Peacekeeping Reports

Excerpt: Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2006 provides the Secretary of Defense with authority to train and equip foreign military and foreign maritime security forces. The Department of Defense (DOD) values this authority as an important tool to train and equip military partners. Funds may be obligated only with the concurrence of the Secretary of State. Thus far, the Department of Defense (DOD) has used Section 1206 authority primarily to provide counterterrorism support. This authority expires in FY2011.

Abstract: This report analyzes the evolution of peacekeeping and civilian protection norms and provides an in-depth look into the peacekeeping missions in Chad to draw lessons from their challenges and successes. In addition, this report looks at what the U.S. can do to support the efforts and innovations of the UN and other peacekeeping bodies. The U.S. has a key role to play to gain greater international acceptance in the belief that we have a responsibility to protect people in times of crisis. But it also cando more to support real action that protects people from harm.

Excerpt: The situation in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, which is also known as simply Timor-Leste or East Timor, is relatively calm compared with recent periods of political strife and insurrection. That said, some underlying tensions, such as with the security sector, remain to be resolved. Timor-Leste faces many serious challenges as it seeks to establish a stable democracy and develop its economy. Prior to 2006 the international community’s main concern focused on possible tensions in East Timor’s relations with Indonesia. Since 2006 the main threat to East Timor has been internal strife resulting from weak, or collapsed, state institutions, rivalries among elites and between security forces, a poor economy, unemployment, east-west tensions within the country and population displacement. The reintroduction of peacekeeping troops and a United Nations mission, the flow of revenue from hydrocarbon resources in the Timor Sea, and improved political stability are helping East Timor move towards more effective and democratic government. East Timor has significant energy resources beneath the Timor Sea. A key issue is how this wealth will be conserved and spent in the years ahead.

Excerpt: In its May 2009 budget request for FY2010, the Obama Administration has requested $96.8 million for the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI). GPOI was established in mid-2004 as a five-year program with intended annual funding to total $660 million from FY2005 through FY2009. (Actual funds allocated to the GPOI program from FY2005 through FY2009 totaled, as of April 2009, some $480.4 million.) The centerpiece of the Bush Administration’s efforts to prepare foreign security forces to participate in international peacekeeping operations, GPOI’s primary purpose has been to train and equip 75,000 military troops, a majority of them African, for peacekeeping operations by 2010. In October 2008, the National Security Council’s Deputies Committee approved a five-year renewal of GPOI’s mandate. Congressional approval of the FY2010 budget request would provide funding for the first year of this extension.