US: The United States wants to take over control of the UN's peacekeeping operations, currently run by France, when South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-moon becomes secretary general next year, a senior US official has said.The US lobbying has also been confirmed by two security council ambassadors.
Mr Ban is currently making the rounds of the five permanent security council members with veto power. He was in France yesterday and is due in London next week.
Given the US's role in securing Mr Ban's election, the Bush administration believes it has a chance of getting the peacekeeping department of more than 90,000 troops, police and civilians, which is currently headed by Frenchman Jean-Marie Guéhenno.
But the move has been greeted with dismay by some key ambassadors, who fear the change would tie the world body, at least in spirit, to the American military and particularly the Bush administration's intervention in Iraq.
The United States has for years led the UN management department, which includes financing.
US officials point out that Washington pays more than 26 per cent of the peacekeeping bill, now estimated at close to $5 billion a year. But there are no Americans troops on the ground in UN missions.
The United States has 239 civilian police officers in Kosovo and 48 police in Haiti plus a scattering of civilians in various operations.
In contrast, France has some 1,500 soldiers in Lebanon and 4,000 troops in the Ivory Coast as a separate unit working with UN peacekeepers.
Lee Feinstein, a senior fellow on the Council of Foreign Relations, said the small American contribution to peacekeeping would make the US "an unpopular choice" to head the department. But he said securing the post would help cement American support for the UN.
"The United States is often critical of UN peacekeeping operations," Dr Feinstein said. "If putting an American in charge would lead to improvements, as well as a better understanding of the challenges peacekeeping faces, it would be a good thing."
Noting that the US in the past has focused on budget and reform issues, "it is significant that the administration is attaching so much to peacekeeping, which is experiencing an unprecedented surge and operating in places of concern to Washington," Dr Feinstein said.
The peacekeeping budget for the period from mid-2006 to mid-2007 mushroomed to $4.75bn (€3.72bn) and is likely to climb to $6bn (€4.7bn). The largest current operation is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with some 21,000 personnel, followed by Ethiopia-Eritrea with 17,000.
Some have speculated that the Bush administration wants to internationalise its Iraq venture. But putting troops under UN command might be controversial because of Washington's reasons for invading Iraq, without security council approval.
Dr Feinstein said the Bush administration three years ago saw a UN role in Iraq as "something to be avoided, not courted".
In other areas of responsibility, Britain is lobbying to regain the political affairs department, which it recently lost to Nigeria when two other Britons were appointed to top UN posts.
China wants the economic and social affairs department it once held, while Russia wants to retain control of the UN's European operation in Geneva. - (Reuters)