POLITICS: Are UN Troops Ill-Trained For Peacekeeping?

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 2000 (IPS) - The crisis in Sierra Leone has brought into focus an oft-repeated criticism of UN peacekeeping operations, namely, that most UN troops are neither trained nor fully-equipped for the sometimes dangerous task of keeping the peace in post-conflict situations.

“We have never assumed responsibility for training peacekeeping troops,” UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard admits. “We expect the contributing governments to do that.”

Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters Wednesday that the best peacekeeper is a well-trained soldier. “And we would like to see some of the governments with capacity, with good armies and well-trained soldiers, to participate.”

But unfortunately, he complained, these countries are “not running forward to contribute to this force.”

“So we have to take the forces we get. And that is why I hoped that some of those with capacity would go to the assistance of those who are in there, doing the bidding of the Security Council and the UN,” he added.

As of April 30, the 10 largest troop contributors to all UN peacekeeping operations were: Nigeria, India, Ghana, Australia, Jordan, Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan, Poland and the Philippines.

On Monday, Annan appealed to countries such as Britain, the United States and France for a “rapid reaction force” to move into Sierra Leone and boost the embattled UN peacekeepers there. But none of these three countries – all with highly professional armies – has responded to Annan’s request.

Responding to a comment that the United Nations, once again, is being let down by member states who make promises but don’t deliver, Annan said: “The UN can be as strong as its member states, and we go back to the question of political will, and resources, and the willingness to commit resources.”

More recently, however, the United Nations has developed manuals and video clips for soldiers serving in peacekeeping operations while UN staffers have travelled to various countries to train military trainers.

“We have a sort of a training infrastructure in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations,” Eckhard said.

But the basic instructions and guidelines provided by the world body have apparently not helped the troops in Sierra Leone, mostly from Zambia, Nigeria, Jordan and India, who have been quick to relent under pressure from armed and unarmed rebels.

The rebels, belonging to the 45,000-strong Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Sankoh, have succeeded in abducting and detaining about 500 UN troops and civilians causing a major political crisis for the world body. At the last count, the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone had a total strength of 8,936 troops.

The abductions have not only humiliated the United Nations but also threatened all future peacekeeping operations because it may deter member states, mostly from Third World nations, from providing troops.

The abducted troops – described as “detainees”, not “hostages” – have also been stripped of their light weapons and communications equipment.

One newspaper report said that a teenage rebel hijacked an armoured personnel carrier without a fight. Of the 16 armoured personnel carriers with the Zambian contingent, at least 13 have been lost to rebels who have deployed the vehicles in and around the capital of Freetown.

As is customary, the UN force in Sierra Leone is equipped mostly with light arms and armoured personnel carriers. And each battalion is expected to arrive fully-equipped with their own transport, communications, light weapons and even helmets and flak jackets. But not every unit comes fully equipped. Meanwhile, the United Nations has ordered some Russian helicopter gunships. They are expected to arrive by the end of May.

Eckhard has already admitted problems with the UN’s communications equipment in Sierra Leone. ” (It is) not good … It is always breaking down,” he said.

As a result, the United Nations has urgently shipped additional equipment from its storage facility in Brindisi, Italy. “But it is still not the kind of communications equipment we would need that would be absolutely reliable. We are using one of the least reliable systems right now,” he added.

But despite these shortcomings, the UN force in Sierra Leone is planning to stick to its guns. “We hope it will not come to a pitch battle, but we are preparing for one,” Eckhard added.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is also blaming its misadventure largely on budgetary cuts and sub-standard equipment. “Frankly, governments have not given us the strengths we need here at headquarters to do the kind of professional job we would like to do,” he said. “Our numbers have been reduced. Our budgets have been cut.”

Part of the problem lies in the fact that by the late 1990s it appeared as though all UN peacekeeping missions were winding down. “And then they created large missions in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and East Timor, and they have now authorised a large one for the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” he said.