CONCLUSION
Most UN peacemaking to date has been carried out by a few individuals who were often proactive in their approach and offered their services (sometimes in a modest way initially) to parties who ultimately accepted the assistance and asked for more, as confidence was established.
The need to support and strengthen the UN's heretofore modest peacemaking efforts with adequate resources and greater political support was acknowledged at the 2005 World Summit of Heads of State and of Government in the subsequent resolution adopted by the General Assembly which endorsed a greater role for the Secretary-General in this regard: ‘Recognizing the important role of the good offices of the Secretary-General, including in the mediation of disputes, we support the Secretary-General's efforts to strengthen his capacity in this area' (2005: 21). Efforts are now under way to do this, with some strengthening of the Department of Political Affairs and the creation of a small Mediation Support Unit in the department. Equally important, however, is the need for mediation and facilitation at the stage of preventive diplomacy before disputes escalate into violent conflict. Although there has been considerable discussion on this topic within UN circles, the capacity and political will for a truly effective conflict resolution approach at the prevention stage has not yet fully materialized. Nonetheless, the knowledge and skills gained from conflict resolution during the peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding stages can also be applied to conflict prevention, whenever the political will to do so can be marshalled, among member states and within the UN secretariat. Only then will the United Nations come closer to achieving the objective stated in its Charter: ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.'
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