The 38th floor.

• Position: Excerpts from statement by United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali - Transcript

The peace-keeping challenge ...

The cycle of conflict now taking place must be contained. Resources are limited. We must make the most of what we have. The Member States must fight off fatigue, indifference or the temptation to withdraw. They must meet their financial obligations to the United Nations. At the same time, they have a right to demand that the Organization deliver top performance with the funds available. I am determined that will be the case.

Among all the new techniques which the United Nations must learn, one of them must be the necessity of timely withdrawal. The United Nations must stay the course when peace and security require it. But it cannot indulge parties to a conflict who do not want peace. If this is realized, it could prove beneficial to serious negotiations. It could strengthen diplomacy. The withdrawal of a peace operation while conflict continues need not be considered a failure. On the contrary, it can become a new approach to the problem. In Somalia, United Nations involvement continues. In Angola, troops were withdrawn but conditions changed, and a new contingent may soon return.

We must create a division of labour for peace-keeping. Obviously, difficulties can arise: unity of command and control; coordination: costs; interpretation of the mandate; questions of whether the United Nations should be impartial or undertake enforcement. All are serious questions; they are not easy to answer. But we are working out the solutions, case by case. When regional actors and the United Nations work together, the material, financial and logistic strain on the United Nations is eased. A division of labour in peace-keeping is a matter of better management.

This is a time of great promise and of great expectations. But it is also a time when reality on the ground can be grim. In one dangerous place after another in the world it is the United Nations forces who face reality on the ground. It is time for rhetoric to match reality. Those who care about peace and those capable of making it and keeping it need to cooperate. The enemies of peace are many. Those who share a better vision must find a better way to work together. This is the task which history has given us.

From an address at Yale University. New Haven, Connecticut, 21 March

The evil of discrimination ...

The international community has worked hard to combat racial discrimination since the foundation of the United Nations. It is essential that we build on this...