From the Radio Free Michigan archives ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu. ------------------------------------------------ The Globe and Mail (Canada's National Newspaper) Friday, September 30, 1994 Front page CANADA PROPOSES UN ARMY UNITED NATIONS - Canada, which has participated in every United Nations peacekeeping mission in the past four decades, suggested yesterday that it is time for the world body to have its own permanent army. In a speech to the General Assembly, Foreign Affairs Minister Andre Ouellet said current peacekeeping operations are often too slow in getting off the ground, resulting in needless loss of life. In Rwanda, for example, many thousands of lives could have been saved if the UN Security Council had had its own standing army to deploy rapidly to trouble spots. To get the ball rolling, Canada is launching a major study of the concept and will make its report available to the UN, probably sometime next year, Mr. Ouellet said. The study will be conducted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and National Defence and will involve many international experts. Many proposals have been floated in recent years for a permanent UN army to replace the ad hoc arrangements made when the Security Council authorizes a peacekeeping mission and then tries to find countries willing to supply armed forces. The UN Charter contemplates such a force, but Cold War squabbling prevented its creation, and this is the first time a major UN member has formally suggested a permanent army. Mr. Ouellet said no other government has gone so far in support of the concept as Ottawa with this study. Diplomats, academics and others have been nattering about the concept, but it is hoped that the Canadian initiative will produce a concrete plan, he said. Senior Canadian officials cite the Rwandan massacres earlier this year as perhaps the worst recent example of the UN's inability to respond quickly to a crisis that had been brewing for some time before it boiled over. As hundreds of thousands of Tutsis were being slaughtered by Hutus last spring, the Security Council could not find countries willing to fill the ranks of a peacekeeping force. Canadian officers commanded the small UN contingent and kept mercy flights operating into Kigali, the capital, during the worst of the crisis. There are now about 600 Canadians on duty in Rwanda. All told, Canada has about 2,700 peacekeepers serving around the world, some in combat zones in the former Yugoslavia. About 600 Canadian soldiers and RCMP officers will be part of the UN contingent being put together for Haiti. It may take a month or more for that peace force to be deployed. At the moment, the Haitian operation is largely a U.S. military effort to restore the elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But Washington wants it troops out at the first opportunity so the UN can take over. In his speech yesterday, Mr. Ouellet said Canada fully supports the modern concept of peacekeeping, which may involve intervention in what in an earlier age might have been considered the exclusive domestic affairs of a sovereign state. Canada believes it was right to intervene not just in Rwanda, but also in Bosnia, Somalia and now Haiti. Senior Ottawa officials say Canada no doubt would make a significant contribution to a permanent UN army, noting that Canadians already run many peacekeeping activities, including the situation centre here at UN headquarters and the military planning office. Mr. Ouellet said the government expects to cut the ribbon soon at a peacekeeping training centre at the former military base at Cornwallis, N.S., which will be named for Lester Pearson, the former prime minister and diplomat who won the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for fostering peacekeeping in the Middle East. (Mr. Pearson's grandson Michael is a senior foreign policy adviser to Mr. Ouellet and was one of the authors of the minister's UN speech yesterday.) Canada would be willing to contribute to a peacekeeping force on the Golan Heights if one is authorized by the Security Council to ease Palestinian-Israeli tensions, Mr. Ouellet told the General Assembly. His speech dealt almost exclusively with UN reform. He said Canada believes the world body needs to get its second wind as it approaches its 50th anniversary next year. Specialized agencies that deal with issues such as population, child welfare, education , trade and development need to be re-examined to see whether there is overlap and duplication that can be eliminated, he said. He complained the UN social and economic organizations seemed to be drifting along, to be "vague and directionless." Canadian taxpayers do not question the need to contribute to the UN, "but quite rightly expect that their contributions will be spent judiciously." Canada contributed about $260 million last year to UN operations, about half of that for peacekeeping operations. Mr. Ouellet also said reforms are needed at key UN decision-making bodies such as the Security Council. Many African, Latin American and Asian countries say the council's five permanent members - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - are not very representative of their interests and seem to be there mostly because they have nuclear weapons. Mr. Ouellet agreed that the Security Council needs to be more representative, but he did not go into details. Canada has said in the past that Japan probably should have a regular seat on the body. At a news conference the minister reiterated Canada's fears about the danger Canadian and other peacekeepers would face in Bosnia if the UN lifted its arms embargo. ------------------------------------------------ (This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the Radio Free Michigan archives by the archive maintainer. All files are ZIP archives for fast download. E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)