INTENSE PEACEMAKING EFFORTS MUST ACCOMPANY EVERY PEACEKEEPING OPERATION, FOURTH COMMITTEE TOLD CORRECTION

Press Release
GA/SPD/144/

INTENSE PEACEMAKING EFFORTS MUST ACCOMPANY EVERY PEACEKEEPING OPERATION, FOURTH COMMITTEE TOLD CORRECTION

On page 6 and 7 of Press Release GA/SPD/144 issued 2 November, the statement of the representative of Belarus should read as follows:

ALYAKSEI SKRYPKO (Belarus), associating himself with the statement made previously by Jordan on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, stressed the importance of addressing the root causes of conflict. Belarus supported a predominantly preventive character for the peacekeeping activities of the United Nations, the development of a comprehensive early warning system and a more active recourse to peaceful political instruments. Peacekeeping operations in themselves could not be viewed as settlement of conflict and should not substitute measures to address the root causes of conflict. Peacekeeping operations should rather be used as a temporary mechanism for the containment of conflicts, while peaceful political means to settle disputes were being sought. In that context, Belarus supported the integrated concept of "preventive peace-building" put forward by the Secretary-General, envisaging efforts to promote development with the aim of attacking root causes of conflict.

He said that the Secretary-General's successful mission to settle peacefully the situation in Iraq early this year and the recent de-escalation of tensions around Kosovo had given a strong impulse to the strengthening of a preventive component within peace efforts of the United Nations. Resolution of those situations by political means was a vivid demonstration of the need to limit the use of force in peace-building efforts of the Organization, to utilize to a much greater extent the peaceful instruments of settling conflicts.

In current conditions, when regional and subregional conflicts were on the rise, the role of regional arrangements and agencies in the prevention and settlement of conflicts had increased significantly, he said. Belarus possessed greater capabilities than those of the United Nations to effectively react to emerging conflicts. The contribution of regional arrangements was welcomed, particularly the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the OAU and the ECOWAS. There should be no enforcement without the authorization of the United Nations Security Council, he added.

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