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UN peacekeeping chief quits
07/03/2008 10:02 - (SA)
New York - The United Nations peacekeeping chief has told his staff that he will step down this summer and end an eight-year stint in which he often voiced surprising criticism of UN operations.
Jean-Marie Guehenno of France, who has held the job longer than anyone previously, told staff within the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Services that he intends to leave his post when his contract expires in mid-2008, UN deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe said Thursday.
During that time the number of UN troops has doubled from 50 000 to about 102 000 and his department's budget has tripled from $2.5bn to $7.5bn, with new missions added in places such as Sudan, East Timor, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Haiti.
He has overseen the UN's 17 peacekeeping operations and three peace-building missions.
Elusive peace
Working under Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and for his predecessor, Kofi Annan, since October 2000, Guehenno has at times disagreed with the Security Council on the wisdom of sending peacekeeping missions into war zones where peace is elusive.
Recently, he voiced reservations in November about the challenges facing the African Union-UN peacekeeping force into Sudan's Darfur region, including the lack of helicopters and other equipment.
He also has fought to try to focus more public attention on the problem of sexual exploitation by UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and other places. His job is one of the top positions at the UN that countries such as France and the United States are interested in holding.
The US pays for almost 25% of the peacekeeping department's $7bn a year budget.
- AP
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