2023-07-15 08:15:36
The hardest blow to the reputation of the blue helmets came from an unknown city of Srebrenica, in present-day Bosnia, in 1995. Some 8,000 men, women and children they were killed by Bosnian Serb troops. It was the largest massacre on European soil since World War II. They were supposed to protect them. Dutch blue helmets of the Dutchbat III battalion, under the mandate of the United Nations Security Council. They were less than 1,000, and before them they had a powerful army with a plan that would later be described as genocidal by the court in The Hague. They called for reinforcements, but they did not arrive. Mark Rutte’s government honored his memory last year at a public ceremony and apologized to them for a “mission gone impossible.”
that operation of Unprofor (that was the name of the mission) went horribly wrong. But the role of the blue berets is absolutely vital to keep peace in dozens of hot spots around the world. Men and women of all races and nationalities sent by their Governments they risk their lives in foreign countries to defend civilians who know nothing.
More than two million people have participated in one of the 72 United Nations missions in a history that began 75 years ago. In 1948 the first peace mission was sent, to monitor the ceasefire after the Arab-Israeli war.
Since then, 4,314 “blue helmets” have died in the line of duty. The missions with the most deaths are two that are still in force: the mission for Mali (309) and the one for Lebanon (330). The latter is led by Spain at the moment, and 16 Spaniards have left their lives there.
“The most successful peace missions of the United Nations have been in Suez, Cyprus, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, East Timor and the Ivory Coast,” he opines for this newspaper. Alistair D. Edgar, PhD in Political Science from Wilfrid Laurier University, in Canada. “Simply, thanks to the support of the United Nations peacekeeping missions, in those countries there have been no massacres or open wars. For its inhabitants, the blue helmets have been key to their lives and their future”.
The most obvious failure, he points out, have been Rwanda and the aforementioned Bosnia (Srebrenica). “Those United Nations rulings could have been avoided with better decision making”, says the expert in blue helmets. “Missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and now Sudan, South Sudan, Mali and Central Africa have been unable to prevent continued conflict and violence, but in those cases the failures have been caused by the states themselves or by groups. non-state armed groups”.
The mission in Mali is a good example of the latter. With more than 17,000 troops, including military and civilians, the Security Council has given the order to finish it, after fierce criticism from the Malian government, dissatisfied with the ineffectiveness, they say, of the international forces to put an end to the Jihadist threats from Al Qaeda and Islamic Stateeither. Now they have agreed with other international groups, especially Russia and mercenaries from the Wagner group, who have less scruples when it comes to entering villages in search of suspected terrorists and executing them on the spot.
Cyprus Missions to Kashmir
The UN currently maintains 12 peacekeeping missions involving more than 87,000 troops from 125 countries around the world.
“Peace missions are a powerful example of how strong partnerships and collective political will can result in meaningful change,” he opines for THE SPANISH NEWSPAPERfrom the Prensa Ibérica group, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Deputy Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations. “In very different contexts, working together with local communities and other partners, our staff monitor and maintain ceasefires, protect civilians, catalyze political solutions and help end conflict for sustainable peace.”
There are missions like Cyprus that they are calmer and simply maintain the status quo for decades. 1,000 troops to deter deadly clashes like those that resulted from the attempted Turkish invasion of the island in 1974.
Others, like that of Kosovothey heat up again from time to time, as happened during the violent clashes in May of this year.
In which the United Nations has for the Occidental Sahara politics (the vain attempt to get Morocco to accept a self-determination referendum) prevails over military issues.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the operation in South Sudan, where there are about 18,000 soldiers trying to maintain a fragile ceasefire with this country’s northern neighbor, the newest in the world (2011). A similar figure is displayed in Republic of the Congoto try to maintain peace and protect civilians after the cessation of internal hostilities in 2010. In Central African Republic there are almost 19,000 troops, mainly dedicated to protecting civilians from attacks by jihadist terrorists.
One of the smallest missions, with only 110 troops, ensures that the ceasefire is maintained between two enormous military powers: India and Pakistan, fighting over the border in Cashmere.
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