UN Peace Operations

NAIROBI, Kenya — After a long and tense debate with the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations has decided to withdraw 2,000 peacekeepers, far fewer than Congolese officials wanted, according to a draft resolution.

Congo is still haunted by countless armed groups, and a new rebellion recently erupted in the middle of the country. But the Congolese government has been demanding that the United Nations reduce its 20,000-plus peacekeeping force because Congolese officials see the United Nations presence as a violation of their sovereignty.

DAKAR (AlertNet) - The withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers from Chad risks restricting the movement of humanitarian workers in the volatile northeast of the country and limiting their access to camps hosting about 500,000 displaced from Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic, aid workers say.

The protection of civilians in the violence-ridden region of the country comes under Chadian responsibility on Thursday as part of the drawdown of the United Nations mission to Chad and the Central African Republic (MINURCAT) by year's end.

LIBREVILLE — UN groups will have to adjust to the agreed withdrawal of peacekeepers, the agency's emergency relief coordinator John Holmes said Wednesday amid concerns for the safety of refugees and aid workers.

The UN Security Council approved Tuesday the withdrawal of the 3,300-strong UN force in Chad and neighbouring Central African Republic, known as MINURCAT, as demanded by the Chadian government.

Opinion: Participation should always depend on two things: Is it in our national interests and can the Canadian Forces do it?

With the Canadian Forces’ commitment in Afghanistan scheduled to conclude next year, should Canada turn its attention back to United Nations peacekeeping?

The Canadian Forces were good at the peacekeeping job, even if it never was a major priority of the government and the military, no matter what Canadians believed. Nor did UN peace operations ever absorb more than a small percentage of budgets or personnel.

The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to pull out the 3,300-strong U.N. peacekeeping force operating in Chad and the Central African Republic, near the border of the Sudan's war-torn Darfur region. The withdrawal is expected to be completed by year's end. 

The 15-member Council's vote Tuesday followed recommendations laid out by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who called for the first reduction in troops by July 15. The final withdrawal of the remaining troops will begin on October 15 of this year. 

When Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in May 2000, the UN drew a blue line to divide the two countries. But in drawing this line, it placed a region called the Shebaa Farms - a sliver of land between Lebanon and Syria - outside of Lebanon and within the Syrian Golan Heights, which are currently occupied by Israel.

Lebanon says it owns the Shebaa Farms and Syria agrees. But the UN has ruled that it belongs to Syria and Israel says it will only withdraw from the area via negotiations with Syria.

No one quite knows why but the United Nations is pulling its peacekeepers out of Chad, home to hundreds of thousands of victims of Sudan's war in Darfur. The government of President Idriss Déby wants it that way.

Despite some successful UN training of Chad's own police unit (known as DIS, the Détachement intégré de sécurité), neither the Chadians nor the UN peacekeepers have enough personnel to ensure safe delivery of humanitarian goods to about half a million needy people.

OPINION: There can be no full peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians without direct int'l involvement – a peacekeeping force.

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have finally been renewed. Even though the current round of talks is not direct, the parties are dealing with the core issues with the goal of reaching a permanent status agreement at some point. According to news reports, the first topics on the agenda are borders and security arrangements, both of which will rapidly lead to negotiations on Jerusalem and refugees.

May 24, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – The Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon today defended the presence of his two top representatives in Sudan at the inauguration of president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir next Thursday saying that people should not misinterpret the move.

Haile Menkerios, head of the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), and Ibrahim Gambari, joint head of the African Union/U.N. Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), are scheduled to attend the ceremony according to U.N. spokesperson last week.