SUCCESSFUL PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS REQUIRE FORWARD PLANNING, STRATEGIC FOCUS – UN OFFICIAL

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From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 28 May 2013 19:00:00 -0400
Subject: SUCCESSFUL PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS REQUIRE FORWARD PLANNING,
STRATEGIC FOCUS – UN OFFICIAL
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

SUCCESSFUL PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS REQUIRE FORWARD PLANNING, STRATEGIC
FOCUS – UN OFFICIALNew York, May 28 2013 7:00PMWhile the Security
Council determines the mandate and size of new United Nations
peacekeeping missions, getting these operations up and running is a
joint venture that takes many months and involves several actors. And
it is no easy task.

"Mission start-up is a really difficult time because you're trying to
work within a tight timeframe," says Ameerah Haq, the head of the
Department of Field Support (DFS).

The Department was created by the General Assembly in 2007 to bolster
the UN's capacity to "mount and sustain" peacekeeping operations in
light of the surge in demand for and increasing complexity of those
operations.

Currently, it provides support to more than 113,000 personnel serving
in 16 UN peacekeeping and political missions, in the areas of finance,
logistics, information and communication and technology (ICT), human
resources and general administration.

Ms. Haq recently returned from the West African nation of Mali, where
the UN is in the process of setting up the newly-established UN
Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, known as
MINUSMA.

"There are many, many challenges in looking at what the mandate is,
how we can respond and determining then how we will operationalize
that mandate," she told the UN News Centre today in an interview ahead
of this year's International Day of UN Peacekeepers.

"There's a military concept of operations. There's a sort of overall
strategic framework of the mission. Then we need to take that kind of
blueprint and just make the engines run."

Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke
out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels. The
conflict uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the
Malian Government to request assistance from France to stop the
military advance of extremist groups.

While security has greatly improved following the actions of French
and African military forces which helped push Islamists and other
militants out of the cities they had seized, much remains to be done
to restore Mali's constitutional order and territorial integrity.

The 12,600-strong MINUSMA, set up by the Council in April, is slated
to support the political process in Mali and take over from the
African-led mission that is currently there on 1 July. But before
then, there are a myriad of activities that need to be completed.

"It runs the whole gamut – from establishing contracts that will
provide food and water to the troops, looking at their needs for
shelter, vehicles, setting up communications, setting up the
infrastructure where our planes can land, getting the whole complement
of personnel…," said Ms. Haq.

The fact that Mali is a landlocked country posed a particular
challenge for the UN in getting goods – whether they be food, fuel or
other supplies – into the country.

She added that the Government of Mali was very welcoming of the UN
presence and has agreed to put all the necessary agreements that the
UN needs to have with the host country in place. There is also a
start-up team in the country. The plan is to set up a headquarters for
MINUSMA in the capital, Bamako, as well as establish a presence in Gao
and Timbuktu in the north.

As part of her visit, Ms. Haq met with representatives of civil
society, including women's groups and human rights groups, in Gao, one
of the areas most affected by the recent fighting.

"There's obviously the expectation that the UN presence will bring
some element of stability and that they can get back to their normal
lives and go about agriculture and their traditional livelihoods," she
said.

In addition to helping to restore stability, MINUSMA will also help
the Malian authorities implement the transitional roadmap towards the
full restoration of constitutional order, democratic governance and
national unity. This includes the holding of elections in July,
confidence-building and facilitation of reconciliation at the national
and local levels.

Ms. Haq noted that the mission in Mali reflects the changing nature of
UN peacekeeping, which has come to involve more than just monitoring
ceasefires and now includes mandates such as protecting civilians and
providing a safe and secure environment for the holding of free and
fair elections.

UN peacekeeping has also been partnering more with regional
organizations, particularly with the African Union, in places such as
Sudan's Darfur region and in Somalia. They are also increasingly being
entrusted with more "robust mandates," said Ms. Haq, such as in Mali
and in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the UN
has just deployed an intervention brigade to tackle the threat of
armed groups in the region.

Adapting to these new challenges is the focus of this year's
International Day of Peacekeepers, which is observed annually on 29
May. On this day, the UN pays tribute to all the men and women who
have served either as military, police or civilians and continue to
serve in UN peacekeeping operations for their high level of
professionalism, dedication and courage and to honour the memory of
those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace.

"I think it gives everyone an opportunity to reflect on what it is
that we attempt to do and how we do it. So it's a good day for pause
and reflection on peacekeeping," said Ms. Haq.May 28 2013 7:00PM
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