Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a recent report by the U.S.-based RAND Corporation had indicated a 40 percent decline in the number of military conflicts worldwide since 1992. This, he said, was attributed largely to an increase in UN efforts at peacekeeping, peace-building and conflict prevention.

Although the annual UN peacekeeping budget has climbed steadily to about $7 billion, Mr. Ban said, “It is still dwarfed by the approximately trillion dollars spent annually on military expenditures (worldwide) and on the arms trade.”

“And it doesn’t begin to take into account the massive human costs of war,” he added.

At a press conference in late July, outgoing Undersecretary-General for U.N. Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno said the United Nations is currently overseeing 20 peacekeeping operations worldwide, with some 110,000 peacekeepers in the field.

When the joint UN-African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) is in full force by the end of the year, the total number of peacekeepers will rise to 136,000.

Mr. Guehenno underlined two of the most fundamental elements of peacekeeping that were beyond the control of the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Firstly, the will of the warring parties to take steps to ensure lasting peace; and secondly, the level of engagement of and unity among the 192 member states, especially the 15-member Security Council.

When the council has been divided, as in the case of Sudan, then its edicts have been weak and its divisions have been played out by the various parties.

But “when the council was truly united, it was a formidable force,” Mr. Guehenno said, adding: “The notion that you can enforce a peace is wrong. What you can do is deter spoilers on the margins of a conflict, but peace has to be made by those who made war.”

Despite risks, on-the-ground complexities and political sensitivities, he said UN peacekeeping operations have been making a difference, provided the necessary financial and political backing of member states.

“I have seen in a number of places, from Liberia to Haiti to Sierra Leone, where a difference was made—insufficient, imperfect—but a difference was made, and I think it is important for the United Nations to be able to continue to make that difference because for many people it is their only hope and the United Nations is the institution of last resort,” he added.

Meanwhile, as of June this year, the total strength of UNAMID was only 11,359 personnel, far below the fully operational force of 26,000.

In a report to the Security Council in June, Mr. Ban said the deployment of troops in Darfur has been “substantially delayed” due to several factors, including the continued insecurity in Sudan and the slow pace of readying deployment sites to receive the police and military units.

Additionally, he blamed the lack of equipment to bring former infantry battalions of the African Union Mission in Sudan to United Nations size and standards, and the numerous logistical challenges associated with transporting equipment and supplies into the mission area.

A major support issue that will have a significantly negative impact on UNAMID deployment relates to the contractor providing accommodations and other critical infrastructure.

“The contractor is behind schedule and has not performed as expected,” the secretary-general said.

Asked for his personal views on the beleaguered UN mission in Darfur, Mr. Guehenno said the political context of the crisis in Sudan must evolve significantly toward a solidly backed peace agreement.

“Failing that, even a significantly strengthened peacekeeping force would be incapable of living up to the hopes that had been placed in it,” he said.

“It sort of angers me that, there we are, wanting to make a difference, but not having the means, the resources or the context in which we can make all the difference we would like to make,” he added.