New Opportunities

espite this gloomy picture I see a hopeful future in the resurgence of international cooperation and the renewed confidence in the United Nations multilateral machinery for conflict resolution, not only between states but also within states. In one way or another the UN's political arm is actively engaged in resolving refugee-producing conflicts in Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Western Sahara, Somalia, Iraq, Burma, and Afghanistan. A UN fact-finding mission is currently under way in Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is worth noting that the UN has launched more peacekeeping operations in the last thirty-six months than in its previous forty-three years. Since 1988, thirteen operations were mounted, including the two in recent months in Yugoslavia and Cambodia, and not counting the operation proposed in Somalia. Even more noteworthy is that these operations are not simply there to guard peace, but actively to build it. Whereas the objective of peacekeeping operations in the past was to prevent recurrence of fighting by supervising the cease-fire and separating warring factions, now there is a shift in UN operations from conflict management to conflict resolution. The modern UN operations contain dual military and political components with the objective of resolving the conflict within a fixed time frame. The multifaceted and time-limited UN operation in Namibia which led the country to independence, and the observer mission in Nicaragua, which combined military verification and demobilization with election-monitoring, were important precedents for the kind of operations the UN is now undertaking in Cambodia and El Salvador. In Cambodia, the UN is embarked on an ambitious plan of cease-fire, demobilization, repatriation and reintegration of refugees, the rehabilitation of the displaced, and elections for a constitutional form of government. In El Salvador, the UN broke new ground by mediating in a domestic conflict between the government and the FMLN. This comprehensive approach to peace recognizes the nexus between international and internal dimensions of security and the importance of democracy, rule of law, and human rights to peace, as well as the linkage between peace, development, and freedom.
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In some cases, multilateral efforts at peacekeeping are buttressing or in turn being supported by regional initiatives. For instance, in Yugoslavia, peacekeeping by the UN is creating the environment for the European community to broker a political settlement. In Somalia, mediation is a joint effort by the UN, the Arab League, the Islamic Conference, and the Organization of African States. The situation in Somalia illustrates clearly the link between security and humanitarian aid. Fighting in Somalia has so badly hampered relief efforts that the need for an internationally supervised cease-fire has become crucial for the distribution of humanitarian assistance.

By seeking to end conflicts rather than merely suspending them, the new generation of peacekeeping operations make possible the return of hundreds of thousands, even millions, of refugees in the near future. Indeed, repatriation of refugees, as in Namibia and Nicaragua and now Cambodia, are an essential precondition of UN-supervised elections, and thus a crucial part of the peace-building process. As the organization responsible for protection of refugees as well as finding solutions to their problems, UNHCR has become the humanitarian arm of many UN peacemaking efforts.

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