Peacekeeping News Articles

The United Nations secretary general said Wednesday that he was urgently seeking hundreds of new troops for the peacekeeping force in the disputed Golan Heights, where clashes from Syria’s civil war, cease-fire violations by both Israel and Syria, and an abrupt withdrawal of the force’s Austrian contingent are threatening four decades of relative calm.

The UN is preparing to start deploying a new peacekeeping force in Mali on schedule in three weeks, even though the security situation in the north remains "complex and volatile", the UN chief has said. Ban Ki-moon's statement on Monday came amid reports that a Malian government delegation and Tuareg MNLA rebels had reached an agreement "in principle" that would allow planned elections in July to go ahead in the disputed northern Kidal region, according to a senior mediator in the talks.

The United Nations' peacekeeping operations chief confirmed on Thursday there had been incidents including shooting on the Syrian-Israeli border. Earlier, activists said rebels seized a U.N.-manned border crossing linking Israel and Syria. The crossing in a U.N.-patrolled demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights is the only passage between the two enemy countries and its capture could heighten Israeli security concerns over Syria's civil war.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations Masood Khan on Monday called for strengthening field security coverage for UN peacekeepers serving in hotspots around the world, saying they were faced with emerging threats related to terrorism and transnational crime.