VZCZCXYZ0012
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #1194 2162254
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 042236Z AUG 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000
INFO UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHMV/AMEMBASSY MONROVIA IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 081194 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPKO UNSC
SUBJECT: SECURITY COUNCIL THEMATIC DEBATE ON UN 
PEACEKEEPING 
 
REF: A. STATE 66001 
     ¶B. STATE 4905 
 
¶1.  The Security Council will hold a thematic debate on UN 
peacekeeping on August 5.  This is the culmination of six 
months of discussion of how to better inform the Council's 
decisions on UN peacekeeping mandates, including through 
better and earlier discussions with troop- and 
police-contributing countries. The discussions, launched by a 
joint UK/French non-paper in January, were organized by Japan 
as chair of the Security Council Working Group on 
Peacekeeping.  The Council anticipates resuming regular 
meetings of the Working Group in October.  These discussions 
take place in a larger context, including an extensive 
internal UN Secretariat review of how best to meet the 
demands of peacekeeping over the next three to five years. 
The operational issues involved will be taken up by the 
General Assembly and referred to the GA's Special Committee 
on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) and the Fifth Committee 
(Budget) for action in the spring of 2010. Info addressees on 
this message include Embassies in countries that are 
particularly engaged with UN peacekeeping issues, including 
the top ten troop-contributing countries.   USUN may join 
consensus on the UK-drafted Presidential Statement (PRST) on 
peacekeeping in para 3, please consult with the Department if 
there are any substantive changes to the draft text. May USUN 
draw on the points in paragraph 2 for U.S. remarks. 
 
¶2.  Begin points: 
 
--The U.S. outlined its approach to current and future 
challenges in UN peacekeeping at the June 29 Security Council 
thematic debate on peacekeeping, convened by Turkey.  We have 
five brief (but key) points to make on this occasion. 
 
--First, we commend the United Kingdom for its leadership, as 
well as all our colleagues on the Council for the serious 
engagement on this issue since January. 
 
--Adopting this PRST in both letter and spirit will enhance 
the chances of success of both current and future 
peacekeeping operations. 
 
--In this statement, the Council pledges to consider 
carefully whether proposed new missions will have the 
resources and conditions conducive to success.  We have made 
a commitment to give UN operations clear, credible and 
achievable mandates, and to review progress and obstacles to 
ensure that we can make any corrections that are needed. 
 
--Second, this PRST acknowledges that both the Security 
Council and the Secretariat must do a better job of 
consulting with troop- and police- contributing countries, 
especially when adopting new mandates or renewing old ones. 
The troop and police contributors bring a wealth of 
experience to this discussion, and their concerns should be 
heard.  This is a key point arising from these discussions. 
 
--Third, we appreciate and welcome the efforts of the UN 
Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support to 
push the debate on the future of UN peacekeeping. 
 
--The recently-issued non-paper ("A New Partnership Agenda: 
Charting a New Horizon for UN Peacekeeping")  rightly reminds 
us that this is a collective effort. While the Security 
Council, General Assembly, Secretariat and individual Member 
States have distinct roles and responsibilities, the success 
of UN peacekeeping depends on our collective unity of purpose 
and effort. 
 
--The non-paper launches an appeal from one partner, the 
Secretariat, to the rest of the group for help: to energize 
faltering peace processes, mobilize missing capabilities, 
meet local capacity- and peace-building needs, consider new 
models for mission planning and support, and clarify key 
peacekeeping concepts, especially "robust" peacekeeping and 
protection of civilians. 
 
--In the just-released DFS support strategy, which we will 
review with great interest, there is a bold set of proposals 
on how to streamline and speed delivery of services, seeking 
to make peacekeeping operations more effective and efficient. 
 
--The U.S. remains ready to do its part, and we will receive 
new ideas with an open mind.  We look forward to discussing 
the various proposals in both non-papers in greater depth 
over the next few months. 
 
--At the same time, we expect the Secretariat to do all it 
can to improve mission leadership and management, strengthen 
personnel and procurement systems, achieve economies and 
savings, prevent waste, fraud and abuse, and clarify the 
roles and responsibilities of UN actors at Headquarters and 
in the field. 
 
--Fourth, the U.S. is ready to begin acting on the spirit and 
letter of this PRST and the New Horizon non-paper. 
 
--The mandates of the UN Missions in Liberia, Haiti and the 
Democratic Republic of Congo will come up for renewal in 
September, October and December, respectively.  We welcome 
early dialogue with troop and police contributors to these 
missions on their views and concerns.  We also welcome early 
recommendations from the Secretariat on Security Council and 
Member State actions that could increase the likelihood of 
successful mandate implementation and responsible mission 
draw-down. 
 
--And, finally, the U.S. will be appealing to all Member 
States to do more for UN peacekeeping, but we are also asking 
more of ourselves.  That begins with meeting our financial 
obligations. We are pleased that the Congress has authorized 
the administration to clear arrears accumulated from 2005 to 
2008 and to meet our obligations in full for 2009. 
 
End points. 
 
¶3.  Begin text of Presidential Statement: 
 
¶1.  The Security Council reaffirms the recommendations made 
in its resolutions 1327 (2000) and 1353 (2001) and in the 
statements of its President dated 3 May 1994 (PRST/1994/22), 
4 November 1994 (PRST/1994/62), 28 March 1996 (PRST/1996/13), 
31 January 2001 (PRST/2001/3) and 17 May 2004 (PRST/2004/16) 
and the note by its President of 14 January 2002 (S/2002/56) 
and confirms its intention to strengthen further efforts to 
implement fully these recommendations. The Council recalls in 
particular from the statement of its President of 3 May 1994 
the appropriate factors that should be taken into account 
when the establishment of a new peacekeeping operation is 
under consideration. 
 
¶2.  The Security Council believes that United Nations 
peacekeeping is a unique global partnership that draws 
together the contributions and commitment of the entire UN 
system. The Council is committed to strengthening this 
partnership. The Council recognises the important work 
conducted by the Special Committee on Peacekeeping 
Operations, the Security Council Working Group on 
Peacekeeping Operations, the Fifth Committee of the General 
Assembly and the UN Secretariat to ensure that peacekeeping 
efforts provide the best possible results. 
 
¶3.  The Security Council has endeavoured in the past six 
months to improve its dialogue with the Secretariat and with 
troop and police contributing countries on the collective 
oversight of peacekeeping operations and to develop the 
following practices: 
 
(i) regular dialogue with the Secretariat on the general 
challenges of peacekeeping; 
 
(ii) efforts to deepen consultations with troop and police 
contributing countries, including through the Security 
Council's Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations and the 
debates organized on January 23 and June 29, 2009; 
 
(iii) organisation of political-military meetings on specific 
operations to improve the shared analysis of operational 
challenges; 
 
(iv) encouraging regular updating of planning documents by 
the Secretariat to ensure consistency with mandates; 
 
(v) improved monitoring and evaluation, through the use of 
benchmarks, as and where appropriate, that enable progress to 
be charted against a comprehensive and integrated strategy. 
 
¶4.  The Security Council has identified several areas where 
further reflection is required to improve the preparation, 
planning, monitoring and evaluation of peacekeeping 
operations: 
 
(i) Ensuring that mandates for peacekeeping operations are 
clear, credible and achievable and matched by appropriate 
resources. The Council stresses the need regularly to assess 
in appropriate consultation with other stakeholders, the 
size, mandate and composition of peacekeeping operations with 
a view to making the necessary adjustments where appropriate, 
according to progress achieved or changing circumstances on 
the ground; 
 
(ii) Better information sharing, particularly on the military 
operational challenges, through inter alia systematic 
consultation by the Secretariat with Member States in advance 
of deployment of a technical assessment mission on its 
objectives and broad parameters, and debriefing on its main 
findings on return. The Council encourages the practice of 
holding meetings between Council Members and the Secretariat 
at the political-military expert level prior to discussion of 
mandate renewals. The Council recognises the need to improve 
its access to military advice, and intends to pursue its work 
on mechanisms to that effect. The Council will continue to 
review the role of the Military Staff Committee; 
 
(iii) The Council intends to increase its interaction with 
the Secretariat in the early phase of mandate drafting and 
throughout mission deployment on the military, police, 
justice, rule of law and peacebuilding dimensions of an 
operation; 
 
(iv) Earlier and more meaningful engagement with troop and 
police contributing countries before the renewal or 
modification of the mandate of a peacekeeping operation.  The 
Council welcomes practical suggestions to deepen such 
consultations. It recognises that through their experience 
and expertise, troop and police contributing countries can 
greatly contribute to effective planning, decision-making and 
deployment of Peacekeeping operations.  In this regard, the 
Council welcomes the interim report of the Security Council 
Working Group (S/2009/xx) and encourages it to continue to 
address the issue of cooperation with troop and police 
contributing countries and other stakeholders. The Council 
commits to making progress on this issue, and to reviewing 
its progress in 2010; 
 
(v) Greater awareness in the Security Council of the resource 
and field support implications of its decisions. The Council 
requests that where a new peacekeeping mission is proposed, 
or where significant change to a mandate is envisaged, an 
estimate of the resource implications for the Mission be 
provided to it; 
 
(vi) Enhanced awareness in the Security Council of the 
strategic challenges faced across peacekeeping operations. 
The Council welcomes the briefings to that effect received 
from the Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and 
the Department of Field Support since January 2009, which 
should continue on a regular basis. 
 
¶5.  The Council recognises the need to weigh the full range 
of responses when addressing a situation which may endanger 
international peace and security, and to deploy UN 
peacekeeping missions only as an accompaniment, not as an 
alternative, to a political strategy. The Council recognises 
the importance of mobilising and maintaining the political 
and operational support of all stakeholders. 
 
¶6.  The Security Council recognises the urgent need to 
increase the pool of available troop and police contributors 
and welcomes efforts of Member States to coordinate bilateral 
assistance to them. The Council  supports efforts to improve 
cooperation and appropriate coordination through the life of 
a mission with relevant regional and sub-regional 
organisations and other partners. The Council recognises the 
priority of strengthening the capacity of the African Union, 
and the role of regional and sub-regional organisations in 
maintaining international peace and security in accordance 
with Chapter VIII of the UN Charter. 
 
¶7.  The Security Council welcomes efforts by the Secretariat 
to review peacekeeping operations and to provide enhanced 
planning and support, and encourages the Secretariat to 
deepen these efforts. In this regard, the Council takes note 
of the assessments and recommendations provided in their 
non-paper A New Partnership Agenda:  Charting a New Horizon 
for UN Peacekeeping and the support strategy contained 
therein, and intends to give them careful consideration. 
 
¶8.  The Security Council recognises that further debate is 
required among Member States, including in the Special 
Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, to develop a wider 
consensus on a range of issues including the robust approach 
to peacekeeping and the implementation of protection of 
civilians mandates among other issues.  The Council reaffirms 
the relevant provisions of its resolution 1674 (2006).  The 
Council looks forward to reviewing the implementation of 
protection of civilians mandates later this year. 
 
¶9.  The Security Council recalls the statement of its 
President of 22 July 2009 (PRST/2009/23) on Peacebuilding and 
in particular re-emphasises the need for coherence between, 
and integration of, peacemaking, peacekeeping, peacebuilding 
and development to achieve an effective response to 
post-conflict situations from the outset. The Council 
requests the Secretary-General to provide in his reports on 
specific missions an indication of progress toward achieving 
a coordinated UN approach in-country, and in particular on 
critical gaps to achieving peacebuilding objectives alongside 
the mission. 
 
¶10.  The Security Council remains committed to improving 
further the overall performance of UN peacekeeping and will 
conduct a further review in early 2010. 
 
End text. 
CLINTON