Source: AllAfrica
Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Professor Joy Ogwu, has asked the United Nations Security Council to evolve effective and lasting peacekeeping operations.

Speaking during a Security Council's debate in New York, Prof Ogwu said that while development was not necessarily within the Council's purview, the 15-nation body did not, and should not carry out its activities in a vacuum, especially with regard to peacekeeping, peacebuilding and preventive diplomacy.

"In championing development efforts in tandem with activities relating directly to peace and security, we, in fact, further our conflict-prevention activities, which go to the heart of our Charter obligations," she said, adding, "It is our duty to remember that in securing any society, we are but one actor among many committed to the long-term stability of that nation she said and stressed."

"Indeed, a long-term perspective was crucial, as guarding against a relapse into conflict preserved development gains, which were frequently among the first casualties of war"

Professor Ogwu further said that bolstering the links between security and development could also lead to more efficient deployment of efforts and resources, and noted that by standing on points of principle, such as ensuring women's full participation in peace and governance processes, providing youth employment and promoting human rights, the Council could assist a society emerging from a conflict situation in achieving lasting peace.

The former Nigeria's foreign affairs minister further said that the UN Security Council had the challenge and opportunity to promote security policies that integrated development in order to progressively rid humanity of the scourge of war.

In another development, Professor oy Ogwu has welcomed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for its efforts to ease tensions and end the strife in Kyrgyzstan in 2010, as well as its deployment of good offices missions to ease tensions in Albania, saying her delegation also supported its request for a fully fledged United Nations presence at the Geneva talks on the situation in Georgia.

She said that the OSCE's efforts to promote education, tolerance and inter-ethnic harmony would yield great progress in the entire region, adding that the challenges it would face in the Caucasus region would provide it with an opportunity to promote broad changes there, "and Nigeria expected it also to continue its efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere" she noted.

To enhance its standing and make even greater progress, Prof. Ogwu said that the OSCE which is the world's largest regional security organization must make every effort to return to its position as the most inclusive forum for consultation and action.

 

• Nigeria