MOSCOW, May 29 (RIA Novosti) - The Day of UN Peacekeepers is celebrated on Sunday on the background of "extreme straining of the peacekeeping potential due to growing demand on peacekeeping services," an official at the UN mission in Moscow told RIA Novosti.
According to the UN official, a sharp increase in the demand for peacekeeping services shows that the UN peacekeeping activities are considered an "optimal mechanism" for establishing and maintaining peace. Consequently, the expenses on UN peacekeeping operations in 2005-2006 might reach $5 billion annually.
At present, the UN Peacekeeping Department supervises 17 peacekeeping operations involving about 82,000 people (including 66,000 military personnel and policemen; 6,300 UN civil personnel from various countries and 8,500 staff members hired locally).
Last year, the overall number of UN peacekeepers grew by 48%. The UN Security Council approved new operations on Haiti, in Burundi and Cote d'Ivoire, an extension of the US mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In addition, the first group of UN peacekeepers started a new operation in Sudan in May 2005. Ten thousand "blue helmets" will serve as part of the UN Mission in that country.
Their task is to provide assistance to the realization of an armistice agreement, which put an end to the civil war that had ravaged the country for 21 years.
According to the UN official, 115 peacekeepers from 39 countries, both military and civil, died in the line of duty in 2004. In January-March 2005, another 41 peacekeepers were killed, including nine Bangladesh military perished in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the bloodiest attack on peacekeepers in the last 10 years.
In 2002, the UN General Assembly made the decision to celebrate the International Day of the UN Peacekeepers on May 29 each year.
