Egypt keen on seeing UN peacekeeping potentials beefed up

"Egypt is keen on upgrading the UN capabilities so as to enable it undertak its responsibilities for maintaining world peace and security," said Ahmad Abul-Gheit, Egypt's Ambassador to the UN.

Abul-Gheit was commenting on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's statement delivered last night before the General Assembly in which he called for increasing the number of personnel at the UN secretariat departments, beefing up the international organization's budget and consolidating its ability to collect and analyse information in order to avoid a repetition of the fatal mistakes that occurred in Bosnia and elsewhere.

"Egypt shares the rest of member states their conviction that the UN structure should be overhauled and that its resources should be increased in order to successfully undertake its peacekeeping missions," Abul Gheit stressed.

He voiced Egypt's preparedness to study the UN Secretary General's proposals on means of strengthening peacekeeping operations and other activities by the organization, as part of the effort to restructure the international organization.

Abul Gheit called for more contributions by the West major powers to peacekeeping operations in terms of military forces, and said it was high time these powers refrain from foisting the greater share of the military and human burdens on the developing nations.