06/07/2004

It is often easier to find troops to fight a war than to enforce a peace, but the Bush Administration hopes to change that. This week the U.S. and other G-8 countries will discuss at the summit in Sea Island, Georgia an initiative to enhance the world’s capacity to deal with post-conflict situations, especially in Africa. The goal is to improve global capacity for peace operations through three proposals: coordination and enhancement of training troops for peace operations; a constabulary police training center; and a deployment logistics support arrangement.

Refugees International congratulates the Bush Administration for leading efforts to improve the global capacity to conduct peace operations. Considering the Administration’s previously expressed views on peacekeeping and nation building, this effort is a significant and welcome about-face.

The global supply of military troops and civilian police for international peace operations is sorely stretched. With the recent approval of a UN peace operation for Burundi, mandated at 5,650 troops and 120 civilian police, the total number of peacekeepers authorized is well over 50,000, the highest number since the mid-1990s. Yet, with NATO countries primarily occupied with Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, there are precious few well-qualified soldiers available for peacekeeping operations in Africa. The UN is still trying to reach full deployment for its Liberia mission, which started in the fall of 2003, and is looking for troops for new missions in Cote d’Ivoire and Haiti. A peace operation for Sudan now seems likely this year, requiring at least another 7,000 peacekeepers. The number of peacekeepers could reach 70,000 by the end of the year, with a cost of more than $4 billion.

In the face of this reality, the Bush Administration’s plan to train approximately 65,000 troops, who will come mostly from African countries, but also from certain Latin American and Asian countries, is a positive development. But increasing the supply of well-trained soldiers for peacekeeping operations is not enough to ensure success. Capacity to establish security for civilians and the rule of law is also essential.

Rule of law operations are critical to restoring basic public safety and maintaining law and order, which in turn allows other political and economic reconstruction efforts to go forward. To conduct rule of law operations, the UN relies upon civilian police, as well as judicial officials such as judges, prosecutors, and corrections staff, contributed individually from member states. A key problem is that in the immediate post-conflict environment, a special sort of police capacity is needed. Widespread looting and rioting, organized crime, and extremist activities such as terrorism require a response that falls between the overwhelming force doctrine of the military and the community policing techniques of ordinary police.

As described in detail in RI’s recent bulletin, European Constabulary Police Needed to Improve UN Peace Operations, constabulary police, found in European states such as France, Spain, and Italy, can fill this need in peace operations. Constabulary forces receive both police and military training, and can deploy as formed units with their own communications, logistical support, and command structures already in place. They are trained to deal with situations that might overwhelm ordinary police, but are not a job for combat soldiers. Constabulary police are only found in certain countries, however, and the need for well-qualified professional constabulary police further limits the pool of available officers. For this reason, the Bush administration’s plan to work with European allies to enhance constabulary police capacity is crucial to making peace operations more effective, and should be supported.

UN peace operations also face serious obstacles in the area of logistical support. The Administration has not yet detailed its plans to enhance capacity in this area, but the need is clear. Troops have deployed without appropriate clothing and gear for the climate, without weapons and/or ammunition, and without functioning transport. The UN needs airlift capacity to get troops to the area of operation, and aerial support to monitor large spaces effectively. The U.S., the United Kingdom, and other countries use private contractors for many logistical support needs. The UN could benefit from this practice as well. The experience with private contractors in Iraq, however, suggests that a new international regulatory scheme must first be created to ensure appropriate behavior and accountability.

Finally, while the Bush Administration’s plans to enhance global peacekeeping capacity are commendable, it is worrisome that other Administration policies contradict this positive development:

• Peace is not cheap, but it is cheaper than war. Nevertheless, the administration has not requested enough money from Congress to pay the tab for UN peacekeeping, even before the costs for the new missions in Haiti, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, and possibly Sudan, are added in.
• The administration has been seeking bilateral agreements with countries designed to exempt U.S. peacekeepers from the International Criminal Court. The administration has threatened or is withholding aid from certain countries that refuse to sign. This raises the possibility that countries who balk at signing these agreements, because they support the idea of peacekeepers being held to appropriate legal standards, and who are therefore likely to be the best-suited to receive peacekeeping training, will nevertheless be shut out from the new program.
• The U.S. has been opposing multidimensional mandates for some of the new UN missions, even though lessons learned during the nineties illustrate the need for peace operation mandates that addresses all dimensions of the conflict and its consequences.
• Finally, some analysts worry that current foreign military training activities are excessively focused on counterterrorism operations. If the new initiative to train foreign troops for peacekeeping ends up being subverted by the war on terrorism, it will do more than shortchange UN peacekeeping. History shows all too clearly that well-trained police and soldiers who function in a society without effective democratic institutions and the rule of law usually end up oppressing that society.
  

• Congress fully support the Administration’s initiative to enhance constabulary police capacity for international peace operations.
• The Administration forcefully make the case to Congress for more money for UN peacekeeping, and ensure that the peacekeeping cap is permanently lifted by Congress.
• The Administration support multidimensional mandates for UN peace operations at the Security Council, and should continue to provide political, logistical, and monetary support for all UN peace operations over the long-term to ensure that success is achieved.