suggested that NATO-led peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan demonstrated the capacity of international peacekeeping coalitions to carry out complex, robust missions under UN mandates and offered UNSCR 1856 (renewing the UNPKO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) as an example of a UN mandate that clearly focuses a UNPKO on prioritized, achievable tasks. Ripert said that France and the UK will revisit, under the UK Council presidency in August, their "three pillar initiative" on UN peacekeeping calling for improved UNPKO mandates with better progress benchmarks and New York-based command and control with the participation of a revitalized Military Staff Committee liaising with major troop contributors; implementation of complex mandates by means of clear prioritization and sequencing of tasks; and enhanced Council-Secretariat-TCC communication and more comprehensive operations and logistical capacity. ¶8. (SBU) UK PermRep Sawers said he was interested in a Le Roy suggestion that a lead member state assume for each mission responsibility for coordinating international political and material support. He thought such an approach could be used profitably in particular in Security Sector Reform efforts where he felt UN peacekeepers were often inappropriately depended upon by countries hosting UNPKOs to provide local policing and security. ¶9. (SBU) Russian Deputy PermRep Dolgov agreed with Ambassador Rice that precipitous and premature downsizing of missions can be counterproductive to overall peacekeeping efforts. He seconded France's call for revitalization of the Military Staff Committee and its expansion to include all 15 Council USUN NEW Y 00000644 003 OF 004 members. China urged caution in deploying UNPKOs, insisting that there be "a peace to keep" before the Council authorized a UNPKO. China also called for regional organizations, especially the African Union, be afforded a larger peacekeeping role. ¶10. (SBU) Non-Permanent Five Council members shared the general approval of the Le Roy and Malcorra proposals with some members (notably Turkey and Austria) characterizing them as essentially a revisiting of the Brahimi Report recommendations (2000) and subsequent reform proposals. Most, particularly Costa Rica, focused on the interaction between the Council, TCCs, and the Secretariat and called for a more inclusive and transparent decision-making process on mandate formation. Libya called for enhanced respect for the sovereignty of countries hosting UNPKOs and for "basic charter principles such as 'consent of the parties.'" Troop Contributors Sound Off -- But Cooperatively -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Several non-Council members also participated. In a marked contrast from its confrontational intervention in a similar Council session earlier this year (reftel),Nigeria spoke of the continued "relevance of UN peacekeeping as an essential instrument for conflict resolution and peace making" and called for "strengthening of the triangular cooperation between the Security Council, the TCCs, and the Secretariat." ¶12. (SBU) Speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM),Morocco urged greater involvement of TCCs/PCCs in all aspects of planning and carrying out peacekeeping missions, including during the policy formulation and decision-making phases and greater developed country burdensharing on troop deployment. Morocco underscored that the "guiding principles" for peacekeeping operations should be consent of the parties, non-use of force except in self-defense, and impartiality. ¶13. (SBU) Pakistan called "inconceivable" the idea that UNPKOs could succeed without making the Security Council-TCC partnership more substantive and visible. Pakistan called for "enhanced and visible representation of major TCCs at highest level positions at headquarters and in the field," saying that command and control should not be limited to "dialogue" and "consultations." ¶14. (SBU) India criticized the current practice of consultations between TCCs/PCCs and the Security Council as "pro forma," saying that discussions "skirt around substantive issues with little or no scope for meaningful discussion." The Indian PermRep said that "being informed is not the same as being consulted" and, raising the idea of a gap between supply and demand for forces and equipment, added that "there is no scarcity of the personnel and capacities of the type the United Nations requires." The problem, he said, is a "reluctance on the part of member states to make these resources available to the United Nations." ¶15. (SBU) In an apparent reference to the UK/France initiative, Brazil said higher financial costs for peacekeeping were the logical consequence of decisions made by the Council, and that closing missions that were still needed or avoiding establishing new missions should not be the response to financial problems. Other Large TCCs/PCCs -------------- ¶16. (SBU) Jordan, Uruguay, Ghana, Egypt and Nepal echoed the remarks of other large troop contributors, calling for greater involvement of TCCs and PCCs in the preparation of mandates and the planning of operations. Egypt called for the Security Council to refrain from the "micro-management" of the Secretariat's work, particularly in the area of selection of TCCs/PCCs" and suggested that the C-34 (UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations) should be the main body responsible for addressing UN peacekeeping operations. Ghana called for strengthening African peacekeeping capabilities, and said that UNPKOs should remain in host countries until conflicts are fully resolved and the situation has returned to normalcy. Jordan credited Japan's leadership of the Security Council's Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations with fostering confidence among UN USUN NEW Y 00000644 004 OF 004 regional groups, and between regional groups and the Council. Czech EU Presidency -------------- ¶17. (SBU) The Czech Republic, on behalf of the European Union, acknowledged a need to improve and expand existing consultation mechanisms between the Council, the Secretariat and TCCs/PCCs. The Czech PermRep suggested that the concept of a strategic-military cell, as had been used with the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon, could be a way to improve information flow between headquarters and TCCs and emphasized the EU view that UN peacekeeping operations should routinely incorporate the protection of civilians into its mandates. RICE