By Thomas Escritt and Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) – Countries will not be able to fill the gap if the U.S. withdraws its funding for the United Nations peacekeeping mission, Germany’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
“We won’t fully be able to fill the gap if the U.S. withdraws from peacekeeping funding,” Johann Wadephul said at a joint press conference at the U.N. Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres acknowledged that the Blue Helmets peacekeeping mission faced serious liquidity problems and urged states to pay contributions in full and on time.
The White House budget office has proposed eliminating funding for United Nations peacekeeping missions, citing failures by operations in Mali, Lebanon and Democratic Republic of Congo, according to internal planning documents seen by Reuters in April.
Washington is the U.N.’s largest contributor – with China second – accounting for 22% of the $3.7 billion core regular U.N. budget and 27% of the $5.6 billion peacekeeping budget. These payments are mandatory.
The future of peacekeeping is being discussed at the two-day high-level political forum, with member states pledging support to the U.N. operations.
(Reporting by Thomsas Escritt, Berlin and Olivia Le Poidevin, Geneva; Editing by Rachel More)
