My second point concerns the need to strengthen United Nations peacekeeping ...

My second point concerns the need to strengthen United Nations peacekeeping operations and missions. This requires clear, specific, situation- or country oriented mandates, as well as training and resources, so as to successfully fulfil our responsibilities to those who suffer the most. Allow me to stress training. If they are to carry out their tasks in an efficient way, peacekeepers should be well acquainted with the origins and reasons underlying a conflict as well as the social, economic, ethnic and cultural patterns of the country in which they serve. Recent experiences show the importance and usefulness of engaging with local communities and benefiting from their wealth of knowledge of specific situations and conditions, as well as the extent to which such engagement can reinforce the sense of ownership by the people. One must also bear in mind, however, that those communities might be singled out as objects of reprisal by warring factions, and act accordingly.