Emergency Funding Weakens Peacekeeping

House and Senate Conferees finished work on the FY 2005 Emergency Supplemental Act (H.R.1268), authorizing just over $82 billion in emergency funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign assistance aid, and a host of other domestic and international commitments. The House and the Senate approved the conference report.

If approved, the conference agreement will allocate $680 million for the Contributions for International Peacekeeping Account (CIPA), a fund that pays the U.S. share of United Nations peacekeeping missions. President Bush requested $780 million in CIPA funding for UN peacekeeping missions in Haiti, Cote D’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Sudan, left unfunded by Congress last year. Although still shy of the President’s requested amount, the conference report’s total is higher than the $580 million approved by the House and the $440 million approved by the Senate.

Unfortunately, the conference report includes provisions that allow for up to $50 million in CIPA funds to be transferred from the account to support African Union (AU) forces in Darfur. While supporting AU forces is a necessary cause, it should not come at the expense of other peacekeeping missions. By diverting CIPA funds, Congress undermines the U.S.’s commitment to the 17 UN missions worldwide, including the new UN mission to Sudan, which partially funds the AU and is responsible for maintaining the fragile North-South peace agreement in Sudan.

If lawmakers are serious about finding a peaceful solution to the conflict that will stabilize the region in the long run, both President Bush’s CIPA request and support for the AU should be addressed and funded. Congress should find resources to support both the AU and UN peacekeeping operations fully.

In another damaging development, conferees also removed the Darfur Accountability Act from the final version of the supplemental. Championed by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ), this resolution called on the Bush Administration to take several practical steps to end the violence in Darfur. Actions enumerated in the bill include supporting a new UN Security Council resolution that would bring sanctions and an extension of the current arms embargo against the government of Sudan and enforcing a military no-fly zone over Darfur. The absence of these measures in the supplemental is a troubling setback for peace in the region.

The conference report sets aside $7.7 million for the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS). Housed within the State Department, S/CRS focuses on planning for post-conflict situations in failing and failed states. The conference-approved total for S/CRS falls nearly $10 million short of President Bush’s request of $17 million, of which the House approved $3 million, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $7 million, and the entire Senate approved the full $17 million amount. There appears to be widespread skepticism about this new office among lawmakers. Many legislators felt that S/CRS did not qualify as emergency spending and should not be included in the FY05 supplemental. However, it is clear that a reconstruction planning initiative, such as S/CRS, would have helped us in post-Saddam Iraq and post-Taliban Afghanistan. S/CRS requires more substantial funding if it is to be effective in its mission of mitigating the chaos of post-conflict situations.

 

Updated May 10, 2005