UN's role in peace-making

Dr. Ruwantissa ABEYRATNE

PREVENTION OF ARMED CONFLICT: Armed conflict in the current context brings to bear two overriding facts: The first is that the majority of the world's conflicts today take place within States rather than between them.

The second is that when one looks at the peacemaking and peacekeeping roles of the United Nations, there is no room for doubt that the Organization's activities in this regard have been truly global.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, in his Interim Report on the Prevention of Armed Conflict, presented to the Fifty Eighth Session of the United Nations in December 2003, states that the main responsibility for prevention of armed conflict lies with Governments rather than the international community.

However, since its inception, the United Nations system has been increasingly called upon by States to assist them in the face of armed conflict within their territories.

In pursuance of this continuing trend, the UN has used diplomatic means to prevent and resolve armed conflicts, whether between nations or within nations.

The Department of Political Affairs (DPA) is responsible within the U.N. Secretariat for identifying threats to peace and attendant peacemaking opportunities.

UN peacemaking reached its peak in the 1990s, as the end of the Cold War gave the world community an impetus to find new opportunities to end civil wars through negotiated peace settlements.

A large number of conflicts were brought to an end, either through direct UN mediation or by the efforts of other third parties acting with UN support.

The UN success list includes El Salvador, Guatemala, Namibia, Cambodia, Mozambique, Tajikistan, Bougainville, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Burundi and the North-South conflict in Sudan.

Recent research reflects that expanded UN peacemaking, peacekeeping and conflict prevention activities has been a major influence in attaining a 40 per cent decline in armed conflict around the world since the 1990s.

This includes an undetermined number of potential conflicts which have been defused through preventive diplomacy and other forms of preventive action.

If one visits the web page of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, whose main mission is conflict prevention, which is one of the highest aims of the United Nations, one is faced with the quote of the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, "No task is more fundamental to the United Nations than the prevention and resolution of deadly conflict".

The mission of the Department of Political Affairs is based on the fundamental premise that, in today's world, preventive action extends well beyond traditional preventive diplomacy to involve a broad spectrum of U.N. entities working across a wide range of disciplines - poverty-eradication and development, human rights and the rule of law, elections and the building of democratic institutions, the control of small arms, to name just a few.

One of the countries in the South Asian region that the Department has focused on is Nepal, where there has been increasing concern about the internal situation in the country.

Fighting has gone on in Nepal since 1996 between Government Forces and Maoist insurgents which has killed thousands while forcing many more to flee their homes. The suspension of constitutional rule and assumption of direct rule by the King has added to the complexity of the crisis.

A monitoring mission of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was established during 2005 to help address a deteriorating situation.

The Department manages the diplomatic track, supporting efforts of the Secretary-General to promote a political negotiated settlement to the conflict and a return to constitutional rule after its dissolution in February 2005.

The Department of Political Affairs closely monitors developments in the country while engaging in constant discussion with a broad range of Nepali and regional actors - urging a negotiated political solution and offering the good offices of the Secretary-General.

PA provides support to high level diplomatic efforts by the Secretary-General's Special Adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, including during his July 2005 visit to Nepal in which he urged an end to hostilities, a prompt return to constitutional rule and national dialogue to resolve the serious crisis in the country.

Similarly, in Myanmar the United Nations has sought to help bring about a return to democracy and improved human rights though an all-inclusive process of national reconciliation.

The role of the Department of Political Affairs, in addition to monitoring and assessing political developments in the country, has been to provide substantive staff support to the good offices mission of the Secretary-General and his Special Envoy for Myanmar, established in successive General Assembly resolutions adopted since Myanmar's military leadership voided the results of democratic elections in 1990.

However, the Secretary-General's good offices efforts have encountered considerable difficulties since the ouster of the former Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt, and his associates, in the fall of 2004.

Special Envoy Ambassador Razali Ismail stepped down in January 2006 after having been unable to visit the country for nearly two years.

Nonetheless, the Secretary-General has remained committed to providing his good offices, including through contacts occurring outside of Myanmar.

He has taken every available opportunity to urge the Government to free arrested dissidents including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to ease restrictions on the National League for Democracy and other parties, and to include all ethnic nationality groups and political leaders in national dialogue, in the writing of a new constitution and in other established steps along the path toward national reconciliation and the full restoration of democracy.

Going on to another conflict ridden region, Central Asia, the United Nations has recognized that helping the region to consolidate peace and prevent future conflict is a major challenge for the international community, given the explosive array of problems facing the five nations of the region.

Poverty, authoritarian rule, inter-ethnic tensions, and the growth of organized crime and religious extremism are among the factors contributing to growing tensions and turbulence.

Building a durable peace in Tajikistan after that country's devastating five-year civil war has been its own unique and formidable task.

The Department of Political Affairs is deeply involved in U.N. efforts to help Central Asia come to grips with these challenges. The United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peace-(UNTOP) building, deployed since 2000, is one of the peace-building support offices supervised and supported by DPA.

The Department has also spearheaded U.N. efforts to promote greater regional cooperation on common problems, through the Forum for Conflict Prevention in Central Asia.

UNTOP, headed by the Representative of the Secretary-General for Tajikistan, Vladimir Sotirov, was established in 2000, following on from the work of a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Among its initiatives, the Office promotes dialogue across Tajik society, provides training on conflict prevention, human rights and the rule of law, and has also helped the authorities to strengthen Tajikistan's electoral institutions.

On to the Arab world, the Secretary General of the United Nations, in his message to the Summit of the League of Arab States held in Khartoum, Sudan, on 28 March 2006 - stated that the delegates were gathered during a period of continued turbulence in the Arab world and the surrounding region, and thus of many formidable challenges for them.

He added that in Iraq, while the main benchmarks of the transition timetable have been met, the situation remains dangerous and unstable.

The United Nations continues to believe that an inclusive and transparent political process offers the best prospects for improving security, safeguarding human rights, consolidating gains towards democracy and improving the welfare of the Iraqi people.

Therefore, the Secretary General urged all concerned to move swiftly to form a fully inclusive Government. He assured that the United Nations will continue to promote inter-communal dialogue and support the constitutional review process, as well as the Arab League initiative to convene a Conference on Iraqi National Accord, all of which offer opportunities to forge a broader national consensus.

The United Nations also recognizes that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is at a critical stage.

The decision of the Palestinian people in January's parliamentary elections, whose conduct the United Nations believes is a credit to Palestinian democracy, brings new hope that the new Government in the occupied Palestinian territory will address the Palestinian people's aspirations for peace and statehood, which have been articulated by President Abbas.

For its part, the United Nations has undertaken to continue to work for an end to the occupation that began in 1967 and a settlement of the conflict in accordance with Security Council Resolutions. Until that goal is achieved, Secretary General Annan says the UN will discharge the mandates entrusted to it by the Member States to assist the Palestinian people.

The UN will also press for the easing of the severe closures in Gaza and the West Bank, which the United Nations carefully documents, and which cause severe hardships and humiliations.

In a strong statement he reminded all UN states that the Palestinian people should not be punished for the way they exercise their democratic rights, and that their precious institutions remain the foundation for building a Palestinian State that can live side by side in peace with a secure Israel and all its neighbours.

The United Nations also stands ready to assist another State needing diplomatic intervention and stands at the cross roads - Lebanon.

The Organization is diligently continuing with the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Hariri, Somalia, another country which is plagued with internal violence, continues to draw the attention of the United Nations.

The weakness or non-existence of governing institutions, and a lack of national consensus on the future, continue to be a matter of concern to the UN.

The UN believes that, as long as force is used to resolve grievances or to further political objectives, gains will be fragile and the country's recovery will be impossible.

The United Nations, for its part, has assured Somalia and the world community that it will continue to provide political, moral and material support for the transitional process, and I hope Arab states will actively seek opportunities to give both humanitarian and development aid.

Sudan is another State which causes concern to the UN. and, aspects of the situation remain deeply troubling.

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, the parties have taken important steps in the implementation process, actions are falling short of expectations on several fronts.

The United Nations remains ready and vigilant to assist States in their peacemaking and peacekeeping activities.

In his Report referred to earlier in this article, Secretary General Annan refers to four complimentary trends: The first is that most of the United Nations system has accepted conflict prevention and resolution as a key activity that has been increasingly integrated into the mandates of various UN bodies; the second trend is that there is increased capacity in the system to move forward at the country level and to mobilize the resources of the UN system in a coordinated fashion; the third is that there is increased willingness in the United Nations to develop integrated strategies on conflict prevention and peace-building cooperation between UN headquarters and the field units and the last is that there is the will to move towards multi-dimensional and log-term approaches to conflict prevention.

General Assembly Resolution 57/337 of July 2003 on the Prevention of Armed Conflict recognized that the pacific settlement of disputes and prevention of armed conflict could be useful tools for the United Nations with which it could build a solid foundation for peace. It also reaffirmed the primary responsibility for preventing armed conflict, encouraging them to develop strategies.

At the same time the Resolution recognized the role that the United Nations could play in assisting member States achieve domestic and external harmony. With all this in place, one cannot justifiably say that States are destitute of assistance from the outside world and the community of nations if they are ever in need of help to bring peace into their lands.

(The author has been a senior official in the United Nations system for the past 17 years.)