The United Nations faces an unprecedented demand for peacekeeping troops and growing demands to help prevent conflicts and rebuild war-battered countries, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday in his first speech to the U.N. Security Council, according to The Associated Press. He said the council and the United Nations «are going through one of the busiest periods in our history» with 18 peacekeeping missions and 100,000 personnel currently in the field «and climbing,» and the U.N. engaged in some way in a total of 30 peace operations around the world. «I will make it my priority to strengthen the U.N.'s ability to play its role to the fullest extent in conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding,» Ban said. A week after taking the reins of the world body, the new secretary-general addressed a council meeting on the threats to global peace and security that the world faces in 2007 _ singling out conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Kosovo and threats from terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, HIV/AIDS, extreme poverty and human rights violations. Ban echoed leaders of the 192 U.N. member states who stated at the 2005 World Summit that the threats the world faces in the 21st century «are multifaceted and interconnected.» He said the role of the United Nations in tackling them «must be coordinated, comprehensive and consistent.» Speaking last, he said he was gratified to hear the 15 council members speaking «with one voice» on the need to deal with global threats «in a holistic manner.» Ban reiterated that one of his top priorities will be to step up efforts to address the crisis in Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur region «where the humanitarian situation is growing worse.» He said he will work through his special envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson, in the coming days and weeks to engage Sudan, African governments and the international community to resolve the nearly four-year conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million. At the same time, Ban said, the United Nations must consolidate recent positive developments in Congo _ which hosts the largest U.N. peacekeeping operation with over 17,000 troops _ «so that lasting peace and stability take hold in the heart of Africa.» Both Sudan and Congo will be on his agenda when he attends the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Jan. 29-30, he said. Equally, Ban pledged «to inject new momentum into our search for peace and stability in the Middle East.» He said he will press the Quartet _ the U.N., the U.S., the European Union and Russia _ to resolve differences between the Israelis and Palestinians whose conflict has ramifications in many other countries. «It means supporting Lebanon in everything from its physical reconstruction to its quest _ as yet incomplete _ for a peaceful, democratic and fully independent future,» Ban said. «And in the wider reaches of the region, it means continuing our efforts to address the political and security challenges of Afghanistan and Iraq.» The United Nations must also work «for a conclusion to the uncertainty that still hangs over the status of Kosovo, and which, if unresolved, threatens to cast a shadow over regional stability in southeastern Europe,» he said. Ban said the world body must also do more «to invigorate disarmament and nonproliferation efforts» _ which have been stymied because of deep divisions between nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear states _ and to address «the special challenges» posed by Iran and North Korea, according to AP. «It is essential that the international community works as one to address these challenges,» he said.
