UN chief says reviewing strategy of peacekeeping

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Sunday said the intergovernmental organization is reviewing its strategy of peacekeeping.

Guterres said the need to review the strategy was deemed necessary in order to make peacekeeping operations cost effective and peacekeeping missions more equipped, better prepared and more efficient.

This came in a news conference on the sidelines of 30th Assembly of African Heads of State and Government in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

“Peacekeeping is becoming baby-sitting,” Guterres said, adding that it is not sustainable with the level of casualties being inflicted on peacekeepers.

According to him, the re-strategizing will focus on redesigning of peacekeeping forces with larger operations and “making sure we have forces that are better equipped and better prepared.”

The UN chief said the world needed not only peacekeeping but also peace enforcing.

Speaking about the multinational peacekeeping force in Somalia, called AMISOM, he said: “We believe AMISOM needs more predictable funding for its activities.”

In June last year, the United Nations voted to cut $600 million from the global body’s $8 billion peacekeeping budget.

However, Guterres reiterated that “the United Nations is fully at the service of the African Union both at the continental and sub-regional levels.”

He said development partnership between the UN and the AU has gained momentum.

Meanwhile, opening the leaders’ summit, African Union Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat commended Turkey and China for what he described as laudable development cooperation with Africa.

Speaking about security situation, Mahamat said the scourge of terrorism continue to ravage the Sahel region and East Africa.

Combatting terrorism in Africa needed more concerted efforts of the African nations and the cooperation of the international community at large, he added.

The leaders continued their deliberations behind closed doors and they would wrap up their deliberations tomorrow.