Cooperation Between UN, Regional Organisations Necessary To Resolve Conflicts, Says Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysia firmly believes that cooperation between the United Nations and regional organisations is necessary and should be ongoing in efforts towards resolving conflicts and peacekeeping operations. Malaysia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Hussein Haniff said such partnerships offered unique comparative advantages in commanding the legitimacy and affinity within their respective regions. He said regional organisations could also be sources of useful information, which could contribute towards enhancing the overall effectiveness of the UN's efforts in the management of conflicts and in addressing the root causes of conflicts. "Some regional organisations may even have greater flexibility in the allocation of resources," he said at the open debate on 'Peacekeeping Operations: The United Nations and Regional Partnerships and Its Evolution' at the United Nations Security Council in New York Monday. The text of his speech was made available to Bernama here on Tuesday. Hussein said that coupled with geographical proximity, regional organisations would be able to deploy assets, including troops, more rapidly than the UN - which was often crucial in saving more lives. He also cited various international organisations, among others the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the European Union (EU), Nato and Asean, for playing active roles in peaceful settlement of disputes at the regional level. He stressed that with the increasingly complex and multi-dimensional nature of today's peacekeeping operations, it was vital for the development of policies at the inter-governmental level to be undertaken by consensus. Asking peacekeepers to be constantly aware of the cultural sensitivities and the local peculiarities of the areas where they served, Hussein said these could be achieved through joint training workshops and awareness programmes. "From our part, Malaysia has established the Malaysian Peacekeeping Centre (MPC) since June 1995, aimed at training and providing armed forces officers, the Royal Malaysian Police and non-governmental organisations with appropriate knowledge on peacekeeping prior to their assignment with the UN," he said. To date, MPC had trained 1,931 local officers and 612 international participants from 52 countries, he said, adding that the MPC had collaborated with various UN agencies in conducting the training programmes. --BERNAMA