Photo from UN DispatchFrom Reuters:
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers are increasingly finding themselves deployed with too few troops, insufficient funds and in countries where there is hardly any peace to keep, a top U.N. official said on Friday.
"There is a constant strain now between mandates and resources ... expectations and our capacity to deliver," U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said in a speech to the U.N. Security Council. "United Nations peacekeeping is overstretched."
Analysts and diplomats say that the operations are headed for a crisis as demand for peacekeepers skyrockets while funds and troop reserves are getting harder to find.
They say the global financial crisis will likely make U.N. member states less willing to contribute to peacekeeping.
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My Comment: The global financial crisis coupled with a worldwide recession is going to completely gut the UN's peacekeeping budget. They will now have to make the decision that resources will need to be rationed, and that only certain conflicts will receive UN assistance.