As UN Peacekeeping Veers Toward Counterterror, US Steps In
As UN Peacekeeping Veers Toward Counterterror, US Steps In by Cara Anna and Menelaos Hadjicostis, Associated Press
… Suicide bombings, improvised explosive devices and combatants with little regard for the rules of war are making the work of nearly 125,000 U.N. peacekeepers look more and more like counterterrorism operations.
Some U.N. member states balk at sending their troops into such conditions to protect civilians. Others ask how heavily armored U.N. troops can promote peace. And new allegations of sexual abuses by U.N. peacekeepers expose deep gaps in training and accountability.
President Barack Obama takes on these issues next Monday when he chairs a U.N. meeting aimed at persuading European and other countries to send money, people and high-tech tools to peacekeeping missions in some of the world's volatile places, from South Sudan to the Golan Heights on the Syria-Israel border.
It's a high-profile attempt to shove the "blue helmets" — now engaged in 16 missions at a cost of $8.2 billion — into modern times…
