senior Å Tammy K. & puppy Jacky in Saudi at Prince Sultan AirBase al KharJ U N Peacekeeping   links & new rules of peacekeeping arms trade MidEast maps reports SecGen tribunals UN counterpoint Angola Cambodia prosecution Congo Serbia SLeone Timor Yug/Rwanda Iraq UN pacifism Michael New StarWars aka NMD Greenpeace Joan Veon Y2K Rpt 9.12.00 Angola 9.10.00 Brahimi 8.23.00 Brahimi (State Dept) Carlsson re Rwanda 12.15.99 conflict diamonds 9.15.00 Fowler Srebrenica 11.15.99 SecGen annual rpt 2000 9.12.00 UN peacekeeping ops map index Cambodia Angola DRCongo Rwanda Serbia S. Leone ² Timor

From experience of peacekeeping in last decade, guidelines & questions on factors Security Council should assess in deciding to launch, close or significantly alter UN peacekeeping op, drawn . Also outlines role of Security Council, Gen.Assembly and other UN agencies. Incl annex key questions list in life of a peacekeeping op

Ethnic Albanian rampages stun Kosovo peacemakers   3.29.04   Danica Kirka AP Pristina, Serbia-Montenegro   5 years after intl forces took over Kosovo, a sudden and sweeping spasm of violence has the victims worrying that they are being pushed back to square one. The rampage by ethnic Albanian mobs through Serb areas has dealt a stunning blow to slow painstaking effort to reduce the presence of NATO-led peacekeepers and rebuild civilian govt. Caught by surprise and stung by its failure to head off the violence or quell it fast, the military is overhauling operations. It has taken back some powers it had ceded to the UN intl police force. Watchtowers, barbed wire and barricades are going up again. Commanding officers across the province are meeting ethnic Albanian leaders in groups, demanding they exert their moral authority or be held responsible for any further violence. The 2 day rampage in mid-March hit all the major towns, leaving 28 dead, 600 wounded and hundreds of homes and churches in ruins. "We had started to trust them," Ljiljana Stajic, a 20-year-old Serb, said of the peacekeepers. "Now it's back to 1999, war." Although top U.N. official here, Harri Holkeri, has said efforts to rebuild a multiethnic society are not over, interviews with U.N. officials, diplomats and other officials speaking on condition of anonymity show a mission in uproar, shocked at the strength of extremist elements of the ethnic Albanian population. While the province has quieted down, attackers ambushed U.N. police and killed 2 officers in northern Kosovo last week, and NATO says it is deploying 2,600 troops to augment the 18,500-strong intl peacekeeping force. NATO & the UN took over in 1999 after Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown, in which an estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians died. The conflict ended when the Serbian leader accepted a peace plan to stop NATO's 78-day bombing of his country. Tens of thousands of Serbs fled Kosovo, leaving about 100,000 in the midst of a population of 2 million ethnic Albanians. Still, U.N. resolutions left the future of Kosovo unresolved: although it's under U.N. control, Serbia-Montenegro has sovereignty. Ethnic Albanians have grown frustrated with this state of limbo, and the failure of intl officials to deliver what they prize above all else, independence. Now radical parties are tapping into that anger. Although the unrest was triggered by the deaths of 2 children who were allegedly chased into a river by Serbs, investigations show elements of organization in the violence. Buses ferried some rioters to staging points, Western diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity said, and Braennstroem said the way objects were thrown at riot police smacked of advance training. Mobs had already started fires in Pristina when 2 Irish officers, Capt. Ronan Dillon and Maj. David Hathaway, arrived with 7 other peacekeepers to evacuate Serbs from their apartment complex. The rioters threw stones and fired small arms, but the thinly stretched force went in anyway. Doors on most of the apartments were open. People were screaming for help. Dillon said his force reclaimed 8 buildings, floor by floor. A trail of red drops and a bloody handprint led to a man whom they rescued and who survived to thank them later. The terrified Serbs, many of them elderly, had only a few moments to collect their belongings. Then it was down the stairs. "If someone wasn't fast enough, I carried them," said Dillon, 28. He said the peacekeepers rescued 120 people that night.

Deadline for Darfur   Sudan is allowing more U.N. peacekeepers. It's all right to wait a month to see if diplomacy works, but after that, the U.S. should work for stiffer sanctions.   4.12.07   op-ed L.A. Times Given the last half-decade of deceit and misery in the Darfur region of Sudan, and the international community's repeated broken promises to do something about it, it seems cruel to ask the 2.5 million refugees there to wait a few more weeks while the U.N. weighs its options. Yet that's exactly what Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked for and the Bush administration is rightly inclined to give him the time. The new wrinkle is that China is newly engaged on this issue, a welcome development. Also, Sudan govt has reversed its position of a month ago and accepted the deployment of an additional 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers. Whether Khartoum means to honor the deal it signed in November to allow a 22,000-member U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force into Darfur remains an open question, and at any rate, it's unlikely that the additional forces will be sufficient to protect the millions needing protection or the 13,000 besieged relief workers trying to feed them. Still, U.S. govt special envoy on Sudan Andrew S. Natsios told the Senate on Wednesday that the U.S. has agreed to a request by Ban to delay imposing stiffer economic sanctions on Sudan for 2 to 4 weeks to give diplomacy time to work. The U.N. hopes to broker talks between 15 rebel groups and Khartoum. Natsios credited quiet pressure from China, major customer for Sudan's oil, for Khartoum's about-face. He also argued that U.S. financial sanctions, aimed at punishing Sudan's dollar-denominated oil transactions, would be more effective if combined with European measures against Sudanese commercial dealings in euros. A month is not long to wait for diplomacy to work, but Darfurians cannot long survive further delays. When the time comes, the Bush administration should be prepared with more than the stiffer economic sanctions it threatened nearly 4 months ago. If Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir continues to stonewall, the U.S. should immediately bring a U.N. Security Council resolution against Sudan to a vote. This would test China's newfound willingness to pressure its Sudanese oil supplier. If Beijing decides to use its veto to enable ongoing atrocities in Darfur, let it take responsibility for that stance. But Beijing might rise to the challenge and recognize that the international imperative to stop evils such as nuclear proliferation and genocide trumps national sovereignty and parochial concerns. If the U.N. deadlocks, the Bush administration should immediately begin campaigning for a global economic "coalition of the willing" against Sudan. Darfur needs peace, not peacekeepers   Why sending foreign troops to stop genocide in Sudan won't save lives. 4.14.07   Reporters Without Borders sec.gen. Robt Ménard & Stephen Smith L.A. Times The U.S. was wrong to invade Iraq even if it did so with the intention of bringing freedom to the victims of Saddam Hussein; long-standing conflicts in faraway countries cannot be solved with military solutions that fail to address the underlying causes of the crisis. Deploying thousands, or more likely tens of thousands, of foreign soldiers in Darfur, a Sudanese province bigger than Iraq, won't stop the massacre there.

When we went to Darfur in March, we were as desperate as anybody about the killings, and we still are. What we learned in Sudan makes us wary of do-gooders in body armor and of the double-think of balkanized minds branding as disaster in Iraq what they recommend for Darfur's salvation.

This new mission to civilize without a political solution brokered by the international community won't yield any a peace to kept, less still imposed.
In Khartoum and in North Darfur, we met Sudanese who were traumatized by their country's tragedy, but also much better informed than us. Their views differed, but none of them perceived the conflict as one between "victims" and "butchers."

Manichaeism prevails in the West, where the cause is assumed to be simple: An Islamist Arab regime has decided to exterminate Darfur's black population and is carrying out genocide with the help of the Riders of the Apocalypse, the infamous janjaweed militia.
There is hardly any mention in the U.S. or European media of how humanitarian aid organizations and Darfur's civilians are also fleeing from atrocities committed by rebels in Darfur opposed to Khartoum. For example, in Gereida, in South Darfur, more than 100,000 displaced people have been cut off from humanitarian aid since mid-December after a rebel attack on relief groups that still dare not return.

Simplistic narrative may make for a readable plot line to explain a confusing African country, but unfortunately most Americans are not informed that there are up to 15 rebel factions fighting the govt and, increasingly, each other.
U.S. special envoy on Sudan Andrew Natsios told the Senate on Wednesday that although the scope of the rebels' atrocities pales in comparison with Khartoum's, rebel attacks on civilians have markedly increased, and some rebels have begun raping women from their own tribes.

On Thursday, Senegal threatened to withdraw its 500 peacekeepers from Darfur after 5 of them guarding a water hole in the desert were slain by rebels earlier this month. Have the rebels lost their moral compass? Wouldn't the West have made a big mistake if it had intervened on their side less than a year ago, as Save Darfur advocated at the time?
Going to war against the Sudanese would not save lives, it would cost lives.

Most of the bloodshed in Darfur took place between the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2005. The same international community that is being urged to intervene in western Sudan was, at that time, helping negotiate peace between the govt in the north and rebels in the south to put an end to the longest-running civil war in independent Africa, 21 years, that left an estimated 1.5 million dead.

Was it the right policy, back then, to deal with a murderous Sudan govt junta in the interests of ending bloodshed? Would it be right today to attempt to overthrow a govt of national union in which the former southern rebels are participating?
An affirmative answer would sound the death knell not only for the peace agreement signed in January 2005 but also for the nation's first free elections, which are supposed to take place within less than 2 years.

If indeed the regime in Khartoum is engaging in genocide, then there can be no compromising with it; regime change must be the order of the day. But myriad independent investigations indicate that about 40,000 Darfurians were killed from March 2003 to December 2004 in atrocious circumstances, and 90,000 more people died of hunger or disease, the indirect victims of the civil war.
Since then, the violence has been abating. UN put the number of victims of attacks last year at about 1,300. The African Union mission in the Sudan, which has deployed 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, estimates a monthly average of 200 dead during the last 6 months.

These figures are uncertain because there are often no witnesses to tragic events. But they tend to support a toll of 200,000 dead from all causes since the start of the fighting in February 2003, the figure used by the media in most parts of the world, rather than the 450,000 dead often cited by groups urging action to save Darfur.

We also believe that Darfur needs our help. But our support should be realistic and honest, not, in the end, helpless posturing. A united international community needs to pressure the Sudanese govt and the rebels into a meaningful peace process. If necessary, publicly challenge China to veto a U.N. sanctions resolution against any intransigent parties. In the absence of a peace agreement to monitor, what right do we have to demand that anyone, be they our children or U.N. blue helmets from the Third World, go and die in Darfur?

Protection of civilians in armed conflicts 3.30.01 SecGen rpt S/2001/331 Recommendations made in 1st report (S/1999/957) have yet to be put into practice and identifies ways in which intl system can be strengthened to help meet the growing needs of civilians in war. Incl recommendations on creating culture of protection by Govts, armed groups, the private sector, and Member States & intl organizations UN peacekeeping cost likely exceed current estimate   8.31.00 briefing rpt GAO   confirmation Army InspectorGen Kosovo abusive troops report ¹ Bolton (AEI) ¹,   Durch & contraDurch Conflict Data Service Major powers slammed for too few UN peacekeeping troops 11.13.00   Evelyn Leopold Reuters Online Declaring U.N. peacekeeping operations were deteriorating, Bangladesh on Monday chastised the 5 major Security Council powers for letting others do their fighting for them. U.S. State Dept: budget   From 1995 to mid- 1999 there was a sharp decline in the number of UN peacekeepers in the field, from a high of around 70,000 to 12,000. The assumption by the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) of major peacekeeping responsibilities in the former Yugoslavia (and the resultant termination of UNPROFOR's mandate) accounted for much of the decrease. Other factors included the close-out of UN operations in Mozambique in January 1995, Somalia in March 1995, El Salvador in April 1995, and Rwanda in March 1996. With the U.S. & the UN taking a much harder look at proposed peacekeeping operations, the only major new UN mission set up in this period outside the former Yugoslavia was the UNAVEM III operation in Angola. Beginning in June 1999, new missions in Kosovo and East Timor and expanded missions in Sierra Leone and the Congo dramatically increased both the costs and personnel levels of UN peacekeeping operations. They also added a new level of complexity to peacekeeping efforts, with a greater emphasis on civilian administration in East Timor and Kosovo. From July 1999 to March 2000, overall UN peacekeeping personnel levels increased by 17,000, with even more personnel authorized but not deployed. As of 3.31.00, there were 765 U.S. personnel (0 troops, 730 civilian police, and 35 observers) in worldwide UN peace operations, accounting for 2.6% of total UN peacekeepers. UN peacekeeping budgets & French alternative methods   9.2.00   Times

The Picasso cover-up   U.N. Report 2.3.03   Betsy Pisik Wash.Times A tapestry of Pablo Picasso's powerful anti-war tableau "Guernica" has hung outside the U.N. Security Council since 1985, fitting example of site-specific art. The original 1937 painting depicts terrorized & dying civilians at Guernica, small Basque village in northern Spain that Generalissimo Francisco Franco's Nationalist regime, battling Republican govt during the Spanish Civil War, allowed German air force to use for target practice. About 1,600 civilians were killed or wounded in 3 hours of bombardment. The estate of Nelson Rockefeller, who gave the money to buy what is now the U.N. compound, donated the tapestry expressly for that famous wall as a show of faith in the U.N. mandate. TV cameras routinely pan the tapestry as diplomats enter & leave council chambers; Its muted browns & taupes lend poignant backdrop to the talking heads. It surprised many envoys to arrive at U.N. HQ last Monday for a Security Council briefing by chief weapons inspectors, only to find the searing work covered with a baby-blue banner & the U.N. logo. "It is, we think, we hope, only temporary," said Faustino Diaz Fortuny, a Spanish envoy whose govt owns the original painting. U.N. officials said last week that it is more appropriate for dignitaries to be photographed in front of the blue backdrop & some flags than the impressionist image of shattered villagers & livestock. "It's only temporary. We're only doing this until the cameras leave," said organization's media liaison Abdellatif Kabbaj. He noted that the diplomats' microphone, which usually stands in front of a Security Council sign, had to be moved to accommodate the crowd of camera crews & reporters. With the Picasso as a backdrop, Mr. Kabbaj said, no one would know they were looking at the UN. The drapes were installed last Monday & Wednesday, the days the council discussed Iraq, and came down Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, when the subjects incl Afghanistan & peacekeeping missions in Lebanon & W.Sahara. So when Sec.State Colin L. Powell enters the council Wednesday to present evidence of Iraq's acquisition of mobile biological weapons labs & terrorism ties, he will walk in front of flags that wouldn't look out of place in the auditorium of a high school gymnasium. U.N. SecGen Kofi Annan, who keeps a Matisse tapestry & a Rauschenberg collage in his private 38th-floor conference room, denies he had anything to do with the "Guernica" cover-up. "If you heard all the things done in my name, you'd think I was everywhere," he joked Friday. "I heard it was artistic." Mr. Kabbaj amplified thus: "We had a problem with, you know, the horse." It was, of course, a camera crew that noticed that anyone who stood at the U.N. microphone would be photographed next to the backside of a rearing horse.

"No progress" made at UN/Indonesia meeting on W.Timor, UN mission says   9.15.00   UN The U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) said today that "no advances" were made at a meeting held late last night between officials from the UN mission and the Indonesian Govt on West Timor's volatile security situation. At the meeting, held in Denpasar, Indonesia, UNTAET chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao emphasized to General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs, that West Timor militias must be disarmed [ disarm by prying guns from dead rebel's hand or persuading Panamanian bankers to refuse growth investment arms markets on ethical grounds ? ] and that those responsible for last week's killings of 3 staff from the UN refugee agency in Atambua must be brought to justice. [ another UN tribunal ? 6.2.00 "Yug/Rwanda Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte told SecurityCouncil increasingly urgent problem length of trials & pre-trial detention by most accused. Trials complex, charges broad & fairness often conflicts with speedy justice. Existing trial chambers could not cope with number of trials awaiting. Rwanda Tribunal considering remedy program where detainees sent back to villages for trials based on ancestral systems. Re last year in Kosovo, rejected Russian Fed claims of NATO crimes. Russian Fed told Council YugoTribunal not helping to normalize & destructive for resettlement: indictment of Serb leaders antagonized Serb population & indictments used to press concessions and force obedience." ] The Indonesian side said that a comprehensive plan was being worked out to disarm militias, bring the Atambua murderers to justice and repatriate refugees. "This plan, however, has failed to materialize," UNTAET said. Also during the meeting, the UN mission and the Indonesian Govt signed a document establishing a Joint Border Committee consisting of civilian representatives of both parties. Under the agreement, both East Timor and Indonesia pledge to seek mutually agreeable solutions to all practical problems of a cross-border nature, ranging from the demarcation of the political border between East & West Timor to the facilitation of people and goods across the border, as well as environmental issues and cross-border police cooperation. The decision to establish the Joint Border Committee had been made during the third round of negotiations between Indonesia and UNTAET in July. Meanwhile, it was announced today in the East Timorese capital of Dili that the first formal round of negotiations between the UN mission and the Govt of Australia on the Timor Gap - an area of sea between Australia and East Timor - would take place in Dili from 9-11 October. The negotiations are to address a future treaty that will govern the resources of the Timor Gap.

E. Timor Action Network Indonesia HRts Network, Kurt Biddle Wash. coord. 1101 Pennsylvania Av. SE Wash.DC 20003 202.544.1211 ƒ .6118 U.S. considers renewed military ties with Indonesia 7.29.01   Reuters CANBERRA   The U.S. would like to resume military ties with Indonesia following the appt of a new govt but is mindful of human rights concerns, Sec.State C.Powell said on Monday. "We want to have a relationship with the Indonesian military, but we want to be satisfied that those human rights abuses are behind us," Powell said in a television interview in Australia ahead of annual talks between Australia and the U.S.. Most Western countries suspended military cooperation with the world's 4th most populous nation in the wake of the bloodshed that swept East Timor in 1999 when the region voted to break free from Indonesia. Military ties between the U.S. and Indonesian militaries are restricted to humanitarian and disaster relief exercises, ruling out arms sales to Jakarta. Regional security experts say the new administration of President Bush has been mulling for some time the possibility of easing some of the restrictions. Powell's comments in Australia, where he winds up his first Asian tour, came on the heels of the latest shift in power in Indonesia where President Megawati Sukarnoputri, with the backing of the army, took over from ousted Abdurrahman Wahid. Powell said Congress had certain restrictions on Washington's relationship with Indonesia which may need to be changed. He did not comment when asked if this would mean seeking approval for arms sales. "We will approach the new Indonesian govt with an attitude of helpfulness but also an attitude of caution and we will only provide those things consistent with our laws," he said. "We will go back to our Congress to get those laws modified or waived if that seems to be a problem...but we are very sensitive to human rights concerns." arms sales Resuming arms sales to Jakarta is at odds with official Australian policy and could lead to differences at the annual ministerial talks being held in Canberra on Monday. Powell & Def.Sec D.Rumsfeld will meet Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer & Defense Minister Peter Reith, with talks to center on regional security issues. Australia's view is that arms sales and military training should be restricted until there is clear evidence Indonesia's military has reformed the brutal behavior it displayed in East Timor, and proves it is subservient to the democratically elected civilian leadership. Australia led a multinational peace-enforcement mission in East Timor after the overwhelming vote for independence triggered a wave of killing and destruction by pro-Jakarta militias, who were backed by the Indonesian military. Downer was quick to play down suggestions the U.S. may be about to sell weapons to Indonesia, saying they may sell "some spare parts for logistics and so on." He welcomed the possibility of renewed U.S. military ties with Indonesia, saying he had stressed this to Washington during a visit in March. "We don't want the U.S. to have no contact whatsoever with the Indonesian military," Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. "Both the U.S. and us want to encourage the Indonesian military to adhere to international norms of human rights."

U.S. withholds book detailing 1960s Indonesia role
7.28.01   Reuters

The book has been posted on the institute's Web site, www.nsarchive.org ¹   A State Dept official, who asked not to be identified, said the agency earlier this year ``began the process of arranging'' release of the book to the public. He added that the Govt Printing Office mistakenly began distributing copies of the book before an "internal process'' of review was completed by the State Dept. The official said he did not know how many copies of the Indonesia history book had been sold or when the govt might resume sales.
According to the National Security Archive, the State Dept book states that on 12.2.65, U.S. Amb. Marshall Green "endorsed a 50 million rupiah covert payment to the Kap-Gestapu movement leading the repression.'' The 12.30.65 response by the CIA to the State Dept was withheld, the institute said.
A separate State Dept volume covering U.S. activities in Greece, Cyprus and Turkey in the mid-1960s "is still locked up in GPO warehouses,'' the institute said. The 2 books are part of a 350-volume series of foreign relations books published by the State Dept. According to the State Dept, the books are intended to present "the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity.'' Among the volumes released in recent decades were historical records of the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Arab-Israeli conflicts in the mid-1960s and Vietnam in 1966.

Date	TIMOR SecurityCouncil Action & reports	press release
9/8/00	S/RES/1319 9/6/00 "brutal murder 3 UN staff by militia-led mob."	SC/6920
8/26/00	"difficult to assess objectives behind increased ETim militia activity, pattern of violence against civilians & UNTAET to undermine the transition process, inflicting casualties at every opportunity. Jan/01 force downsize delayed. practically ceased all operations in refugee camps due to security concerns. Escalation of violence & attacks on humanitarian workers."	SC/6915
8/3/00	[ straight from Milosevic's playbook ]	SC/6905
8/2/00	"Peacekeeper killed"   "in last 6mo, creation of decision-making Cabinet & new Natl Council to replace Natl Consultative Council. All 33 members Tim, marking first time the East Timorese ever assumed political responsibility. Natl Council will broaden participation in legislative consultations by including new sectors of population not previously represented." [ including ETims who never needed or wanted more than a village council before Indonesia invaded with CIA guns & oil$ OR including panglot relocated refugee hordes dumped by Indonesia in WTim & driven east to destabilize ETim ? ]	SC/6902
6.27.00	"suspending activities in 3 WTim refugee camps, several recent attacks on UNTAET troops on the border" [ not rebels of any kind, but unleashed irregulars keeping busy to get paid by Indonesia lest they do even more harm just like Zimbabwe's Pres. Mugabe gave returning Congo war veterans preferance for appropriated white farms so they aren't raising the next rebellion in the capitol. ]	SC/6882
5.25.00	"SpecialRep says elections of constituent assembly by 12.01, Natl Council for East Timorese Resistance recommend commission to draft constitution. UNTAET created."	SC/6866
4/24/00	"Steady progress" in Timor	SC/6850
2.9.00	S/PRST/2000/4 "Since Jan/92, 184 staff members died in service of UN. 98 murdered. To date, only 2 perpetrators convicted. Concrete steps to better safeguard security of UN personnel, incl strengthen capacity of UN Security Coordinator's Office. SecGen intended to appoint fulltime security coordinator as soon as possible. 2nd goal ensure field missions adequately staffed with security professionals, and adequately provided with essential equipment. Another objective greater emphasis on security training. Establish training centres where all intl staff receive intensive security training before deployed. Non- military staff attend security segment of training programmes for peacekeepers. Better coordination of security arrangements among the many UN actors often present in one location, as well as with other humanitarian orgs present. Financing of security mgmnt & training piecemeal & inadequate. Trust Fund for Security of Personnel of UN received $1.2million, amount not even allow for training those assigned to most precarious countries. There should be nothing discretionary about financing staff security. Also, Member States who had not sign & ratify 1994 Convention on Safety of UN & Associated Personnel. Moreover, extend scope of Convention categories of personnel. Speed up ratification of Statute of Intl Criminal Court. Member States assist investigating & prosecuting killers."	SC/6803

UN blamed for bringing AIDS to Cambodia
Mission touted as success: Documentary tells of peacekeepers' appetite for sex
8.23.00   Steven Edwards National Post

7/6/00 UN legal counsel completes formal discussions with CAMBODIA govt to establish tribunal to try Khmer Rouge leaders

CAMBODIA: U.N. should not micro-manage
10.8.97 Florida Times-Union

When forced to choose between China's rulers and its govt-inexile on Taiwan, the UN gave the seat to the former - a reflection of reality that should apply to Cambodia. That would not promote democracy. But its charter doesn't empower the world body to promote democracy.

1994 UN Peacekeeping in Transition in Cambodia Janet E. Heininger, The Century Foundation nee Twentieth Century Fund

[ biggest issue left: landmine removal; many NGOs already on the job ]

Ever since Kwame Nkrumah advocated an African High Command to implement conflict resolution, the Organization of African Unity has been wrestling with the question of whether conflict has to be a recurring fact of life in Africa. South Africa's military and economic strength could be the engine for promoting stability and growth in the region.

da Costa, Peter. "Keeping the peace." Africa Report May 1995, v40n3, p. 26-29

[ Savimbi is poster boy for every rebel leader on continent, the one they all want a photo-op with. UNITA jumps across borders when chased which triggers border fights with neighbors. But govt has seen UN troop ops do far more damage to other nations so refuses them. ]   blood diamond duo Sankoh & Savimbi

9.15.00 UN Conflict Diamonds Rpt: Angola - Following UNITA's rejection of UN monitored 1992 election, SecurityCouncil, under Chapter VII of UN Charter, adopted resolution 864 9/15/93, imposing arms embargo along with petroleum sanctions against UNITA, establishing Sanctions Committee of all Council members monitor and report implementation of mandatory measures. Following signing 1994 Lusaka Protocol UNITA refused to comply with its terms. In response to UNITA's refusal to disarm and implement Lusaka, SecurityCouncil adopted resolution 1127 8/28/97, which imposed mandatory travel sanctions on senior UNITA officials and their immediate family members. Year later, SecurityCouncil adopted resolution 1173 6/12/98 & resolution 1176 6/24/98, prohibiting direct or indirect import from Angola to their territory of all diamonds not controlled through the Certificate of Origin issued by Angola govt & imposing financial sanctions on UNITA.
Resolution 1237 5/7/99 SecurityCouncil established independent Panel of Experts to investigate violations of Security Council sanctions against UNITA. Per Panel's report (document S/2000/203), the Security Council adopted resolution 1295 4/18/00 "Monitoring Mechanism" established to collect & investigate sanctions violations. SecurityCouncil will determine this year whether sanctions violated and what to do in response.

Walter Kansteiner Africa@State Dept
Wm. J. Durch
8/23/00 (date of Brahimi rpt) Council extends MONUC to 10.15.00
Technical Extension' Designed to Allow Time For Further Diplomatic Activity, Possible Adjustments to Mandate
Support Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement. Call on DRC govt to lift all obstacles to full MONUC deployment and operations. Adverse DRC climate so far prevented the deployment of the Mission. Situation is characterized by persistent large-scale fighting in many parts of country. Severe restrictions on MONUC's freedom of movement & refusal of govt to permit UN armed troops' deployment. Sustained campaign of vilification against UN Mission & staff.

What are British troops doing in Sierra Leone ?

What happened to the UN peacekeeping force ?

Why didn't the peace deal work ?

What were the roots of civil war ?

What have been the effects of conflict ?

7.99   In some cases, U.S. strategy is more convoluted and Machiavellian. In the Sudan, for example, it has long been evident that the U.S. wants to keep the rebels sufficiently viable to avoid defeat, but not strong enough to pose a serious threat of the govt's overthrow. "Peace," an "official" is quoted as saying, "does not necessarily suit American interests … unstable Sudan amounts to a stable Egypt."

The End of U.N. Peacekeeping
6.9.00   Doug Bandow sr fellow at Cato Institute Wash.Times Sierra Leone has struck yet another blow against U.N. peacekeeping. America's U.N. ambassador, Richard Holbrooke, naturally argues that Sierra Leone "is not a metaphor for U.N. peacekeeping." But how could it be otherwise? Even U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan admits that the UN can't do the job. His solution is to strengthen U.N. operations.
Sierra Leone is one of a long list of African slaughterhouses: Angola, Burundi, Chad, Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan. In none of them has the United Nations stopped the killing, let alone resolved the underlying conflicts. Diplomatic pressure, expressions of intl outrage, and U.N. missions have all failed. People die, refugees flee, children starve, societies disintegrate.

The only strategy that has worked is military force. In 1995, Sierra Leone's govt was tottering before an offensive of the Revolutionary United Front. The regime hired the firm Executive Outcomes, made up of South African mercenaries, which routed the RUF. But one requirement of the political "settlement" pushed by the U.S. was to send Executive Outcomes home.

privateers in Colombia (Castano) Peru   Rwanda Sierra Leone

U.N. peacekeepers proved to be dismal replacements. In early May, the RUF seized hundreds of Zambians, stealing their equipment, weapons and even their uniforms. The RUF, with its trademark of chopping off the hands and arms of helpless civilians, began marching on Freetown, the nation's capital, sparking panic. Then, 800 British soldiers arrived to evacuate Westerners. The RUF faded back into the bush.
Indeed, when London announced that its troops' work was done, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah begged Britain to reconsider. Unable to defend itself, and unwilling to trust the United Nations, his regime tried to throw Sierra Leone back into the arms of its old colonial master.

So, Annan really isn't talking about the United Nations when he says that "We have to rethink how we equip troops and prepare them for these operations." He is talking about calling upon real soldiers from real countries using real weapons to fight and kill. As retired Australian Gen. John Sanderson, who headed U.N. operations in Cambodia, puts it: "You either go to war or go home." It is a more coherent view, but a much more dubious strategy. It would entangle nations in potentially endless conflicts with no relevance to their security. It would risk soldiers' lives for interests unrelated to those of their own political communities. And it would turn Western states into new colonial powers.
In practice, writes columnist Charles Krauthammer, "the only serious way to intervene is to occupy. Take over the country, reorder the society, establish new institutions and create the basis for leaving one day." In short, if it's serious enough to have your soldiers kill and be killed, it's serious enough to stick around and finish the job. In fact, American University Professor George Ayittey proposes just such a U.N. trusteeship for Sierra Leone, "a failed state, its govt long ago hijacked by gangsters." He would spend five to 10 years fixing the country.

But such an approach would require sustained military support by the handful of Western states with sizable and effective militaries. Count out the nations reluctant to act for historical reasons (particularly Germany and Japan), and you are down to the U.S., Britain, France, Italy and, maybe, India, Turkey and Russia. Moreover, Sierra Leone would be only the beginning. Twoscore countries across Africa and Asia warrant the same treatment.
Nor would such trusteeships guarantee success. The former colonies, like Sierra Leone, went through decades of a process that, theoretically at least, should have prepared them for independence. Most of them were freed with a full panoply of economic, legal and political institutions. No matter. Five or 10 years of renewed foreign rule would also be insufficient to eliminate the underlying hatreds, passions, and ambitions that have sparked scores of endless and endlessly bloody civil and guerrilla wars. Indeed, memories of prior discrimination & butchery often outlast even lengthy periods of seeming peace & stability; witness the Balkans.

Yes, we should rethink peacekeeping, as Annan desires. But, the answer is not, as he contends, to create a U.N. rapid deployment force and prepare it to fight. The solution is to confine U.N. peacekeeping to where there really is peace to keep. And to leave peacemaking to countries with enough at stake to do the job right. [ like NATO ? ]

SUBJECT   UN Armed Forces.
"In the case of ONUC, during the four years of the conflict, 35 to 40 countries contributed troops at one time or another. With such a number of countries involved. Also continuous rotation of troops within each contingent. For example, Durch reported that over the course of the ONUC operation, the entire Nigerian and Ghanaian armies as well as two-thirds of the Ethiopian and Malaysian armies cycled through the Congo. "
Some 22,000 UN soldiers and administrative personnel, most from Africa and Asia but also including a contingent from Bulgaria, arrived in Cambodia early in 1992. "There were numerous scandals with the Bulgarian army," says Nate Thayer, an American journalist who has spent 15 years writing about Cambodia. "Much of the Bulgarian army was taken right out of the prisons."

Getting involved : the political-military context The UN Operation in the Congo Paying the tab : financial crises	Running the show : planning and implementation The Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission
UN Temporary Executive Authority, UN Mission for Referendum in .Sahara

Durch, William J.. The Evolution of UN peacekeeping : case studies & comparative analysis. New York, NY : St. Martin's Press, 1993.

( "very detailed information but somewhat biased as it tends to present a very pro US view that is not immediately apparent. ")

Durch, William J. The United Nations and Collective Security in the 21st Century. Carlisle Barracks: US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, February 1993. 38pp. (U413.A66D87 1993)
Durch, William J., and Blechman, Barry M. Keeping the Peace: The United Nations in the Emerging World Order. Washington: Henry L. Stimson Center, March 1992. 108pp. (JX1981.P7D87 1992)

The Holbrooke-Milosevic agreement on Kosovo in October was accurately described by Richard Holbrooke as an unprecedented event. NATO had intervened in an internal conflict inside a sovereign non- NATO state, not to defend its own members but to force that other state to halt repression of a rebellious ethnic minority.

12/7/98 U.S. to Propose NATO Take On Increased Roles Steven Erlanger NYTimes pA12

Panel 2
John Bolton Sr VP American Enterprise Inst.
8.17.99 BOLTON "I think a lot of the attitudes that grew up during the Cold War by the so-called Third World nations, which use the UN both for their own purposes and I think really, the instigation of the Communist world to attack the U.S. in particular and the West in general. To use the UN as a forum to attempt to extract concessions from the West. One of the reasons really why attitudes in the U.S. are as hostile to the UN as they are. But unfortunately a lot of those Cold War attitudes have not ended at the UN. And that there's a time lag perhaps created by the culture of the UN cities, perhaps because of slowness to change in the govts themselves. The result being, I think from the American point of view, we tend to be very practical, solution-oriented people. There's a phrase, a famous phrase called "shirtsleeve diplomacy," which is sort of the way Americans get, take their coats off and roll their sleeves up. Now, to be sure we're not always exemplars of that view ourselves. But I think that is an attitude we have as compared to the attitude of a lot of member govts, to be blunt about it, that they'd rather talk about problems to their own political advantage rather than try and deal with them."

4/6/00 London Times   Continental perspective on "can-do" development

representative Refugees International : Africa
8.4.00 Improve Rule of Law in Kosovo: Ten Steps to Take Now "Establishing rule of law, a known and accepted set of defined rules that are enforced through non-violent means, is one of the most difficult challenges in Kosovo. It is also one of the most important. Some issues, including Kosovo's ultimate legal status and inter-ethnic tensions, will not be resolved for some years."

Hasan Nuhanovic ¹ 1.19.97   former translator, U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Srebrenica article [ when Dutch unilaterally left Srebrenica to preclude being made hostages in retaliation to U.S & French airstrike threats at negotiation table, they tacitly greenlighted Serbs killing 8000 Moslem refugees, incl the mother, father & family of this intrepreter for the Dutch UN troops who was taken with them. ] From the first moment of the Serb attack on Srebrenica, the two UNMO officers refused to patrol the area and report what they saw or heard to their superiors. My colleague Emir Suljagic and I tried to persuade them to at least patrol the town, if not the countryside, and report the shelling and injuries among the civilians. Though this was no more than their duty, they refused. In the meantime, we translated at several meetings a day between UNMO, the Dutch liason team and local representatives. UNMO asked the unarmed local guards at the entrance of the PTT building to count and tell Emir and me of all the explosions in the area. This way they did not themselves need to stand at the entrance which was pretty dangerous. On the evening of 9 July, UNMO got so scared they tried to leave the office for the Dutchbat camp at Potocari but, having first stopped them, the mayor released them when they began to cry. Hasan Nuhanovic "Witness to Srebrenica" Index on Censorship 2/98 Srebrenica Justice Campaign   many links, latest news 7/19/00 Prof. Boyle, legal rep. ¹   Assoc. of Citizens Mothers of Srebrenica and Drina valley, letter to Chief ICTY Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte , Intl Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia in the Hague, urging her to fulfil her promise to most seriously study the Criminal Complaint against top UN officials, Dutch military officials, and officials of and officials of some western govts and act in accordance to the international law and the Statute of the ICTY. 9.4.00 Srebrenica 5 years on interview with Eric Stobbaerts, currently MSF Spain's General Director, who was General Coordinator of Yugoslavia MSF missions 1993-1995. Describes situation & attitude shown by the intl community towards Srebrenica enclave. Also analyzes stance taken by MSF and questions whether organization's neutrality shares blame. also Who was responsible for the fall of Srebrenica ? PBS FrontLine   on Yugoslavia genocide(s)

Dutch govt falls over Srebrenica massacre 4.16.02   Irish Times Dutch prime minister Mr Wim Kok's govt resigned today for its shortcomings during a catastrophic peacekeeping mission which failed to prevent the worst massacre of the Bosnian war 7 years ago. The cabinet's mass resignation came within days of a damning report condemning Dutch politicians & the military for sending its troops on an impossible mission to protect the Srebrenica enclave where up to 8,000 Muslims were slaughtered in 1995. "The international community has fallen short in offering sufficient protection to the people in the so-called 'safe area'," Mr Kok told a hushed parliament after all 29 cabinet ministers in his coalition resigned following a crisis meeting. "The international community, in which the Netherlands played a special role in this respect, appeared unable to prevent the enclave from falling and the genocide by the Bosnian Serbs that followed," the outgoing leader of the center-left cabinet said. But Mr Kok was adamant that blame for the grizzly massacre rested with the Bosnian Serbs, who overran the enclave in July 1995, referring to fugitive war crimes suspect & former Bosnian Serb military leader Gen. Ratko Mladic. Dutch head of state Queen Beatrix immediately called on Mr Kok to form an interim caretaker govt from the bones of his 3 party coalition until a new administration was installed after general elections 5.15.02. Almost half the Netherland's 19 post-war coalitions have collapsed prematurely. But the speed of the latest crash with only a month to go to elections took even seasoned political observers by surprise. An official report last week into the Dutch role in the fall of Srebrenica slammed its top army brass & politicians for unwittingly collaborating with ethnic cleansing when Bosnian Serb forces overran the supposedly UN- protected enclave. In Srebrenica, a Bosnian town close to the Serbian border, 110 lightly-armed Dutch troops from the multinational UN force were assigned to protect Muslim residents & refugees in what had been designated a "safe area" for them. The Serbs took the town without a shot being fired. The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) report, commissioned by the govt 5 years ago, condemned the Dutch troops for unwittingly assisting in "ethnic cleansing" by helping the Serbs organize the final exodus of thousands of Muslims from the town, women & children to Muslim territory but men to their deaths, mostly by shooting in fields and barns. But it reserved its harshest criticism for the political & military leadership for sending the troops to Srebrenica with ill-defined goals and a weak mandate. Chaotic end to Mr Kok's coalition between his PvdA Labour Party, Liberal VVD and centrist D66 cast a long shadow over the career of a popular prime minister, credited with slashing unemployment and creating prosperity. The govt was sent reeling last week by the long awaited NIOD report, which caused a heated political debate about Dutch accountability at Srebrenica, prompting speculation from senior political sources that a number of top ministers were ready to resign to appease public disquiet. Mr Kok's coalition has been struggling in opinion polls ahead of elections next month, when power could shift in The Hague, the seat of Dutch govt as well as the UN war crimes tribunal currently trying ex-Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic for alleged war crimes in the Balkans in the 1990s. Polls indicate his center-left govt could be set to lose out if a center-right alliance is formed after the elections. Dutch parties traditionally jockey for position in talks to form coalitions after an election.

"Betrayal of Srebrenica Why did the massacre happen? Will it happen again? 3.31.98   IOHR 105th Cong. Nuhanovic testifies. McKinney did not speak. Dutch ordered Bosnia retreat 2.9.97   Ed Vulliamy The Observer New York   The retreat by Dutch troops from the Bosnian Muslim enclave of Srebrenica during the worst massacre in Europe since the Nazi era was ordered not by the soldiers' United Nations commanders but secretly & unilaterally by their own govt, according to a book just published in the Netherlands. The allegation delivers a devastating blow to the Dutch military over the debacle, and further implicates the country's govt in failing to protect Bosnian Muslims from the slaughter that ensued. The book 'Srebrenica, het zwartste scenario' ('Srebrenica, The Darkest Scenario') was written by journalists Frank Westerman and Bart Rijs, who penetrated the enclave during Bosnia's war.

It contains sensational leaks of classified documents which rewrite the history of the international community's failure to stop the massacre of about 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the enclave by Bosnian Serbs.

At the core of the writers' findings is an order given on 13 July, 1995, for the Dutch soldiers in charge of thousands of Bosnian Muslim refugees to leave their camp at Potocari, near Srebrenica. The order detailed the need to take all equipment and weapons - but there was no mention of what to do with the refugees seeking shelter from the Serbs; thousands of them began to be slaughtered as the Dutch packed up.
Oddly, the order was written in Dutch - UN communications were usually in English, and was circulated only to Dutch UN officers. The authors trace it back to the Dutch Defence Minister, Joris Voorhoeve. Other documents and leaked minutes demonstrate that the Dutch govt was obsessed with the safety of its troops as the London conference of 21 July approached, with U.S. & French leaders talking about air strikes against the Serbs. 'If you want to take firm action against the Serbs, more than 300 Dutch hostages is a bad start,' said Voorhoeve, according to minutes of a meeting on 12 July.

The following day, the order was issued to the Dutch commander on the ground, Colonel Ton Karremans, who was known to be meeting with General Ratko Mladic, the Bosnain Serb general, and now a war crimes fugitive. Col. Karremans gave evidence against Mladic at the Hague war crimes tribunal last year and failed to mention the order. 'All of a sudden, it is as though the UN has a chain of command that is Dutch at all levels, and that the UN is suddenly talking to each other in Dutch,' Westerman said. The two Dutch authors produced the message logsheet for 12 July at the UN base in Tuzla, which oversaw Srebrenica. It recorded the Dutch saying they were to leave offering 'no resistance, no provocation' to the Serbs. The authors then cite soldiers saying that, as they evacuated, they passed trailers full of Bosnian Muslim corpses.

scanned pages from the book:
The book Srebrenica - Het zwartste scenario contains xerox-copies of a number of confidential and secret United Nations and Dutch Army documents. Because books in the Dutch language are not readily available outside The Netherlands we have included links to scans of these documents below. (see webpage)

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Alternative Views

8.29.00 Sunshine Project   UN Drug Control Program UNDCP administers US-funded work in Uzbekistan & promoting Fusarium testing in Colombia

9.12.00   UN RapidDeploy Force: Does Brahimi Report Go Far Enough? Campaign for UN Reform
10.1.99   CUNR support letter issued by Rep. Cynthia McKinney

In some cases, NGOs are taking over directly from diplomats: not attempting to help the victims of war, but to end the wars themselves. Some try to restrict arms flows, such as Saferworld, which is against small arms. Others attempt to negotiate ceasefires. The Italian Catholic lay community of Sant' Egidio helped to end 13 years of civil war in Mozambique in 1992. International Alert, a London-based peace research group, tried the same for Sierra Leone in the mid-1990s. Last year, Unicef (a part of the UN) and the Carter Centre, founded by ex-President Jimmy Carter, brought about a peace deal of sorts between Uganda and Sudan. There are now roughly 500 groups registered by the European Platform for Conflict Prevention & Transformation (hosted by the European Centre for Conflict Prevention in Utrecht).

"Civil war demands civil action," say the organisers.

Where are the Dead Bodies in Kosovo
8.18.00   The justification for using American forces in Kosovo has been and continues to be a moral argument grounded on claims of mass murder and genocide. Estimates of the slaughter ranged from 100,000 alluded to by Defense Secretary Cohen during the war to 10,000, which is still claimed by the State Dept. Our leaders used these numbers to claim that a higher morality and the rule of intl law justified (1) bypassing the Constitution, (2) mutating the defensive requirements of the Nato treaty into an offensive attack on a nation that not pose a threat to any members of Nato, and (3) asserting the legality of bombing on the basis of UN resolutions that did not authorize the use of military force (UNSCRs 1199 & 1203, and, in fact, UNSCR 1199 specifically excluded the use of force because Russia made it clear when it was being negotiated in the Summer of 1998 that Russia would veto a resolution that authorized force).

To make matters worse, as Elaine Grossman reports in Reference 2, our leaders concocted ill-conceived and chaotically executed bombing campaign, based on the initial assumption that 2 or 3 days of bombing attacks would coerce one man into changing his mind. When this assumption backfired and resulted in the refugee disaster in April 1999, the war escalated wildly beyond initial expectations into chaotic bombing attacks on an tiny nation with thirds the Gross Domestic Product of Fairfax County, Virginia, with civilian targets, like shoe factories and general power supplies, being bombed in violation of the Geneva Convention.

[1] Jonathan Steele, "Serb Killings 'Exaggerated' by West," The Guardian, Friday August 18, 2000.
[2] Elaine Grossman, "U.S. Military Debates Link Between Kosovo Air War, Stated Objectives," Inside The Pentagon, April 20, 2000, Pg. 1

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Vaccaro, J. Matthew, "UN Peace Operations in Congo: Decolonialism and Superpower Conflict in the Guise of UN Peacekeeping" in "The Savage Wars of Peace"- Toward a New Paradigm of Peace Operations, Edited by John T. Fishel, Boulder, Westview Press, 1998, p. 82.
reviews the ONUC mission against a model developed by the US military to assess the new paradigm of peace operations. The article provides general reference to the ONUC mission and helps to balance the views of Durch & James.

"While they insist on maintaining the distinction between peacekeeping and peace enforcement, William J Durch and J. Matthew Vaccaro discuss what they call "multidimensional peacekeeping," which includes not only reduction of tensions between and among former foes, but also implementation of a peace accord that addresses the underlying causes of conflict, with an implementation schedule and a timeline.
They go on to say that "[b]ecause multi-dimensional peacekeeping primarily involves settlement of internal conflicts, it operates in a much more complex domestic political environment that traditional peacekeeping," and includes "sizable civilian components in the peacekeeping force.

"Evolving U.S. Policy for Peace Operations" Col. Jas P. Terry SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY LAW JOURNAL, Vol. 19, Fall, 1994, pp.25-27

Several generalizations emerge. First, the operation must 'do no harm'. Second, the international organization most directly involved must determine an acceptable end state. Third, promotion of responsible democracy is a key ingredient of long term peace consolidation. Finally, the key to successful operations and establishing these three criteria is de jure and de facto legitimacy.

Normative Implications of 'The Savage Wars of Peace' by John T Fishel

9/12/00 SecGen annual report: HQ support for peacekeeping still inadequate
calls for Greater Intl Cooperation to better those 'Left Behind' by development

No country has developed successfully by rejecting opportunities offered by intl trade & foreign direct investment. At same time, engagement with global economy alone is no panacea for rapid development. SecGen proposed "Global Compact" by which private corporations commit to good practices defined by intl community in human rights, labour & environment. Values Compact promotes will help create stable & secure environment that business needs to flourish in long term.

Shift in nature of threats to peace since end of cold war: once driven by ideological divisions, now fueled by ethnic & religious intolerance, political ambition & greed, often exacerbated by illicit traffic in arms, gems & drugs. Lessons emerged such as importance of joint action by MemberStates & Secretariat to strengthen instrument of peacekeeping; importance of providing adequate resources to meet mission needs & ensure credible deterrent capacity is maintained; importance of preparedness for "worst-case" scenarios; & need for timely analysis.

[ put the NSA to work for UN instead of weapons makers & users? ]

[ signifying an org change of UN mission to be NATO replacement to justify increased budget needs? ]

SecGen states global military expenditures increased in 1999 for the first time in the post cold-war period. Results of 2000 Review Conference of Parties to Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Universalization of Chemical Weapons Convention & speedy negotiation of protocol to strengthen Biological Weapons Convention are achievable goals.
Intl response mechanism for internally displaced persons reviews with central premise that responsibility first and foremost with natl govt. Humanitarian agencies must cooperate with natl & local authorities.

[ same authorties are primary agents using mass hunger as weapon in place of troops to fight UN as well as enemy. And they are UN member states.
"Sudan's Calamity: Only the Starving Favor Peace"   7.23.98   NYTimes ]

During last year, 2 clear development challenges emerged: how can effective participation of all countries in the global trading system be assured? Second, how can advancement of social & environmental objectives be integrated economic & financial strategies? Easing of economic and financial crisis of late 1990s provided window of opportunity to consider reforms, including reform of intl financial architecture. SecGen attaches great importance to High-level Event on Financing for Development, planned for 2001. UN Development Group currently developing practical options for country teams to implement strategies. Any poverty alleviation strategy needs to concentrate on education, health, urbanization and effective cooperation.
2 overriding aims for sustainable development: meet the economic needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to also meet their needs; and protect the environment in the process. Burden of continuing population growth. Commission on Sustainable Development, upcoming 10-year review of UN Conference on Environment & Development. Report's chapter on cooperation for development ends with section on Africa program.

9.12.00   SecGen annual report on Intl Criminal Court: in June, Preparatory Commission adopted the final draft texts of two instruments; on rules of procedure and evidence, and on the elements of crimes. At its next session, the Preparatory Commission will continue discussions on a definition of the crime of aggression, and will begin considering the draft relationship agreement between UN and the Court; draft financial regulations & rules; and a draft agreement on the privileges and immunities of the Court. As of 24 August, 98 States had signed the Rome Statute and 15 had ratified it, the report notes. This falls short of the 60 ratifications needed to bring the Statute into force. The Secretary-General congratulates these States that have ratified the Statute for demonstrating that those who offend the conscience of humankind can no longer go unpunished.
Intl Tribunals for Rwanda & Former Yugoslavia reviewed by group of independent experts in November 1999, concluded Tribunals reasonably effective, proposed 46 improvements, most been implemented by April. In general, YugoTrib saw significant increase in rate of arrests of indicted suspects. RwandaTrib handed down judgements in three cases, convicted eight individuals. UN Office of Legal Affairs & Cambodia govt establish special court to prosecute leaders of Khmer Rouge. That Office also to establish independent special court for SLeone (SecurityCouncil resolution 1315 14 August).

Failed Peacekeeping and Upheavals Undermining W.Africa Douglas Farah Washington Post Foreign Service 9/17/00 pA28

"There are competing tendencies, with some govts wanting to play by the rules, which means democracy, dialogue and cutting off the arms flow to other nations," said a senior U.S. official. "There is a competing tendency of countries who don't like elected govts and, when there is tension with their neighbors, they arm the opposition. It is old school versus new school, and it is a very difficult fight."
Compounding the problem, according to diplomats and intelligence analysts, is the growing influence of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, whose country remains on the U.S. list of those accused of sponsoring international terrorism. Gadhafi has long-standing ties to Presidents Charles Taylor of Liberia and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso and to the Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone. Ivory Coast's ruler, Gen. Robert Guei, has visited Libya twice in the nine months since the military took power.
Intelligence analysts said Gadhafi wields influence by giving oil and money to govts whose policies have largely cut them off from international lending institutions. That means, said one source, that "if you are Guei or Taylor or Compaore, and you have an agenda to violate the democratic rules of the game, then you have a sponsor."

One of the few bright spots in the region is Nigeria, the largest and most influential country in West Africa, where military dictatorship has given way to an elected govt. President Clinton visited Nigeria last month to bolster its fragile democratic transition. The senior U.S. official said it is important for Nigeria to project its influence in the region to counter the consolidation of military rule in Ivory Coast. The official said it would be "grossly irresponsible" to ignore the simmering conflicts in West Africa because all the groups involved "have access to arms, and they are moving against each other in a situation that is already volatile because of Sierra Leone. We take it very seriously."

[ Nigerian UN Peacekeeping troops are accused of trading with the RUF enemy in SLeone for blood diamonds "Infighting between the commanders of the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone is so intense that the mission, the largest of its kind in the world, has become virtually paralyzed. Before UN's peacekeepers spring arrival, Nigeria led West African force that fought RUF during SLeone nine-year civil war. But they were accused of human rights abuses. In confidential note that became public over weekend, Maj.-Gen. Jetley accuses Nigerians of having secret contacts with RUF, which finances its operations by selling diamonds obtained from areas it controls and dealing in drugs"
9.12.00   Steven Edwards National Post ]

According to diplomatic sources, Guei defaulted on several important international loans this month to pay bonuses of several hundred dollars to each member of the army, his main base of support. As a result, major creditors have cut off all new loans, the sources said. In addition, ethnic clashes in the southwestern corner of the country have left at least 13 dead in the past two weeks.
Along the border between Liberia and Guinea, other clashes, in violation of a nonaggression pact signed a year ago, have left dozens dead in the past two weeks. Taylor publicly accused Guinea of harboring rebels who oppose him who have fought a series of running battles with Liberian troops on the Guinean border. Guinea's president, Lansana Conte, in turn accused Taylor, along with the RUF in Sierra Leone and the Compaore govt in Burkina Faso, of seeking to destabilize Guinea.

Taylor and Compaore are long-time allies of the RUF, which carried out a series of raids into Guinea last week, abducting two Italian Roman Catholic priests in one. Conte went on national television and radio to accuse Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees living in Guinea of fomenting war against the govt. Thousands were rounded up by soldiers and civilian militia groups, beaten and forced to leave the country.
Guinea harbors some 330,000 refugees from Sierra Leone's civil war and 125,000 from Liberia, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Conte of "inciting armed attacks" against the refugees, saying his "inflammatory public statement . . . provoked widespread attacks by Guinean police, soldiers and civilian militias." The organization said that many women were raped in roundups.
"All of these factors increase tension and don't make things easier," said the U.S. official. "It is all potentially very dangerous."

THE LAWS OF WAR AND THE RULES OF PEACEKEEPING presented 1/30/97 to
Joint Services Conf on Professional Ethics at National Defense Univ WashDC Thomas B. Baines   "… peacekeepers must learn to function under rules similar to those imposed on civil law enforcement in most western nations, i.e. the requirements for a showing of probable cause for action, and rules on the escalation to and use of deadly force. "

Solution: boilerplate contracts for peacekeeping field commanders

Report Decries Abuses by NATO GIs Sent to Kosovo
Paratroop motto Get Ugly Early
9.19.00   Paul Richter LATimes pA1

The investigation grew from criminal charges that were brought against Staff Sgt. Frank J. Ronghi, who pleaded guilty to raping and killing an 11-year-old Kosovo Albanian girl, Merita Shabiu, in January. Last month, he was sentenced to life in prison. The investigation brought to light questions about the aggressive methods used by members of Alpha Company in trying to restrain ethnic Albanians, Serbs and other Kosovo groups who remained in bitter conflict in the aftermath of the 1999 war over Kosovo. 9 other soldiers have since been given various forms of administrative punishment, including reduction in rank and pay cuts. Investigators with the office of the Army inspector general, who prepared the report, also recommended that some of the troops face courts-martial, but the Army has declined to take that step.
The report recommended that the commander of the 3rd Battalion, Lt. Col. Michael D. Ellerbe, be given a letter of reprimand or other punishment for creating the "negative command climate" in which the troops acted. Army officials, however, said Ellerbe was transferred to another command within the 18th Airborne Corps but not punished. The Army laid part of the blame for the abuses described in the report on the fact that the paratroopers had been sent to Kosovo expecting "high intensity conflict." What they found instead was a tense peace in which ethnic Albanian and Serbian partisans carried on a shadowy war of bombings and sniping.

In that environment, the report said, some of the troops of Alpha Company became frustrated & angry and sought to intimidate the "enemy," though it was difficult to know exactly who the enemy was. In one incident, an officer, Lt. John Serafini, and two sergeants tried to find out who had committed two bombings by kidnapping two ethnic Albanian brothers and taking them to an abandoned warehouse in the town of Klokot, the report said. There the brothers were punched, slapped and threatened.
The officer took his M-4 carbine and, after unloading it, held it to the back of one man's head. "Do you want to die?" he said. In another case, last Dec. 30, the troops stormed into a restaurant called Sam's Pizzeria, forced most of the customers out and began brutally interrogating one man. They put him on the ground, beat him and twisted his arm "to make him say what they wanted to hear," an ethnic Albanian witness told investigators. The soldiers, led by Serafini, hit the man with a rifle butt, kicked him in the stomach & testicles, and stuck a knife in the wall near his head to frighten him, the report said. The troops went on weapons searches in ways designed to terrorize Kosovo residents. Though other U.S. troops had been polite, the Alpha Company paratroopers kicked in the doors of the homes they were searching, tied the hands of the owners and forced women and children to remain outside late into the night, witnesses told the Army.

The troops tried to intimidate people in the streets by swearing at them and beating on their vehicles. On one market day, Alpha Company soldiers got angry at a man who kept wandering into traffic. One soldier head-butted him, giving him a bloody nose. Moments later, when the man stayed in the road, Ronghi bashed him "with great force" in the head with a billy club, the report said. Later, the soldiers realized that the man could neither hear nor speak. One soldier described how a junior officer drove an ethnic Albanian man who had been detained for questioning to a field near the town of Vitina. The man was measured for height. Then the officer and his troops proceeded to dig a grave in front of him. They told him "that if he did not tell [the officer] what he wanted to know, that they were going to shoot him, and bury him, and nobody would ever know."
The troops also sided with the Serbian minority against the larger ethnic Albanian population, some of whom wanted revenge against a group that had forced many of their families into the hills in 1999. The unit's improper conduct "[reflects] the overall negative command climate within [the unit] and is indicative of an attitude of Serb favoritism," the report said. The troops would grope women as they walked through town, touching their breasts and buttocks, and saying, "Hey, baby, what's your name?" In an incident last Nov. 29, soldiers went to a village outside Vitina where residents were celebrating a holiday and shooting in the air. They saw a small group of people approaching the village square. A sergeant "searched them and then told them to lie down on the ground, for more than 30 minutes, and it was very cold that night. Some of the women were asking me to let them go home, because they had their children with them, but the soldiers would not let them go," a witness said.

Another witness told of how the company confiscated illegally cut firewood from ethnic Albanians. When residents asked the soldiers for some, according to the witness, the soldiers would ask the ethnicity of the resident. If the response was Serbian, they were given some. If Albanian, they were sent away empty-handed. "Many of the soldiers in the company let the perceived power go to their heads, and that power was abused," one Alpha Company soldier told investigators. "Over the course of A Company's time in Vitina it was routine for soldiers to use unnecessary and unprovoked physical force with the people of Vitina. Soldiers would spit on locals, push them on the streets, poke the women with sticks, and generally act like barbarians." Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, has asked Gen. John W. Hendrix, head of Army Forces Command, to complete a review of the report "and take any corrective actions as appropriate" within 30 days. An Army spokesman, Maj. Ryan Yantis, said he believed those steps are more likely to be administrative ones aimed at preventing further misconduct than any recommendation of further discipline.
Michael O'Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution, predicted that the incidents were not likely to provoke a great international reaction. The ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo is still eager to have U.S. soldiers there, he said.

MidEast       Israel's assassination defense policy UN resolution 3379 Lebanon warns U.N. against video 7.7.01   AP BEIRUT, Lebanon   Saturday Lebanon warned the UN against giving Israel a videotape showing the scene of a kidnapping last year of three Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas. Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's office said showing the tape would relay "information from inside Lebanese territory to the Israeli enemy'', an act the statement called "a deviation'' from the U.N. mission in Lebanon. Facing mounting Israeli pressure, UN announced Friday it would let Israeli officials view the video, filmed by U.N. peacekeepers 18 hours after the Israeli soldiers were captured in a disputed portion of the Israeli-Lebanese border on Oct. 7. But the faces of any non-U.N. personnel visible in the tape would be obscured to protect their security, U.N. Undersecretary-General Jean-Marie Guehenno said Friday. Israel carries out targeted killings and has kidnapped individuals it hoped to use as bargaining chips for information or the return of its missing soldiers. The 30-minute tape contains images of bloodstains, U.N. uniforms and forged license plates on the vehicles allegedly used by Hezbollah during the abductions in the Chebaa Farms region, according to Guehenno. He said the images indicated the kidnappers probably masqueraded as U.N. peacekeepers serving in south Lebanon. Guehenno said the tape did not contain any useful information. Several Jewish groups in U.S. accused UN of cover-up for not releasing the tape earlier. Lahoud's office said the govt had turned down the United Nations' offer to allow Lebanese officials to also view the tape. In a statement issued Saturday, Hezbollah said showing the tape will bring into question "the nature of UN missions and its role in south Lebanon with regard to relaying information'' to Israel. Hezbollah led a war of attrition against Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. After Israeli troops withdrew last year, fighting along the border has largely ceased - but Hezbollah has continued operations aimed at driving Israeli troops from the disputed Chebaa Farms. It captured three Israeli soldiers and a retired Israeli colonel in two separate incidents last October. Hezbollah says it wants to trade the four Israelis for Lebanese and Arab prisoners in Israeli jails, including a former Hezbollah commander.

Despite missing videotape, Israel to okay UNIFIL extension   8.3.01   Akiva Eldar Ha'aretz (Israel) Despite the videotape affair and Israel's reservations about the overall performance of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Israel plans to tell the UN that it supports extending the force's mandate. In the run-up to the expiry of UNIFIL's mandate on July 31, the Foreign Ministry deliberations over the issue were held against the backdrop of the public debate over the possibility of deploying UN observers in the territories. Some cabinet ministers told the media that UNIFIL's behavior in the incident - in which three Israeli soldiers were abducted last October - proves that foreign observers cannot be trusted. Most of the participants in the Foreign Ministry discussions, which included military officials, rejected the suggestion that Israel take advantage of the opportunity to protest UNIFIL's conduct. The military representatives included the coordinator of Israeli govt activities in Lebanon, and the heads of the Israel Defense Forces planning branch. Military officials stressed that it is in Israel's interests to extend the presence of UN forces in Lebanon for a few reasons: first, UNIFIL's presence there saves Israel from direct contact with Hezbollah. Second, since Israel's 5.00 withdrawal from Lebanon and in light of the continued Syrian military presence in the area, extending UNIFIL's mandate reminds the international community who is respecting UN Security Council Resolution 425 and who is violating it. The final reason for extending the mandate is that an Israeli attempt to block the measure would put it into conflict with most UN members which support the extension, above all the U.S. . Foreign Ministry & military officials criticized the UN secretary-general's report, released this week in preparation for the end of the UNIFIL mandate, for its clear lack of balance in recording violations of Resolution 425. For example, the secretary-general mentioned first Israeli Air Force incursions into Lebanese airspace for intelligence-gathering purposes, and only afterward mentioned obvious violations of the international border from the Lebanese side. In contrast to the secretary-general's report of "general stability," Israel claims that Syria and Lebanon cause instability on the ground.

arms trade U.N. meets on small arms trafficking 7.9.01   AP UN   U.N. officials meeting about the illegal trade of small arms start with a dramatic reminder of what they're up against, a 5-ton sculpture made of more than 7,000 weapons used in crimes, warfare and terrorism around the world. "The Art of Peacemaking,'' which was to be unveiled at the opening of the conference Monday, contains submachine guns confiscated from children in Nicaragua, a 7-inch-long rubber bullet fired in Northern Ireland, combat rifles used in South Africa and South Korea, and pistols fired by gangs on the streets of Los Angeles. More than 500 million small arms and light weapons are in circulation around the world. Often put in the hands of child soldiers, small arms are the biggest global killer apart from AIDS. Representatives from 189 nations as well as advocates on both sides of the gun-control debate will sit down together at the United Nations for two weeks to discuss all aspects of the illicit small arms trade. But getting an agreement by July 20 on ways to halt the lucrative business of trafficking in pistols, assault rifles and machine guns is going to be tough, diplomats and arms experts say. The impact of small arms on many countries - whether wealthy powers, war-ravaged nations, buyers or suppliers of arms, differs greatly and thus divides them over how the issue should be tackled. Some countries want to ensure that their profits are not touched. Others oppose interference in their sovereign right to self-defense. As a result, the program of action, a non-legally binding document to be adopted at the end of the conference on July 20, is unlikely to include any of the tough measures in the latest draft. "I think that perhaps the document is not going to be as strong as we would have liked, but it is a step in the right direction,'' U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. "It is a recognition by the international community that we need to do something about these weapons.'' Arms trafficking is the second largest illicit business after drugs and the United Nations has said there is a direct link between the two trades. Argentina's former president, Carlos Menem; the son of former French president Francois Mitterand; and Vladimir Montesinos, the former Peruvian spy chief, are all under investigation for illegal arms trafficking deals. The legal small arms trade is estimated at $4-6 billion annually and the illegal trade at about $1 billion, according to the U.N. Development Program. To focus on illegal trade, the conference will also discuss legally exported arms that often find their way into the black markets of countries awash in violence. Afghanistan is home to 10 million light weapons, the United Nations estimates. In West Africa, 7 million small arms are circulating in countries such Sierra Leone and Angola, devastated by years of civil war. Another 2 million are available in war-torn Central Africa. The more controversial topics at the conference include controls on the manufacturing, transfer, and possession of small arms, standardized export criteria and marking and tracing practices. U.S. is likely to reject a proposal "to seriously consider'' prohibiting trade and private ownership of small arms designed for military use, and another clause that calls for small arms to be supplied to govts only. "If, at some point, the U.S. determines it is in their interest to supply arms to a group somewhere, then they want to retain the right to do so,'' said Rachel Stohl, a senior analyst at the Washington-based Center for Defense Information. The United Nations defines small arms as revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles, submachine guns, assault rifles and light machine-guns. Light weapons include heavy machine-guns, mortars, hand grenades, grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns and portable missile launchers. On Monday, representatives from 24 nations were to address the conference, including John Bolton, the U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. Supporters and opponents of gun control will also be on hand for the conference. "We're going to be there standing for freedom,'' said Wayne LaPierre, chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association. "They fully intend, as I see it, to put a global standard ahead of an individual country's freedom.''

U.S. Takes Strong Stance on Arms 7.9.01   AP UN   Staking out a tough position at a U.N. conference on small arms, the U.S. said Monday it would oppose any plan that interferes with the legal weapons trade or the right of citizens to own guns. The Bush administration believes the best way to curb trade in small arms and light weapons is to get every nation to adopt tough U.S.-style regulations on exports, weapons transfers and brokers, Undersecretary of State John Bolton told delegates to the conference. "The U.S. will not join consensus on a final document that contains measures contrary to our constitutional right to keep and bear arms,'' Bolton said. Finding a way to halt the illegal trade in small arms and light weapons - responsible for millions of deaths worldwide, will be tough for nations with vastly divergent stances. Some want to ensure profits are not touched, others oppose interference in their right to self-defense. Still, 189 nations sat down together Monday, along with advocates on both sides of the gun control debate, to discuss ways to halt the lucrative business U.N. officials say fuels wars and crime and is implicated in 1,000 deaths a day. 2 hours after the conference opened, the U.S. rejected several elements of the draft program of action, asked that others be modified, and had its own ideas of what constitutes small arms. "If the conference can concentrate on the central issue of the flow of illicit weapons into areas of conflict, then I think there's broad room for agreement,'' Bolton said at a news conference. "But if it drifts off into areas that are more properly the subject of national-level decision-making then I think there will be difficulties.'' Some delegates expressed dismay with the U.S. position. "I was amazed by the U.S. representative's remarks. It sounded like he wanted the conference to collapse,'' said Rubem Cesar Fernandes, of the International Network on Small Arms, a non-profit arms control group. Belgium's Foreign Minister Louis Michel, speaking on behalf of the 15- nation European Union, also called for further regulation of the legal small arms trade to prevent spillover into the illegal trade. The action plan must go beyond "a simple listing of the problems of stockpiles and the proliferation of small arms,'' he said. China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Yingfan said the draft program of action was "well balanced and reflects the major positions and concerns of all sides. We hope that it will be adopted by consensus without major changes.'' The more controversial topics at the gathering include controls on the manufacturing, transfer and possession of small arms, standardized export criteria and marking and tracing practices. Norway called for a legally binding document and Iran said it wanted a halt in weapons supplies to non-states. The U.S. opposes both. "There are many delegations that have their views ... but I think there is enough good will so that in these coming two weeks, we can sit together and try to find consensus and solutions,'' said Camilo Reyes, Colombia's U.N. ambassador and the conference president. More than 500 million small arms and light weapons are available - one for every 12 people on the planet. Rachel Stohl of the Washington-based Center for Defense Information authored a study on the impact of small arms on children and found a "definite link between these weapons and the use of child soldiers.'' "Armed groups give them to kids and anyone strong enough to hold them becomes a soldier,'' Stohl told The Associated Press. At about $1 billion annually, illegal small-arms trafficking is the second-largest illicit business after drugs, according to U.N. figures. "The problem is not so much the dollar value as the vast supply, which makes small arms very inexpensive to purchase,'' said U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette. "In some places an AK-47 assault rifle can be bought for as little as $15, or even a bag of grain.'' Those weapons often find their way into countries awash in violence. There are 10 million light weapons in Afghanistan, the United Nations estimates. In West Africa, 7 million small arms are circulating in countries such as Sierra Leone and Angola, devastated by years of civil war. Two million more are available in war-torn Central Africa. U.S. rejected many hot-button issues, including a proposal that calls for small arms to be supplied to govts only. "The U.S. believes that the responsible use of

firearms is a legitimate aspect of national life,'' Bolton said, adding that Washington would not accept any "measures that would constrain legal trade and legal manufacture of small arms and light weapons.'' The conference should be concerned with strictly military arms "that are contributing to continued violence and suffering in regions of conflict around the world,'' Bolton said. "We separate these military arms from firearms such as hunting rifles and pistols which are commonly used and owned by citizens in many countries.''
The United Nations defines small arms as revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles, submachine guns, assault rifles and light machine-guns. Light weapons include heavy machine-guns, mortars, hand grenades, grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns and portable missile launchers. A startling 5-ton sculpture unveiled Monday is made of weapons including submachine guns confiscated from Nicaraguan children, a 7-inch-long rubber bullet from N.Ireland, AK-47s used in S.Africa and pistols fired by street gangs in L.A.

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