Deal reached on cuts to UN peacekeeping: diplomat

New York - A tentative deal on nearly $600m in cuts to the UN peacekeeping budget has been reached following weeks of tough negotiations over US demands for a sharp cost reduction, a Security Council diplomat said on Wednesday.

The United Nations will spend $7.3bn on peacekeeping in the coming year, down from the current $7.87bn, said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States, the biggest financial contributor to the peacekeeping budget, had sought a nearly $1bn cut to the bill.

Hardest-hit by the cuts will be the UN missions in Sudan's troubled region of Darfur and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the two costliest operations with budgets that run over $1bn.

The diplomat said however that there were "cuts across the board" in peacekeeping as a result of US pressure to scale back the budget.

Washington pays 28.5% of the $7.9bn budget for peacekeeping and 22% of the UN's core budget of $5.4bn.

The deal is expected to be approved by the UN General Assembly on Friday, when the annual budget for peacekeeping runs out.