Reforming the United Nations has became imperative to maintaining global peace, as the existing mechanisms to preserve world order are inadequate, a workshop of the 49th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) conference was told yesterday.

British lawmaker Cheryl Gillan, moderating the workshop, "Do We Have Adequate Peacekeeping

Mechanisms for Preserving World Order," at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre, told newspersons the CPA delegates viewed the present peacekeeping instruments as insufficient for global peace.

"The UN is well aware of its own failures. The secretary general (UN) has himself emphasised reform from within the world body," she said. "The UN is an extremely valuable organisation. Without the UN, the world would be a poorer place tolivein, but as our world changes, the UN requires changes too," Gillan said.

The British lawmaker praised Bangladesh for contributing 30,000 military and 15,000 civilian peacekeepers to 14 missions around the world. Over the years, the 14 operations alone have suffered in excess of 700 fatalities, she pointed out.

In her speech at the workshop Gillan said, "We have also seen the controversial invasion of Iraq by the United States, assisted by the UK in a pre-emptive attempt to neutralise weapons of mass destruction and liberate an oppressed nation."

Observing that the challenge for the UN is to reform because the system was not working well, Gillan quoted UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as saying, "People are happy that Saddam has gone, but they had not expected this disorder to follow. If we cannot manage the current situation, it could get worse than anything Saddam could have done."

Ugandan MP Odonga Otto, Australian Senator John Watson, West Bengal Assembly Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, Head of the CPA New Zealand delegation Dr Wayne Mapp, and ruling BNP lawmaker Abdul Alim, among other delegates from Commonwealth countries, took

partin the workshop.

Dr Mapp told the workshop that his country was not involved in the recent Iraq war, "the reason being that it did not have a second UN resolution, following Resolution 1441, to authorise specific military action. However, New Zealand did deploy two frigates and a surveillance aircraft to the Gulf based at Oman... as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. The goal was to intercept terrorists in the Gulf."

"At the conclusion of the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, world leaders called for a comprehensive reform of the Security Council. Expansion of the Security Council and restriction or elimination of the right to veto was the main concern," Dr Mapp said.

Halim accused the US of financing, training and also putting the Taliban in power in Afghanistan, and also financing Saddam's regime to counter Iran. "Is this the name of peace? The country promoting world disorder has to be checked first," he asserted.

Another workshop, "Are the Millennium Development Goals Achievable," held simultaneously at the same conference centre, yielded a set of recommendations for reforming the UN.

The recommendations by Nigerian lawmaker Farouk Lawan, who moderated the workshop, included ensuring the UN receives the financial resources it needs to carry out its mandates, adopting best internal management practices, discouraging unilateral action by member countries like the US and UK military strike on Iraq and building stronger relations among the UN, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organisation.