UNITED NATIONS: Troop Contributors Shut Out of Decision-Making

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 07 (IPS) - The U.N.'s major troop contributors are complaining they are being shut out of the decision-making process in the Security Council.

"We provide most of the troops to peacekeeping operations," one Third World diplomat said Monday, "but still all of the major decisions are taken by the five big powers in the Security Council".

All five countries-- Britain, France, the United States, China and Russia-- are veto-wielding, permanent members of the Security Council who ultimately decide on peacekeeping operationS (PKOs).

Ambassador Razali Ismail of Malaysia told IPS that his country had always maintained that troop contributors must participate in the Council's decision-making process as provided for in the U.N. charter.

Article 44 of the Charter says that when the Council decides to seek troops it "shall" invite those countries "to participate in the decisions of the Security Council concerning the employment of contingents of that member's armed forces."

But in reality, he said, there was little or no contact between the Council and the troop-contributing countries.

Razali pointed out that about two-thirds of the troops currently serving in the 17 peacekeeping operations are either from non-permanent members or non-members of the Security Council.

In Somalia, he said, the U.N. force was composed almost exclusively of such troops.

In that light, he said, it would not seem logical, for both practical and political reasons, that a vast majority of the troop contributors should continue to depend only on ad hoc meetings.

Of the ten major troop contributing countries, only two, France and Britain, are permanent members of the Security Council.

The remaining eight-- Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Jordan, Malaysia, Canada, Egypt and Poland-- are mostly developing nations.

Pakistan provides the largest continent totalling about 10,000 troops. It is followed by France (6,326), India (5,163), Britain (4,082), Bangladesh (4,000), Jordan, (3,600) and Malaysia (2854).

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