United Nations General Assembly: Fifth Committee
9 June 2006
Item 151: Financing of the United Nations Mission in the Sudan
Statement by Peter Stone
Attaché
Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations
On behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand
(Check against delivery)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak today on behalf of the delegations of Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Let me begin by thanking the Controller, Mr. Warren Sach and the Chair of the ACABQ, Mr. Rajat Saha for introducing the respective reports on the budget for the United Nations Mission in the Sudan.
Mr. Chairman,
At the outset, we would like to thank the personnel of the Secretariat, the UN funds and programmes, troop contributing countries and members of AMIS for their contribution to the continuing efforts to secure a lasting peace and alleviate the difficult humanitarian situation in Sudan.
Progress in the region has been made with the signing of the Abuja Peace Agreement last month and the subsequent deployment of the UN Technical Assessment Mission to Darfur. An expansion of UNMIS could see the Committee considering a revised budget for the Mission relatively soon. We urge the Secretariat to use the experience gained over the last year during the initial set-up phase of UNMIS in its preparation of any revised estimates. We also hope that the possible expansion of the Mission is taken into consideration in ongoing recruitment and management decisions.
The size of the UNMIS budget, now exceeding US$1 billion, reflects the scale of the mission, both in its geography and complexity. We would like to thank the Secretariat for the detailed budget before us, and thank the ACABQ for their thorough analysis and recommendations, with which we generally agree.
The expected long term nature of the mission serves to highlight the importance of full integration of all UN actors in Sudan. The success of the mission will depend on the coordination of military, police and civilian aspects of the mission with AMIS, the African Union, the government of Sudan, OCHA, UN funds and programmes and NGOs.
In this regard, we welcome the details provided in the budget on the progress made in implementing a unified workplan and the description of respective roles of UNMIS and various UN agencies. We encourage the Secretary General to continue to pursue and formalise the concept of integrated mission partnerships, and finalise doctrine, policies and guidelines to govern not only UNMIS, but all peacekeeping missions.
Mr Chairman,
CANZ joins the ACABQ in welcoming the efforts of the mission to implement results based budgeting to record the progress made on performance by programme managers. In a mission of this size and complexity, it is essential that clear lines of responsibility and accountability are established to ensure that UNMIS can effectively and efficiently achieve its mandate.
Of some concern to our delegations is the difficulty experienced in recruiting staff, both national and international, in a timely manner. We support the use of national staff in peacekeeping missions where possible, as it plays an important role in capacity building and transfer of skills to the local population. We would be interested to hear from the Secretariat on its strategies to improve recruitment processes, particularly if faced with a request to expand the mission, and look forward to a significant decline in vacancy rates.
We welcome the savings achieved through the use of water based transport rather than air, and encourage the mission to continue to explore alternatives to ensure the most efficient use of resources. We also urge the Secretary General to continue to explore the possibility of sharing aircraft with other missions in the region.
Mr Chairman,
UNMIS continues to face many challenges. The UN Technical Assessment Mission currently in Darfur may present additional challenges. CANZ would like to take this opportunity to pledge our full support to ensuring UNMIS has the necessary resources and structures to meet its objectives now and throughout the life of the mission.
Thank you.