Madam, - Ed Horgan (Oct 28th) writes on the need for UN reform. No one can doubt the validity of such an argument. The strangulation of the world body by the will of the five permanent members of the Security Council is simply untenable.
Nevertheless, those same members have a veto on UN reform, and as such reform will be a prolonged and difficult process in the long term.
Meanwhile, something must be done in the short term to help the UN act decisively - or sanction decisive action - in times of crisis.
It is no secret that the failure of consensus at the Security Council has led to a tendency to subcontract UN missions, be it to African regional forces or NATO, as seen during the 1990s.
Kofi Annan's recent call for an EU capability is simply a pragmatic suggestion for an alternative military force, which can answer the UN's call if and when required.
There is nothing to prevent the European Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) being such an alternative, or the battle groups emanating from its numbers.
There is a moral imperative for a wealthy EU to have a capability of acting to prevent or end a humanitarian crisis, where it emerges. The current despicable case of Sudan is testament to this.
Mr Horgan does not appear to agree. Instead he wishes to taint his argument with a diatribe that "the EU wants to project its economic interests abroad by use of military force. . .Continued exploitation of the majority world by the West is the goal". This is gross mischaracterisation.
The European RRF was conceived in response to Europe's inability to act during the Yugoslav crises of the 1990s, when invariably the United States, as the only credible military actor, was asked to lead an intervention.
Think of Somalia, Rwanda and the current "genocide" in Sudan and it is blatantly obvious that a dependence upon US assistance is not sustainable.
Finally, Mr Horgan seems to implicitly condemn NATO action in Kosovo, which received retrospective legitimacy from the UN Security Council. What was his alternative?
Perhaps do nothing and allow the complete ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians from the Yugoslav province?
People being murdered and fleeing from ethnic cleansing cannot wait for the Holy Grail of a perfect and reformed UN. - Yours, etc.,
TOM WARD, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.