Peacekeeping expert briefs Arusha delegates

A UN expert on peacekeeping missions, Chris Coleman, on Thursday briefed committee five of the Arusha peace talks on Burundi on various measures the UN could take to support any peace agreement arrived at, Internews service reported. Coleman said that if the committee decided on having any type of observation, verification or implementation mission in Burundi, then they should ensure the involvement of UN experts at an early stage to avoid a situation where they had a good agreement that was difficult to implement at a technical level. The logistics of such missions were also a matter for careful consideration since deployment, especially of “formed groups”, could easily take 3-4 months, Internews quoted Coleman as saying.

He also reminded the delegates that an implementation force would need to have some leverage it could use to keep everyone to the agreement. “Even when parties have agreed, even when they want peace and there is a comprehensive agreement on how to get there... doubts may arise and some parties be tempted to pull out of the process. There has to be a leverage to keep everyone in,” Internews quoted him as saying.