By Jessica Reed
While George Clooney begged the United Nations to step in and demonstrate more initiative in Darfur, recent reports say that the UN is set to field its largest peacekeeping enterprise in decades. But that is not without any issues:
The unprecedented growth in peacekeeping operations is placing strains on the United Nations' capacity to respond to emerging crises in various parts of the world and is draining the pool of available troops both for the world body and for NATO. Global leaders will address those issues this week at annual appearances before the U.N. General Assembly. (...) The U.N. Security Council last month authorized an increase of more than 40 percent in the overall size of the peacekeeping force, including 1,600 police officers for East Timor and 13,000 additional troops for Lebanon, where the United Nations is trying to prevent a resumption of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
