UNITED NATIONS - THE United States is prepared to provide more military observers, police and civilian staff to beef up the UN's far-flung peacekeeping operations, the US ambassador said on Monday.
Priorities should be more than 'just numbers'
MS RICE said an immediate US priority will be to help find the extra forces and specialised units required for the joint UN-African Union force in Darfur as well as for the UN peacekeeping mission in the neighbouring Central African Republic and Chad, 'to better protect civilians under imminent threat of physical, including sexual, violence.'
Another immediate priority will be beefing up the 22,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in Congo, she said. The Security Council in November approved 3,000 more troops for Congo but the UN has had trouble getting countries to contribute the soldiers.
The United Nations has nearly 115,000 troops, police and civilians deployed in 16 peacekeeping missions from Africa and the Mideast to Cyprus, Kosovo, Western Sahara and Haiti, but it has had trouble finding soldiers, helicopters and other key assets for several important operations.
US Ambassador Susan Rice said President Barack Obama's administration will explore ways to assist peacekeeping operations, including training peacekeepers and providing equipment and transportation.
Through the US Global Peace Operations Initiative, she said, the United States has already trained 75,000 peacekeepers and helped deploy some 49,000 peacekeepers to 20 peacekeeping missions around the world, mostly in Africa.
In addition to training, the United States has provided trucks, water purification plants, fuel trailers, helmets, flak jackets and other essential equipment to thousands of UN peacekeepers, US officials said.
'Over the next five years, the Global Peace Operations Initiative will continue direct training but will make it its top priority to help partner countries become self-sufficient in peacekeeping training', Ms Rice told the UN Security Council.
The United States does not provide troops for UN peacekeeping forces, which would mean putting American soldiers under UN command.
But Ms Rice said the United States 'is willing to consider directly contributing more military observers, military staff officers, civilian police, and other civilian personnel - including more women - to UN peacekeeping operations.'
The US has already increased its military observers in the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia and is providing two additional military staff officers to the mission in Chad and the Central African Republic, US officials said. -- AP
