RUSSIA-U.N.: Moscow Urges Definite End for Peacekeeping Missions

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 17 (IPS) - Russia's ambassador to the United Nations asserted Thursday that all U.N. peacekeeping missions must have clearly-defined end dates and more equal funding burdens than they currently have.

Ambassador Sergey Lavrov told the special political committee of the U.N. General Assembly that "peacekeeping operations should not be a substitute for political settlement. Therefore, one should not expect the operations to go on forever."

In recent months, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his administration have shared the objections voiced by the United States of the current open-ended and costly mandates of existing U.N. peacekeeping operations.

Lavrov argued the time has come to "break the stereotype of virtually automatic prolongation of the current peacekeeping operations" by placing definite deadlines on ventures that have been stalled.

He added that the financial burden of the missions -- which in the past were shared disproportionately by the two superpowers of the United States and the then-Soviet Union -- ought to be distributed more evenly.

The Russian envoy recommended setting up more voluntary funds to build up money for the missions through concerned nations, as well as getting interested parties -- like those in Cyprus and Kuwait -- to pay more for their own U.N. missions.

Under pressure from the major funding nations for reform, the United Nations has moved recently to cut back on the longevity and expense of peacekeeping, which costs an estimated 3.8 billion dollars this year.

The U.N. Security Council has moved over the past month to close down missions in Mozambique -- where troops are to leave by next January -- and Somalia, where the United Nations completes its two-year mission by next March.

Lavrov hailed the signal that the era of indenitely extended missions may be drawing to a close. He also urged "a definite mandate, laying out clear-cut goals and means to achieve them," a point also echoed recently by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service