(MENAFN- Live Mint) The United Nations, in response to the United States' funding cuts to the world organisation, will begin to cut its peacekeeping force and operations over the next several months, a report has said. The move is expected to impact thousands of soldiers and police personnel in far-flung countries, who will be instructed to evacuate them, according to a senior UN official.

The unnamed official quoted by The Associated Press told reporters on Wednesday that the move has come as a result of its largest donor US implementing changes in line with President Donald Trump's America-first push.

25% workforce to be affected

The UN layoffs will impact around 25 per cent of its global workforce, the senior official said. This means that around 13,000 to 14,000 military and police personnel out of more than 50,000 peacekeepers deployed across nine global missions will be asked to go home.

The UN office in Somalia will also be affected due to the US budget cuts. This comes as the global body plans to slash about 15 per cent of the peacekeeping force's $5.4 billion budget for next year.

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The budget cut is set to affect all areas of their work, the senior official warned, including operations and personnel - both civilian and uniformed. While it is unclear when and how the civilian personnel will be affected, but the official said it will be significant.

Countries where the UN's peacekeeping department lead missions include Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus and Kosovo.

Why is the US cutting UN budget?

Officials from the Donald Trump administration in the recent weeks have argued that the budget and agencies of the UN are bloated and redundant, saying that they will not be making any further voluntary or involuntary contributions until the US State Department has evaluated the efficiency of each UN agency and programme.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said in a TV interview last week that the US is focused on getting“the UN back to basics of promoting peace, enforcing peace, preventing wars.”

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He added,“We have to cut out all of this other nonsense.”

The decision to overhaul the distinctive blue berets or helmets-wearing personnel comes amid this situation and after a meeting between UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and representatives from donor countries including Waltz.

UN peacekeeping operations have grown dramatically. At the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, there were 11,000 UN peacekeepers. By 2014, there were 130,000 in 16 far-flung peacekeeping operations. Today, around 52,000 men and women serve in 11 conflict areas in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Contributions from the US and China make up half of the U.N.'s peacekeeping budget.

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