AUSTRIA JOINS STAND-BY ARRANGEMENTS FOR MORE RAPID DEPLOYMENT OF PEACE-KEEPING TROOPS
Press Release
PKO/53
AUSTRIA JOINS STAND-BY ARRANGEMENTS FOR MORE RAPID DEPLOYMENT OF PEACE-KEEPING TROOPS
19961108 NEW YORK, 8 November (DPKO) -- Austria today became the fifth United Nations Member State to formally commit resources to the stand-by arrangements regime designed to accelerate deployment of troops during the start-up phase of peace-keeping operations.The Permanent Representative of Austria, Ernst Sucharipa, signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations formalizing the agreement in a ceremony at 3:30 p.m. today at United Nations Headquarters. Kofi Annan, Under-Secretary-General for Peace-keeping Operations, signed it on behalf of the United Nations.
Under the terms of agreement, Austria pledges to provide a significant number of troops, including specialized units, within a short time-frame, if called upon by the United Nations to help launch a new mission.
Stand-by arrangements were created in 1994 as a means to fill the three- to-six-month gap between authorization of a peace-keeping mission by the Security Council and full deployment by standard recruitment methods. Nations pledge troops, logistic support or other crucial resources within days or weeks, instead of the months normally required. The pledge is not unconditional, however; contributors may decide to participate or not in response to each call for support.
To date, 62 Member States have expressed willingness to participate in the regime. Five have formalized the commitment through the signing of the memorandums of understanding -- Jordan, Denmark, Ghana, Malaysia, and now Austria.
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