OneWorld.net (U.S.)

WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 24 (OneWorld) - UN peacekeepers serve the national interest at a fraction of the cost of direct U.S. military intervention overseas, according to advocates pressing Congress to fund America's full share of the blue helmets' budget.

''UN peacekeeping, even in its current flawed state, is a national security bargain for the U.S.,'' Washington, D.C.-based advocates Refugees International told lawmakers in a new policy recommendation.

Blue helmets cost less than American troops and because Washington wields veto power over the UN Security Council, which launches missions only when it sees fit and to which those missions must answer, it is assured that peacekeeping operations will not work against U.S. objectives.

On the contrary, military and police personnel serving under the UN flag have prevented some of the world's trickiest and most costly conflicts from engulfing U.S. and Western interests. Oil and gas facilities and reserves have been saved, for example. The tide of boat people and narcotics from conflict zones such as Indo-China has been calmed or reversed and next could be dealt with in a stabilized Haiti.

Perhaps more importantly for the Bush administration, blue helmets have left U.S. and allied forces free to pursue their own priorities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Refugees International document quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as having lauded UN peacekeeping as ''much more cost-effective than using American forces.''

It cited a 2005 report from the RAND Corporation that compared UN and U.S. histories of conflict intervention and found the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations ''more capable and--even given its perennially strained resources--more efficient at instilling peace.''

Likewise, a 2006 study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO, the investigative arm of Congress formerly known as the General Accounting Office) suggested that the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force can be up to eight times less expensive for Washington than funding a U.S. force to do the same job because the UN is half as expensive and the U.S. only pays one-fourth of the costs.

Yet, ''even at bargain rates, the U.S. is not providing adequate funding to the UN for peacekeeping costs,'' said Refugees International. The organization is known for, among other things, conducting detailed audits of humanitarian operations around the world.

The U.S. shortfall amounted to $145 million in fiscal 2005 and rose to around $375 million in the current fiscal year, leaving a total gap of some $525 million for UN peacekeeping, according to Peter Gantz and Katherine Andrews, peacekeeping specialists at Refugees International and authors of the policy brief.

Compounding the problem, U.S. law limits Washington's contribution to 25 percent of total UN peacekeeping costs, even though the United States' assessed dues for peacekeeping--based on its ability to pay--stand at slightly more than 27 percent.

''The growing financial crisis may have dire consequences for UN peacekeeping efforts around the globe, leading to the possible closure or drastic reduction of certain missions,'' wrote Gantz and Andrews.

The White House had a chance to plug the gap by asking for more money as part of its emergency supplemental request for fiscal 2006, they said, but only asked for $68 million--leaving a $457 million deficit. Next year could see another $400 added to the gap between peacekeeping needs and funds requested in Bush's budget for fiscal 2007, which begins this October.

Refugees International is asking Congress to cough up $500 million this year and another $400 million next year to bring the U.S. out of the red and ensure that next year's peacekeeping operations will be sufficient to meet expected demand.

Bush administration officials have said costs should be curbed by quickly and significantly downsizing missions once elections have taken place in former flashpoints.

Bush's fiscal 2007 budget request assumes that the UN peace operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire, now also referred to as Congo-Kinshasa), for example, can be cut nearly in half following elections slated for this June.

Critics of the administration's approach have countered that the DRC remains conflict-ridden and its government exercises little effective control over large parts of the vast, resource-rich country.

In any case, said Refugees International, ''experience in numerous countries suggests that elections are but a first step on a long road that may lead to sustainable peace only with sustained help.''

Washington has succeeded in cutting short a number of missions over UN objections, Refugees International said. Sierra Leone still teeters on the edge of state failure, yet UN peacekeepers left at the end of last year. UN troops also may be withdrawn from Ivory Coast even as the West African country flirts with civil war.

''Plans for downsizing in Liberia and Haiti are mandated, even though both will need significant help for years to come,'' Gantz and Andrews wrote.

''The U.S. is not alone in shortchanging UN peacekeeping,'' they acknowledged. ''Lack of support from industrialized countries is chronic.''

In a typical UN mission, troops and police from more than a dozen countries may be thrown together and expected to deal with the complexities of a civil war and state failure.

''Overstretched resources limit joint training, the availability of compatible equipment, support for logistics, communications, and intelligence, and the possibility of instilling common doctrine among the troops,'' the policy brief said.

It said budget problems also were partly to blame for procurement fraud, waste, and sexual abuse by peacekeepers because funding shortfalls resulted in an ''inability to effectively oversee peacekeeping missions.''

The United Nations has investigated wrongdoing and toughened its rulebook but can only urge troop-contributing member states to discipline their soldiers found in violation.

The world body said it has fielded 60 peacekeeping operations since 1948 at a total cost of just over $41 billion spent and 2,242 personnel lives lost.

It said it deployed 72,778 uniformed soldiers and police from 107 countries in 18 peace operations last year alongside 5,287 international civilian staffers, 10,010 local civilian personnel, and 1,607 UN volunteers. These personnel helped keep the peace between 200 million people around the world.

Bangladesh topped last year's list of troop contributors with 9,529 personnel and was followed by Pakistan with 8,999 and India with 7,284. Falling in behind them were Jordan (3,703), Nepal (3,466), Ethiopia (3,410), Ghana (2,520), Uruguay (2,428), Nigeria (2,412), and South Africa (2,010).