Rabat - Under the leadership of Morocco and Pakistan, troop and police contributing states to the UN peacekeeping operations have launched an informal group to “discuss strategic issues affecting their personnel and to brainstorm responses to the new challenges facing world peace and security.”
Rabat – Under the leadership of Morocco and Pakistan, troop and police contributing states to the UN peacekeeping operations have launched an informal group to “discuss strategic issues affecting their personnel and to brainstorm responses to the new challenges facing world peace and security.”
Omar Hilale, Morocco’s Ambassador to the UN, and his Pakistani counterpart Maleeha Lodhi, held a meeting on Friday at the Chiefs of Defence Conference at UN Headquarters in New York.
Present at the meeting were heads of military delegations from the two countries, as well as ambassadors and senior diplomats from the troop states. The officials lauded Pakistan and Morocco’s initiative and presented their full support in ensuring that the group’s voice was heard.
In addition to Morocco and Pakistan, this new group, composed of some 20 countries, also includes China, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Egypt, Uruguay, Brazil and Italy.
Ian Martin, director of the NGO Security Council Report and member of the High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO), described the creation of the group as “historical.”
The two delegations were motivated by the need for major troop and police contributing countries to converge their efforts to address in a concerted manner common problems affecting peacekeepers on the ground.
This group is also meant to become a key interlocutor of the United Nations Secretariat in all matters relating to peacekeeping operations.
“This group will serve as a sounding board for new ideas and innovative solutions to confront the emerging challenges to international peace and security,” Ambassador Lodhi told the inaugural meeting.
She said it will also be a collective reaffirmation of the troop contributing countries abiding commitment to bring the promise of hope and prosperity to those affected by war and conflict.
Morocco, a traditional troop contributor, has been committed to peacekeeping with the UN since 1960, with the participation of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR) in United Nations Operation in the Congo (UNOC).
Today, Morocco continues to contribute with nearly 1,500 troops, mainly to MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo and United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in the Central African Republic, occupying the 15 place among the most important troop contributing countries.
