Secretary-General's message on the 50th anniversary of the creation of the first United Nations Peacekeeping Operation

Fifty years ago this weekend, an emergency special session of the General Assembly established the first United Nations peacekeeping operation. The United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), deployed with the consent of all parties, was tasked with securing and supervising the cessation of hostilities -- including a withdrawal of the armed forces of France, Israel and the United Kingdom from Egyptian territory. After the withdrawal, UNEF was to serve as a buffer between the Egyptian and Israeli forces, and provide impartial supervision of the ceasefire.

Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and his staff worked around the clock to establish this unprecedented mission as quickly as possible. The first units landed in Ismailia on the Suez Canal within 10 days of the General Assembly's decision, to start the first peacekeeping operation under the United Nations flag. Dag Hammarskjöld also negotiated with Egypt a Status of Forces Agreement, establishing the legal relationship of the Force with the host country. In this way, UNEF established a useful model for future operations.

The mission was an extraordinary success. By the end of the year, French and British forces had left the Suez Canal Zone. Israeli forces completed their withdrawal just three months later. The international community provided firm support, and troop contributing countries backed up their words with rapid, effective action. The first UN peacekeeping operation using armed forces was born.

Sixty missions later, UN peacekeeping operations have become an indispensable weapon in the arsenal of the international community. They provide a legitimate and impartial response to conflict; an opportunity for burden-sharing; an effective means to take tangible action; a bridge to stability and long term peace and development. But peacekeeping will never be the right tool for every situation. It must accompany a peace process; it cannot substitute for one. And for fragile peace to take root, comprehensive measures are needed to address security sector reform, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration.

Today, half a century after launching the first peacekeeping mission, UN peacekeeping again faces another enormous challenge. With 18 current operations, a historic high of 93,000 personnel in the field, and a total that may reach 140,000 in 2007, UN peacekeeping is stretched as never before. Yet we confront that challenge with informed optimism. Just look at the rapid deployment of thousands of reinforcements -- from the developed and developing world alike -- to the expanded and reenergized UN Interim Force in Lebanon. It shows, as UNEF did, that so long as peacekeeping has the political and practical support and commitment of the international community, as expressed through the main organs of the United Nations, anything is possible. The task ahead will be demanding, but we will fulfil it. We will do so for the sake of international peace and security, and for the sake of those vulnerable populations of the earth for whom the blue helmets represent the best hope.

Kofi A. Annan