ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: The UN under-secretary-general, Jean-Marie Guehenno, here on Wednesday underscored the role of world body in peacekeeping in view of the fact that 20 to 30 conflicts have raged at any given time over the past five decades.

He was speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies here on Wednesday. He said lack of resources was a major handicap in the inability of the UN to fulfil expectations.

The major contributors to the Support Account, which financed these operations, were Japan, Germany, France and UK, while the United States Congress continually showed unwillingness to pay its share of the contributions, he added.

Peacekeeping, the UN official emphasized, was a reflection of the international system, which had changed its scope and nature over the decades. "Whereas earlier, peacekeeping missions sought to maintain a peace agreement already reached, missions of today do not always have a peace to maintain."

He said highly complex and challenging tasks assigned to these missions were multidimensional, which resulted in successes such as El Salvador, Cambodia and Namibia. These successes led to unrealistic expectations from the UN, he said, adding hence the criticism it had received in the wake of genocide in Rwanda, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and civil strife in Somalia.

"The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, therefore, commissioned a panel to analyse the future of peacekeeping forces." Mr Guehenno highlighted the positive contributions Pakistan had made to UN peacekeeping. As the largest troop contributor, Pakistan had been involved in the successful completion of missions in Somalia, Sierra Leone and Congo, he added.

While the UN was still fulfilling its commitments to issues of peace and security in Africa, which had claimed over seven million lives in 1990s, he regretted, the world allowed its attention to be focused only on terrorism, Middle East and Balkans.

Rich countries of the North had reoriented their budgets to address issues and concerns of terrorism with the result that their monetary contributions to UN peacekeeping budget had fallen to one-seventh of its total contributions.

He said the peacekeeping missions of today were not only confined to maintaining ceasefire but also busy in post-conflict activities of peace building and reconstruction. "This new dimension is important from the human solidarity, ethical as well as strategic standpoint," Mr Guehenno stressed.

He cited the example of Afghanistan where neglect on the part of international community spelled unprecedented human tragedy and spawned terrorism.

Stressing the need for looking at the broader picture, he noted that commitment to the ideal of the UN Charter had led Pakistan and India (their political differences notwithstanding) to serving jointly on a number of missions and provide a platform for common action under the UN auspices.

Responding to a question by Mr Agha Shahi, the chairman of the institute, Mr Guehenno said any decision to maintain a standing army of the UN under the command of the secretary general was a political one. It would alter the authority and the relationship between the secretary general and the security council. Key members of the security council were reluctant to take up this issue, he added.