The United Nations will cut a quarter of its global peacekeeping force in coming months due to US funding reductions, a senior UN official said Wednesday. Thousands of troops will leave missions worldwide as Washington aligns its contributions with President Donald Trumps America First policy, the official added.
TheUnited Nationswill begin slashing itspeacekeepingforce and operations, forcing thousands of soldiers in the next several months to evacuate far-flung global hotspots as a result of the latest US funding cuts to the world body, a senior UN official said.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting, briefed reporters Wednesday on the 25% reduction inpeacekeepersworldwide as the United States, the largest UN donor, makes changes to align with President Donald Trump's America First vision.
Roughly 13,000 to 14,000 military and police personnel out of more than 50,000 peacekeepers deployed across nine global missions will be sent back to their home countries. The UN support office in Somalia will also be affected. The UN plans to reduce thepeacekeepingforces budget by approximately 15% for this year.
The countries where the UN haspeacekeepingmissions include Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan,Lebanon,Cyprus and Kosovo.
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Each of the UNs 193 member countries is legally obliged to pay its share towardpeacekeeping. UN Secretary GeneralAntonio Guterreshas argued that with a budget representing a tiny fraction of global military spending around one half of one percent UN peacekeepingremains one of the most effective and cost-effective tools to build international peace and security.
The decision to institute a major overhaul of thepeacekeepingforce known globally for their distinctive blue berets or helmets followed a meeting Tuesday between Guterres and representatives from major donor countries, including Mike Waltz, the new US ambassador to the United Nations.
Waltz and other Trump administration officials have argued that the UN's budget and agencies are bloated and redundant, pledging not to make any further contributions until the State Department has assessed the effectiveness of every single UN agency or program. Upon entering his second term in January, Trump ordered a review of the UN and other multilateral institutions, which has already resulted in cutting US ties from the UN cultural agencyUNESCO, the World Health Organization and the top UN human rights body, while reassessing its funding for others.
At the UN, more than 60 offices, agencies and operations are facing 20% job cuts, part of Guterres reform effort and reaction to already announced Trump funding cuts.
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In a television interview last week, Waltz said the US is focused on getting the UN back to basics of promoting peace, enforcing peace, preventing wars.
He added, We have to cut out all of this other nonsense.
UN peacekeepingoperations have grown dramatically. At the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, there were 11,000 UN peacekeepers. By 2014, there were 130,000 in 16peacekeepingoperations. Today, around 52,000 men and women serve in 11 conflict areas in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The US outlined that it would commit $680 million to nine of thosepeacekeepingefforts, a significant reduction from the $1 billion payment the US had made this time last year, the UN official said. That funding will be accessible for all active missions, especially those the US has taken special interest in, such as peacekeepers in Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Contributions from the US and China make up half of the UN'speacekeepingbudget. Another senior UN official, who also requested anonymity to discuss private talks, said China has indicated it will be paying its full contribution by the end of the year.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
Originally published on France24
