Even with today's communications, the time needed to orchestrate international action capable of defusing a crisis is usually too long. NATO took nine months to act decisively in Kosovo, and a lot longer in Bosnia. Crises like Burundi, Congo and Sierra Leone have burned for years. The second problem is getting leaders to focus on potential conflicts or humanitarian emergencies when their desks are already swamped with immediate crises. Tell me what's going to happen this week.
Busy leaders have short attention spans.
The fourth problem is that the present international system for early warning and preventing conflict is ad hoc. This sort of flexibility may encourage creative solutions, but it also makes it easy to waste time and ignore problems. Effective conflict prevention involves more than new mechanisms and institutions. It also means creating the political will to devote time, attention, and resources to preventing conflicts and heading off humanitarian emergencies. Early warning mechanism The UN Security Council has invited the Secretary-General to submit a report on conflict prevention with recommendations for action.