- Title: UNITED NATIONS: U.S. says ready to pay off UN peacekeeping debt
- Date: 6th August 2009
- Summary: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION IN SUDAN (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF UN TROOPS PATROLLING UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION IN LEBANON (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF A UN PATROL
- Embargoed: 21st August 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVADCZS7E0667XPDAHPHA79JY8I0
- Story Text: The United States is ready to hand over more than 2 billion dollars (USD) in new and old contributions it owes the U.N. peacekeeping department, Washington's U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said on Wednesday (August 5).
"The United States is now in a position to clear all peacekeeping arrears accumulated from 2005 to 2008 and to meet our obligations in full for 2009 -- currently estimated at approximately 2.2 billion dollars (USD)," Rice told a U.N. Security Council meeting on peacekeeping.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations said that the 2005-2008 arrears amounted to 159 million dollars (USD), which would bring the total expected U.S. peacekeeping payment to roughly 2.36 billion dollars (USD).
As the United Nations' single biggest contributor, Washington is responsible for roughly one quarter of the peacekeeping budget, which approaches 8 billion dollars (USD) and pays for over 110,000 soldiers and police in 15 missions worldwide.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy welcomed the U.S. declaration, telling reporters it was "extremely good news."
"That's extremely important and of course very different from the past. And of course that is very important for the whole peacekeeping operation," Le Roy said.
The administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush had an uneasy relationship with the United Nations, often criticizing it as inefficient and corrupt.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who has pledged to support the United Nations and its peacekeeping operations, asked Congress in June to pay in full what Washington owes it.
Rice told the Council the Obama administration was ready to keep its promises. Last week she told lawmakers in Washington that the United States was prepared to offer more military observers and police officers to U.N. missions.
Britain and France are leading efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of peacekeeping missions, some of which have faced charges of corruption and sexual abuse.
The United Nations has been conducting its own internal review and found that peacekeeping is overstretched and needs clearer mandates from the Security Council and more resources, especially equipment and well trained troops.
John Sawers, the ambassador from the United Kingdom and acting Security Council president for August, read a presidential statement issued by the Council, saying that they must ensure that peacekeeping mandates are "clear, credible and achievable and matched by appropriate resources."
U.N. officials have privately criticized Western powers with strong militaries like Britain and the United States for their unwillingness to provide troops to U.N. missions.
Sawers acknowledged that was the case at the moment, but noted they were heavily committed in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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