Washington hopes that the calm in Gaza will include Hezbollah and Israeli forces

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, stressed that peacekeeping forces are not a “magic wand,” at a time when the limitations of their work sometimes lead to residents feeling “frustrated.” He expressed his support for developing complementary tools to protect civilians in areas witnessing critical situations. so complicated.

About 90,000 peacekeepers serve under the United Nations flag in twelve missions around the world, from Lebanon to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and from South Sudan to Western Sahara. However, these missions do not necessarily enjoy consensus, as is the case in Mali, where the government forced peacekeepers to leave, or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where some residents showed hostility to these forces.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that peacekeeping forces protect “hundreds of thousands of civilians” every day, but he admits that “our mandate, which focuses primarily on protecting civilians, raises (sometimes) aspirations that we cannot meet.” “Because of our capabilities, budget, field, and logistical constraints.”

He added: “We are witnessing frustration among a certain part of the population,” a frustration that is “exploited by those who prefer the continuation of chaos,” denouncing “fake news” and misleading information “that have been turned into weapons,” but he stressed that without these operations “the situation may be… Much worse in most cases,” adding, “This does not mean that peacekeeping operations are a magic wand, or a comprehensive solution to all types of crises.”

In order to enhance its effectiveness, he first reminded the Security Council of its responsibilities in this area.

He explained that peacekeeping forces are deployed “to create conditions that allow the progress of a political process and lead to lasting peace,” but added that “our member states today are divided and these political efforts no longer enjoy strong and unified support from them.”

Therefore, I hope that a ministerial meeting to be held in Ghana on the fifth and sixth of next December will constitute an opportunity for member states to “recommit” to United Nations peacekeeping operations, as well as to make new contributions, especially at the troop level.

“Do not force peace”

As UN Secretary-General António Guterres has emphasized, it is also time to think about the future of peace missions, especially when there is no peace to maintain.

While peacekeeping forces can protect civilians when there is a ceasefire, Jean-Pierre Lacroix pointed out that these forces “do not impose peace.” Also, these missions do not constitute a counter-terrorism or anti-gang force.

However, they are being deployed in “increasingly dangerous” situations, in the presence of “armed groups, non-governmental actors, and private security companies,” and entities “involved in terrorism or in exploiting transnational criminal activities,” as he described it.

Consequently, the idea of ​​making room for non-UN missions mandated by the Security Council began to gain more attention.

In this context, Lacroix said: “We must have more options to provide an appropriate response” according to crises that are “increasingly diverse.”

He added: “We need a more diverse set of tools: peacekeeping operations as they are today, new forms of peacekeeping operations to better respond to drivers of conflict (such as climate change or transnational criminal activities), or peace enforcement operations implemented by the African Union or other countries.” Regional organizations,” but what about Gaza after the war between Israel and Hamas?

On Monday, Antonio Guterres spoke of a political “transition” with the participation of several actors, such as the United States and Arab countries.

Lacroix asked: “Could there be some kind of security mechanism?”, answering that “there are millions of scenarios that can be imagined, but they are very hypothetical at the moment.”

Whether affiliated with the United Nations or not, the challenge remains finding volunteers and funds to implement peace operations. After a year of procrastination, the Security Council agreed at the beginning of last October to deploy a multinational mission led by Kenya to fight gangs in Haiti. However, Nairobi, which promised to send 1,000 police officers, asked member states to fund the operation, which has not yet been implemented.