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| Former First Minister shares peacekeeping experience with students |
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Originally published on January 26th, 2010 Jack McConnell MSP, the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Peacekeeping and former First Minister of Scotland, spoke last Wednesday to students at Edinburgh University about the difficulties and rewards of humanitarian intervention.
In a talk organized by the University's Politics Society, McConnell began by painting a bleak picture of international peace and security. He pointed to Haiti, where the devastating effects of the recent earthquake will be felt for years to come, as an example of a country where 'the UN has not been successful.' McConnell has largely been out of the public eye since stepping down as the leader of Scottish Labout after his defeat in the 2007 Scottish elections. During the talk he reminded the crowd of students that as of 2007, there were 26 million displaced people across the globe, half a million child soldiers and that 30 percent of warring countries that sign peace accords return to a state of conflict within five years. McConnell has been working as a special representative for 15 months, travelling the world to visit areas of conflict. He particularly moved his listeners with a tale of the Indian UN peacekeepers he had met in the Democratic Republic of Congo, describing the sacrifice and tribulations of the few dozen troops, who were tasked with keeping peace in a town of 3,000. “One of the reasons I accepted this position is that I believe that it’s a disgrace that after decades of progress, that we are starting a new century with so many people living in poverty and living in fear,” he told his listeners. As the talk progressed, McConnell spoke about some of peacekeeping and development projects that have been successful, highlighting the case of Sierra Leone, which, after years of bloody civil war, has an elected government and an internationally backed development strategy. McConnell outlined what he sees as the most important factors for successful conflict resolution and development, saying: “The common strands of improved government, economy and societal development make countries successful – but development must be led from inside the country, it must be run by citizens – because there are many disastrous examples of imposition by other countries.” In addition to citizen-run development, he said that development needs to begin as soon as intervention does, saying that first-world countries must learn that “you cannot run military campaigns as solely military campaigns,” and that successful intervention and development depends on cooperation between military and development elements. Ending his talk with optimism, McConnell urged students to be involved, saying: “If we are going to achieve the [UN’s] Millennium Goals, peace building is going to have to be the focus of the 21st century, and, if we succeed, we will reap more rewards than anyone ever has in war.”
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