Fifty countries pledge extra 40,000 troops as part of UN peacekeeping upgrade at summit
China's President Xi Jinping promises 'permanent peacekeeping police squad' and 8,000 troops on standby as part of plans outlined by US President Barack Obama during UN General Assembly
US President Barack Obama on Monday announced notable steps to upgrade UN peacekeeping efforts, with his administration saying more than 50 countries have pledged to contribute more than 40,000 new troops and police to serve in some of the world’s most volatile areas.
However, there was no sign that the United States, which pays a quarter of the peacekeeping budget, would put more of its own troops into the field.
Our goal should be to make every new peace operation more efficient and more effective than the last
The US chaired a high-level meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York, which was held to help strengthen and modernise UN peacekeeping.
The UN’s nearly 125,000 personnel increasingly face threats from extremist groups while resources of personnel and equipment are being severely stretched. Deployments to crises can take several months.
“Our goal should be to make every new peace operation more efficient and more effective than the last,” Obama said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the meeting – the only absentee among the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which approves peacekeeping missions.
