Jose Ramos-Horta to visit S'pore

Jose Ramos-Horta to visit S'pore

SINGAPORE (AP): About 20 academics and experts from Asia, including East Timor's Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, will meet in Singapore next week to discuss peacekeeping in Asia and how the United Nations can improve operations in the region.

"It is hoped that through a candid exchange of opinions and experiences, the meeting could produce practical suggestions for improving UN peace operations that reflect the concerns of Asia," Simon Tay, the meeting's organizer, said in a statement on Friday.

Tay, who is chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs and an independent member of Parliament, said the meeting would focus on a UN report issued last August that called for an overhaul of peacekeeping efforts in the aftermath of UN failures in Rwanda and the Bosnian "safe haven" of Srebrenica.

The report called for clearer peacekeeping mandates and recommended that the UN Security Council hold off on approving new missions until the United Nations has received firm pledges for troops.