President Trump's Government Proposes Elimination Of Funding For United Nations Peace Maintenance

UN peacekeeping force in MALI (MINUSMA). (Wikimedia Commons/MONUSCO)

JAKARTA - The White House's budget office has proposed removing funding for a UN peacekeeping mission, citing a failed operation in Mali, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to an internal planning document seen by Reuters.

The proposed peacekeeping fund cuts were included in the so-called "Passback," response by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to a State Department funding request for the upcoming fiscal year, which began on October 1.

The overall plan is to cut the State Department's budget by about half.

The new budget must be approved by Congress, and lawmakers can decide to return part or all of the funding the government has proposed cuts.

The State Department will respond to the OMB proposal on Tuesday. During the first term of office of US President Donald Trump, he proposed cutting about a third of the diplomatic budget and aid. However, Congress, which set the federal government budget, rejected Trump's proposal.

"There are no final plans, the final budget," State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the OMB's proposal.

The OMB has proposed ending the Contribution to International Peace Maintenance Activities (CIPA).

"For example, Passback does not provide funding for CIPA, ending its contribution to international peacekeeping due to recent failures in peacekeeping, such as with MINUSMA, UNIFIL, and MONUSCO, and very high assessment rates," according to a quote from Passback.

Washington is the largest contributor to the United Nations, followed by China in second place, which accounts for 22 percent of the UN's regular core budget of US$3.7 billion and 27 percent of the mandatory US$5.6 billion peacekeeping budget.

The United Nations peacekeeping budget funded nine missions in Mali, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Western Sahara, Cyprus, Kosovo, between Syria and Israel's occupied Golan Heights and Abyei, administrative territory jointly managed by South Sudan and Sudan.

The OMB Passback also proposed the formation of a $2.1 billion America First Opportunities Fund (A1OF), which it said would be used to cover a limited number of economic aid and foreign development priorities.

"If the Government seeks to pay any assessment for the United Nations Regular Budget or a peacekeeping assessment, we will seek to provide the funds from A1OF," reads the OMB Passback.

Separately, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday declined to comment on "what appears to be a leaked memo that is part of an internal debate within the US administration."

The US owes it to arrears and current fiscal year, nearly $1.5 billion to the United Nations regular budget and nearly $1.2 billion to the peacekeeping budget.

A country can be in arrears for up to two years before facing a possible loss of votes at the 193-member General Assembly.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month said he was looking for ways to increase efficiency and cut costs for the 80-year-old world body amid the financial crisis.