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September 02, 2004

This is a quagmire

NATO peacekeepers 'unable' to keep lid on violence in Kosovo

ETHNIC violence in Kosovo this spring overwhelmed the United Nations’ mission and NATO peacekeepers to the point of near-collapse, says a damning high-level internal UN report leaked to The Scotsman.

The report, by a five-man team sent from UN headquarters in New York, paints a picture of a mission in crisis.

It says the 18,000-strong NATO force cannot currently maintain safety and security in Kosovo, adding that the UN administration is even incapable of providing security for foreign diplomats and for itself.

The findings have wide- spread implications for the UN’s so-called "nation-building programmes", from East Timor to Haiti.

The report focused on the response of the UN’s mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to an outbreak of ethnic violence that engulfed the province in March this year, the worst such outbreak in the former Yugoslav province since NATO and the UN arrived in June 1999.

"Many [of those interviewed] believe that UNMIK and K-FOR (NATO’s peacekeeping mission) would have collapsed had the riots gone on for another day or two," says the internal audit.

It continues: "Both UNMIK and K-FOR were overwhelmed by the events. K-FOR currently has neither the strength nor the posture required to maintain a ‘safe and secure environment’ within a civilian population."

That's how well the UN and NATO run peacekeeping operations.

No one is allowed to do anything.

Go read the rest of the story - that is why they should not take over control of Iraq (which is in the hands of the Iraqi people, anyway!)

Posted by Beth at September 2, 2004 11:23 AM