European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 1, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday october 1, 198b the stars and stripes Page 7 peacekeeping forces had Humble Start by the Las Angeles times United nations the , peacekeeping forces which won the Nobel peace prize thursday started on a shoestring and still operate that Way. Ii was improvise from he begin  recalled Brian Urquhart father of the Blue helmets who got their name from the . World warm surplus Hel met liners that were hastily painted sky Blue 1o provide the . Forces with a distinctive look. I wanted to have them Wear Blue be rets but in would have taken Loo Long Urquhart said. The time was november 19s6. When the Security Council created the . Emergency Force after the attack on the Suez canal by Britain France and Israel. To Supply the first peacekeeping Force Urquhart commandeered food from freighters stranded in the canal by the wreckage although observer forces existed before Kunef was the first of its kind and it succeeded in its Mission for the next decade. Since the beginning nearly half a Mil lion men and women have served and 733 have died and the Nobel is a wonderful tribute to them Urquhart said. A Young British army officer when he joined the . Staff in its infancy in 1946, Urquhart retired two Yean ago As undo rec a Clary Tepera for special political affairs Calle Olofsson of Sweden ii member of the . Peacekeeping Force in Lebanon. After having organized other peacekeeping forces. Marrack Goulding another briton who holds he undersecretary general Post said 9,971 military personnel Are on duty plus about 2,000 civilians in a half dozen places ranging from Cyprus to the indo pakistani Border. The number is about to increase with 7,500 troops scheduled to move into the Southwest african territory of Namibia to supervise the withdrawal of South african troops and the first Independent elections there. Another important but smaller opera Tion is in Afghanistan where so troops Monitor the april peace pact under which the soviet Union has started with drawing its  Namibia Force is estimated to Cost j700 million a year while the Afghani Sian observer Force has a budget of j7.bmillion. Possible peace missions in the Western Sahara and Cambodia could add another $500 million to inc current s230 million a year  five existing peacekeeping forces Are s4r4 million in the red officials said. The United Stales which bears 31 per cent of he Cost on these operations is nearly si00 million in arrears As of a gust. The biggest debt s82.5 million is owed by Washington for its share of run Ning the . Interim Force in Southern Lebanon. Un1fil, created by the Security Council As a Buffer Between Israel and Lebanon after the israeli invasion of its Northern neighbor is the biggest Mission in the current program. It is also the Force from which one of the 36 . Military men serving with a peace Force has been kidnapped. It. Col. William Higgins a Marine assigned to the . Truce supervisory Force was detailed to in if i when he was seized lost Spring. The organization of the oppressed on Earth claimed responsibility for the abduction. The bulk of the peacekeeping Burden has been borne by Canada the scandinavian countries Ireland Austria and Small nations like Ghana Nepal and Fiji. Pentagon official defends Aegis tests Washington a the Aegis electronic system was adequately tested before the Navy began buying the sophisticated ship defense the defense department s chief weapons tester told Congress. The report by John e. Krings disputed a study by the general accounting office which had raised questions about the adequacy of tests of the Aegis system. The operational lusting of Aegis has _ been adequate to support the acquisition decisions that have been made and More testing will be conducted to support future decisions Krings director of inc defense department s new operational test and evaluation program told a House subcommittee. Ii was an Aegis class Cruiser the Vincennes that shot Down an iranian commercial Airliner in the persian Gulf on july j. . Officials said the commander of the . Warship had mistaken the civilian jetliner for an iranian military Jet. All 290 people aboard the jetliner were killed. Questions were raised about Aegis which the Navy has touted As the world s most sophisticated air defense system. Aegis is a Long Range radar and tire control system designed to protect Battle groups at sea from incoming missiles and planes. A Navy investigation into the iranian jetliner Downing exonerated the Aegis system concluding that in worked As designed. The probe concluded that human error led to the mistakes and that Navy officers on the Vince incs misread data. Expanded nuclear test program May follow Cut in strategic arms Washington not president Reagan has Reagan s rcp9rt asserts that there is no direct Lei 1. A of non mar int Ili Jurt Iljin Ditt c Manj of Ipoh to Rij no miniinnchin1 he  the Ami in of iic4in0 la s told Congress that the United slates May need to expand its nuclear testing program even if Moscow and Washington agree to Cut their strategic arsenals in a new report to Congress Reagan also expressed Strong scepticism about the prospects and value of ngot Lal ing new Lim its on nuclear testing. The United states and the soviet Union agreed at the december Summit meeting to try to negotiate such limits. An administration official said inc sceptical tone of the report followed internal debate in which administration hard liners appear to have prevailed. Since Reagan will be leaving office soon the report May reflect policy considerations that would be carried into a Bush administration. Gov. Michael s. Dukakis has pledged to seek a total ban on testing if elected. At the december Summit meeting the United states and the soviet Union outlined a slip by slip approach toward nuclear testing limits. According to a .-so Viet statement issued at the meeting the first step would be to improve verification for two  1970s treaties that limit the size of underground nuclear explosions. The next step would be to proceed to negotiating further intermediate limitations on nuclear testing As part of a process to Cut strategic arms. This was in line with Reagan administration demands that new testing limits cannot be approved unless the number of Long Range nuclear arms is reduced. But Reagan s report appears to question the value of new talks to set limits on the number or size of nuclear tests. Reagan report tech Nical relationship Between the amount of testing that is needed and the size of the nuclear Arsenal. It also asserts that the need for testing could be greater if strategic arms Are reduced noting that it would be important to ensure that the remaining Arsenal of . Nuclear weapons is effective. It notes the United states has not decided what additional limits might be considered but adds the administration has determined that a Low limit of 10 Kilotons is almost certainty unacceptable. The president s report Stales that establishing any new limits would have serious implications for the american nuclear testing program and would represent a risk to american Security. Such a risk it says could Only be accepted if there was a major reduction in the threat to inc United slates and our allies brought about by a significant alteration in the International environment implying major new soviet policies and arms agreements. The report says that the initial aim of the talks should be to explore the basis for further limits and cautions that the Pace of the talks would be very slow. Rep. Edward j. Markcy d-mass., who opposes nuclear testing charged that the report represented an Effort by the administration to backtrack from its sum Mit commitment to negotiate further testing limits. But a while House official denied this. The commitment remains the official said. But our concerns Are still valid and they will have to be taken into account As this administration and the next administration moves Forward in the  Mitterrand urges . To Back Poison Gas embargo by inc Washington Post Washington French president Francois Mitterrand in a bold proposal on chemical weapons urged i tie United nations to endorse an International embargo of products technologies and. Weapons against any nation using Poison Gas. If adopted the proposal could end an enormous French program of arms sales to Iraq. . Investigators repeatedly have said Iraq used chemical weapons against Iran and the United Stales has accused Iraq of using Poison Gas to kill hundreds of native kurdish tribesmen. Let us create a situation which would make it impossible for any state to use chemical weapons with impunity to set the its external or internal problems Mitterrand told the 43rd session of the . General Assembly. In a passage that appeared in his pre pared text but was omitted from his delivered speech Mitterrand added i a peal to the supplier countries in this connection and i know whereof i speak As do some others listening to me  Iraq is the Middle East s largest recipient of arms transfers according a recent report by the . Arms control and disarmament Agency or Acda importing about half of its arms from the soviet Union and is percent from France Between 1982 and 1986. Lesser shipments have come from China Poland West Germany and the United kingdom. Total transfers in 1982 to 1986 amounted to $31.7 billion and France accounted for j4.5 billion according to Acda. There was no immediate reaction from officials of these countries to Mitterrand s proposal which was mentioned along with several other new ideas signifying a dramatic increase in French con Cern about the proliferation of chemical weapons. Mitterrand told president Reagan at the while House on thursday afternoon for example that he would accept a . Suggestion that France Host an International conference to reinforce a 1925 treaty barring use of Poison Gas and signed by 110 nations. Reagan made the suggestion because France holds the offi Cial documents of the treaty signed in Versailles