UN peacekeeping operations (catch all)

[John T. Fishel]

I make this observation not to criticize the UN; it is, as Rex says, a wholly owned subsidiary of the member states. Thus a UN PKO can only be what its members want it to be. As Jon says, UNOSOM II was a case in point although I disagree as to the reasons it failed. Created under UNSCR 814, it had the most robust C2 structure of any Peace Op to date (and maybe ever). At US insistence the SRSG was an American, former Dep NSA VADM Jonathon Howe, the FC was a NATO general, LTG Cevik Bir from Turkey, and the Dep FC was again US MG tom Montgomery, dual hatted as COMUSFORSOM. From may until June 93 the major problem was that DPKO was unable to either negotiate sufficient force contributors or get them deployed in time so the UNOSOM II force which was to have been 28,000 strong at handover on 4 May was only 14,000 at it peak. Then came Aideed's attack that kileed several peacekeepers.
At Admiral Howe's insistence, with the concurrence of USUN Rep, Madelaine Albright, the UNSC passed over the weekend, UNSCR 837 which authorized operations to capture Aideed and any others who assisted him putting UNOSOM II on the side of his opponents. This brought into play the problem of Terms of Reference (TOR) - the agreements signed by DPKO with the force Contributors specifiying the rules of engagement and precisely what they agreed to do under the terms of UN "Operational Control" (which, at best, is the equivalent of US tactical control - TACON). Italy, which both contributed forces and provided the U2 - intel staff officer - had long standing relationships with Aideed and said flat out that 837 was not what it had signed up for; Italy had only agreed to enforce 814. Hence conflict.
I won't go into the US C2 fiasco other than to say that it violated our own doctrine in every possible way.
If interested see Chapter 12 of Max Manwaring and my book, UNCOMFORTABLE WARS REVISITED and/ or Chapter 9 of my edited volume, THE SAVAGE WARS OF PEACE (thesource of the other chapter written with Tom Daze who was XO to Montgomery).

Cheers

JohnT

[SWJ Blog]

India and UN Peacekeeping: Declining Interest with Grave Implications

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[davidbfpo]

Prompted by two Australian articles (see next post) I have searched SWC using 'peacekeeping'; there are numerous threads where it features, a far smaller number of threads where it is in the title and a few specific threads, e.g. East Timor.

I have merged six threads, some were SWJ Blog and renamed the thread as a catch all.

[davidbfpo]

Two articles from the Australian Lowy Institute:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...-Cambodia.aspx and:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...cognition.aspx

I noted in the first:

Retired General Mike Smith, Director of the Security Sector Advisory & Coordination Division in the UN Support Mission in Libya

In the second:

Peacekeeping is not alchemy. There are no magic transforming 'bullets' in communities serious enough to warrant deployment. Despite the best hopes of fast turnarounds, it is typically full of the painstaking negotiations and compromises that pock-mark nations rife with conflict, poverty and fear.

[davidbfpo]

Classic under-statement warning

United Nations peacekeeping missions routinely avoid using force to protect civilians who are under attack, intervening in only 20 percent of cases despite being authorized to do so by the U.N. Security Council...

"There is a persistent pattern of peacekeeping operations not intervening with force when civilians are under attack....Peacekeepers are absent from many locations when civilians come under attack, and when they are present, are unable or unwilling to prevent serious physical harm from being inflicted..

Link:http://mobile.reuters.com/article/id...40516?irpc=932

[Bill Moore]

Classic under-statement warning



Link:http://mobile.reuters.com/article/id...40516?irpc=932

What did GEN Rupert Smith write in his book? Something along the lines of we're willing to deploy military forces, but not employ them. The UN does great work in many fields, but it is a failure at peace operations.

[davidbfpo]

A rare article on events in Darfur, I'd forgotten there was a UN mission there, known as UNAMID (a hybrid with the AU) and in place for six years:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-r..._5683453.html?

The author ends with:

It's difficult to escape the conclusion that Darfur is the genocide that people got tired of. A terrible epitaph in the wake of so many impassioned declarations of "never again."

Facts & figures for UNAMID:http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/mi...id/facts.shtml

[SWJ Blog]

NYT Peacekeeping Debate

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[SWJ Blog]

New Study Suggests Reforms to UN Peacekeeping Operations

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[davidbfpo]

An open access article from the RUSI Journal, by Mats Berdal & David Ucko. The Abstract:

Although the demand for UN peacekeepers shows little sign of abating, a sense of uncertainty and malaise continues to colour discussions about the future of UN peacekeeping. Of the many issues facing the UN High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations that was set up in 2014, the use of force by UN peacekeepers is likely to attract particular attention. It is also likely to prove divisive, both among member states and within the Secretariat. While steps can be taken to strengthen the capacity of the UN to mount and conduct field operations, Mats Berdal and David H Ucko argue that the way forward does not lie simply in entrusting UN forces with ever-more ‘robust’ war-fighting mandates. Instead, more systematic attention needs to be given to strategically linking UN peacekeeping activities to political processes aimed at bringing violent conflict to an end. This will require far greater honesty from member states regarding their own responsibility in enabling the UN to do what they ask of it.

Link:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03071847.2015.1016718#abstract

[SWJ Blog]

Top US General Urges Countries to Bolster UN Peacekeeping

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[SWJ Blog]

As UN Peacekeeping Veers Toward Counterterror, US Steps In

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[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to a "lurker" a different aspect of peacekeeping:

Last weekend, a documentary following those women premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Called Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers, the film follows 140 women peacekeepers from on their third deployment to Haiti from June 2013 to July 2014.....The women make two to three times [more] as a peacekeeper compared to what they make as a police officer in Bangladesh, so it’s very appealing for a lot of them.

Link:http://www.refinery29.com/2015/09/93...-peacekeepers?

[120mm]

I've not seen much written on how largely bureaucratic UN "leaders" manage to fail, miserably in their mission, yet continue to persist in their role, or even gain promotion.

As part of a project spanning 2012 - 2015, I encountered a particularly smelly human turd named "Martin Kobler".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Kobler

This "gentleman" has an auspicious history studded with failures, largely attributed to his incompetence and his blatantly anti-military prejudice. He is considered by many I spoke to as contemptuous of military people and disregards his military advisers.

The Wiki page briefly covers the debacle he helped make in Iraq, but it doesn't cover the disaster he oversaw in DRC.

His public statements were telling: When he was criticized for his troops being barracks bound while civilians were being massacred by LRA, he stated "We cannot be everywhere." and that "He would march his forces around the jungle continuously" until he defeated the rebels. Not surprisingly, later that week, his exhausted and frustrated troops, having finally left their barracks to "march around the jungle continuously" machine-gunned a group of cars that were stuck in a traffic jam and blocking their way.

I wish I could post the paper I wrote, here, but it's owned by my former employer.

[davidbfpo]

A short BBC report, topical as the focus is Mali:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-34812600

Why the most dangerous?

Mali (Minusma) - 53 deaths

• Sudan (Unamid, hybrid mission in Darfur with African Union) - 48 deaths
• DR Congo (Monusco) - 18 deaths
• South Sudan (Unmiss) - 17 deaths
• Ivory Coast (Unoci) - 16 deaths

Source: UN figures from 2013 up to 31 October 2015, excluding deaths from illness

[davidbfpo]

A "broad brush" comment on peacekeeping's effect at home, accentuated by the USA and a few others hiring so many soldiers from "developing countries" who return home with quite different ideas:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/op...ome-home.html?

[davidbfpo]

Excluding the now quite small UK contingent in Cyprus, with UNCYPF, the UK has ten military personnel wearing a blue beret. Although the UK does pay a lot for peacekeeping by others.

The price in blood others paid:

The tragic loss of 456 UK service personnel in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2016 has quite rightly dominated the media in the UK but how many of us are aware that 1,733 UN peacekeepers have also died in the line of duty during the same period?

Link:http://defenceindepth.co/2016/03/02/...-back-in-blue/

[SWJ Blog]

U.S. to Provide More Support to U.N. Peacekeeping Forces

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[SWJ Blog]

A History of United Nations Peacekeeping - Thematic Bibliography

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[SWJ Blog]

Whither the UN’s War in Congo?

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