Responding to a particular crisis, Peacekeeping missions are set up by the Security Council which in turn outlines mission parameters, rules and then seeks military support from member states. Since 1948 when the concept was enshrined, most missions were in the Middle East and Africa. But in recent years, Balkan crises, vicious civil wars in West Africa and Central Africa, and the perennial Middle East problems have simply overwhelmed the system and the UNÕs capacity to both man and fund the missions.

Le Roy, asserts Ò2009 will be a crucial year for peacekeeping. Ó The French chief adds, that such operations were not only stretched in terms of size and number of missions, now totally 18 which deploy 112,000 blue helmets, but in terms of the Òchallenges posed by complex missions and difficult logistical and security environments.Ó

The current mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) or the hybrid UN/African Union operation in Darfur (UNAMID) are two examples which, according to most military observers, have simply overwhelmed the system.

The fifteen-member Security Council has often been too willing to authorize a mission in response to an admittedly dangerous situation. After gaining a mandate, then the Council usually looks to the developed countries to pay for the operation while developing countries generally send troops. Cost for the 18 missions comes to over $7 billion annually. DPKO has been pulled into a downward spiral of missions and mandates. The USA and European Union are the major financial donors.

In the earlier years, UN blue helmets usually came from Canada, the Scandinavian countries, India and Ireland. Indeed during the Cold War, Americans, British, Chinese and Russians were not part of the operations. But today, thereÕs a whole new lineup with the chief contributors being Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Nigeria and Nepal. In fact of the top ten troop contributors, only Italy is a European state.

Better known missions include the still very dangerous United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) with 12,400 troops, which has seen 279 peacekeepers killed and the long-standing UN force on Cyprus (UNFICYP) with 859 troops, and the winding down Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) with 841 police.

One of those quiet success missions remains in East Timor, the former Portuguese colony in the Indonesian archipelago. Though Indonesia invaded and brutally occupied, this small Christian enclave for a quarter-century, eventual independence for Timor in 1999 only triggered new political problems. After a significant flare-up in violence in 2006, a UN dispatched the current mission (UNMIT) with 1,500 police. The force is backed in parallel with military units from nearby Australia and New Zeeland.

Speaking recently in a Security Council meeting, JapanÕs Ambassador Yukio Takasu stated, ÒLaunching a peacekeeping mission is one of the most effective measures the Security Council can take to promote international peace and security,Ó Yet he warned that due to changes in the international environment, Òmissions are increasingly confronted with non-state actorsÓ (militias, terrorists, warlords etc) that have little respect for international law. Amb. Taksasu stressed, Òwe should always consider a peace- keeping mission not as a substitute but as a supplement to the political process.Ó He added, ÒA peacekeeping mission cannot be deployed forever.Ó

Moreover a recent independent report on peacekeeping conceded, thereÕs a Òsteady blurring of the lines between peacekeeping and war fighting.Ó

Indeed given the military murkiness of situations such as SudanÕs Darfur, the ongoing ethnic horrors of the Congo, and the still fragile situation in southern Lebanon, the UN finds itself covering too many bases and in danger of missing the ball altogether..