Future of Peace Operations Program

Spoiler Networks and Illicit Trade

With Alex Yearsley and Douglas Farah

Moderated by Victoria Holt

Event speakers Douglas Farah and Alex Yearsley

The Future of Peace Operations program invited Alex Yearsley, of Global Witness, and Douglas Farah, freelance writer and former Washington Post journalist, to discuss conflict fueled by illicit trade and illegal resource exploitation in West Africa.

The speakers addressed the potential of UN mechanisms such as peace operations and investigative Panels of Experts for stymieing illicit activities that help fund warring factions. Mr. Yearsley described the need for expanded UN mandates to authorize explicitly peacekeepers' assistance in restoring governmental control over natural resources and commodities. Mr. Farah highlighted both achievements and deficiencies of the Panels of Experts. The investigations of some Panels have yielded impressively in-depth details about the make-up and methods of illicit networks. Other Panels have been too shallow in their reports, failing to either uncover significantly new information or offer names of the complicit. Panels have also been undermined by a lack of UN follow-up on their findings. Farah noted that the key determinants of Panels' effectiveness are the personalities of individual Panel members--especially their willingness to criticize influential individuals--and the political will of UN Member States to implement Panel recommendations.

Participants in the lively discussion included representatives from Congress; the Department of State, Department of Defense and the US Agency for International Development; think tanks, non-governmental organizations and the United Nations.

Event Invite

Bios for Yearsley and Farah

Links:

March 18, 2005 open statement from Global Witness to the UN Security Council detailing the critical need for the maintenance of sanctions on Liberian diamonds, as well as the renewal and extension of the mandate of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC).

February 16, 2005 testimony of Douglas Farah before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on the role of commodities in terrorist financing.

When:

Thursday, April 7, 2005

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