UN General Assembly
1999

capabilities of regional organizations to engage in security cooperation, as well as their collaboration with the United Nations. However, the primacy of the Security Council remains absolutely essential. Without reforms in the area of peacekeeping, the Security Council will be circumvented more and more frequently, resulting in the erosion of the Security Council and, ultimately, of the entire United Nations system. The United Nations, one of civilization's greatest achievements this century, as well as the values and principles it represents, would thus be at risk of subsiding into insignificance. We must prevent that. 12 The disaster in East Timor is currently demonstrating how necessary close cooperation is between a Security Council capable of taking action and the countries in the region. The Security Council's mandate to send a multilateral peacekeeping force must be fully implemented. Indonesia must now cooperate closely with the United Nations Mission and do everything in its power to guarantee its success. The bloodshed must end. The victims must be helped. Those displaced must be able to return home safely. Germany has already provided humanitarian