Peace-keeping guidelines set out by Security Council.

A threat to international peace and security, a clear political goal reflected in a precise mandate, a cease-fire between parties to a conflict with a view to reaching a political solution--those were among the factors to be considered when establishing new peace-keeping operations, the Security Council stipulated on 3 May. Other elements included readiness of regional organizations and arrangements to assist in resolving the situation, and the ability to reasonably ensure the safety and security of UN personnel.

As a leading principle, the Council stressed, UN peace-keeping operations should be under the operational control of the Organization.

These and other points were contained in the statement issued by Council President Ibrahim A. Gambari of Nigeria at a special meeting of the Council, held in the context of continuing consideration of the Secretary-General's "An Agenda for Peace" (S/24111).

Specifically, the Council had begun consideration of the Secretary-General's 14 March report (S/26450) on "Improving the capacity of the United Nations for peace-keeping", prepared in response to the Council request of 28 May 1993. The statement noted that the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations this year had made recommendations on the report.

The increasing number and complexity of peace-keeping operations might require measures to improve the quality and speed of the flow of information to support the Council's decision-making, according to the Council statement. Enhanced consultations with troop-contributing countries were also needed. In establishing a new operation, the Council said, an estimate of projected costs for the start-up and the first six months of operation should be provided.

The 3 May statement covered various aspects of peace-keeping operations, including their establishment, ongoing review, stand-by arrangements, civilian personnel, training command and control, and financial and administrative issues.

In view of the great importance it attached to improving the UN capacity to meet the need for rapid deployment and reinforcement of peacekeeping operations, the Council noted the Secretary-General's intention to devise stand-by arrangements which Member States could maintain at an agreed state of readiness as a possible contribution to a UN operation.

The system of stand-by arrangements could provide the UN with the "capacity to deploy needed resources rapidly to new or ongoing peacekeeping operations", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali later stated in a report (S.1994/777) on 30 June. That would depend, however, on the necessary commitments by Member States.

So far, 21 countries had "confirmed their willingness to provide stand-by resources totalling some 30,000 personnel", the Secretary-General said. Those were: Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Guatemala, Hungary, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Senegal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.

Also, additional commitments were expected from 27 other Member States, of which 10 were in the "process of finalizing their official offers", he reported. Altogether, that could raise commitments to about 70,000 personnel.

Nevertheless, the commitments made so far did "not yet cover adequately the spectrum of resources required to mount and execute future peace-keeping operations", the Secretary-General stated. He therefore urged Member States to actively participate in the stand-by arrangement system to "help make it an effective tool of the Organization in its continuing effort to improve its capacity for keeping the peace".

Stressing the need for a "unified and well-defined United Nations command and control structure", the Special Committee on 29 April called for immediate steps to strengthen present arrangements for "political direction, military command and control" with regard to peace-keeping operations.

In adopting a 91-paragraph report (A/49/136) on a comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects at the conclusion of its 1994 session (28 March-29 April, New York), the Special Committee said that force commanders and other key personnel should "be associated with the planning of peace-keeping operations from the outset." They should also be delegated the "appropriate degree of financial and administrative authority" in order to increase the missions' capacity to adjust to new situations.