Briefing by Force Commanders of UN Peacekeeping Operations
The Council will hold an interactive briefing tomorrow (27 July) with force commanders from the peacekeeping missions in the DRC (MONUSCO), Darfur (UNAMID) and Lebanon (UNIFIL). The UN Military Adviser, Lieutenant General Babacar Gaye will also participate. The Force Commanders will each speak for ten minutes or so after which Council members will ask questions.
It is understood that General Gaye will speak on inter-mission cooperation. The force commander from MONUSCO will brief on the impact of “conditionality policy” on operations; the force commander from UNAMID will talk about protection of civilians in a non-permissive environment; and the force commander from UNIFIL will talk about safety concerns in Southern Lebanon and its impact on operations.
The force commanders of all other UN peacekeeping missions will also be present at the meeting, as they are all in New York this week for the annual “heads of military components conference.”
A similar session was held in August 2010, under the Russian presidency. On that occasion the force commanders of the UN missions in Liberia, the DRC, Sudan and Haiti, as well as the chief-of-staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) provided updates of developments in their missions, shared lessons learned and laid out the challenges ahead.
It seems that some Council members will stick to formal statements rather than asking questions, particularly given that it will be a public meeting.
