UN says its mission in South Sudan is still not at full strength since the Security Council authorized an emergency increase in troops to defuse the violence in the country.

The conflict has entered its eleventh month.

The United Nations Secretary-General on Friday began a wide-ranging review of the world body’s peacekeeping operations by naming an independent panel of experts with past ties to several UN missions.

The meeting came after a year in which more than 100 peacekeepers have died, including in targeted attacks, and 45 others were taken captive for two weeks by al-Qaida-linked fighters in the tense border area between Syria and Israel.

The UN meeting was a most comprehensive look at the 130,000-strong peacekeeping staff in almost 15 years.

At the same time, some of the UN’s 16 peacekeeping missions have been criticized for their lack of effectiveness and slow pace of deployment to crisis zones.

In May, the UN’s internal watchdog said peacekeeping forces responded immediately to only a minority of attacks on civilians between 2010 and 2013 and almost never used force to protect them when they did respond.

The Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, said that operations are under the most severe strain since the UN was founded, almost 70 years ago. He said Ebola is the latest threat.

Speaking during the meeting, David Pressman, alternate representative for special political affairs, said it has been 10 months since the Security Council authorized an emergency increase in troops to defuse the conflict in South Sudan, and yet the mission is still not at full strength.

Mr. Pressman said to realize genuine reforms, the UN itself must be frank about institutional obstacles, in addition to gaps in resources and gaps in political will.

The review panel, led by Nobel peace laureate, Jose Ramos-Horta, is expected to present its recommendations to the UN Security Council in September next year.

About half of the panel’s 14 members have served with UN peacekeeping missions.