Abstract
Commanding
a multinational Force comprising of troops of many countries, each with
different professional standards and ethos, by itself, poses a big challenge.
In addition, doing peacekeeping in Africa poses a lot of other problems which
are not always easy to surmount. Despite these, most of the peacekeeping troops
generally do a good job of maintaining peace. The performance of Indian Offices
and men, however, is truly outstanding and they are not only liked for their
professionalism but also for their initiative and innovation. In this article
the author narrates a number of instances where the peacekeepers were able to
do a very good job in difficult and intricate situations. He talks of need for
adopting a strategy to prevent any escalation of conflict by effective
utilisation of Diplomacy and Deterrence through effective Peacekeeping
manoeuvres. In this article the author also highlights the importance of
keeping regular communications with the parties, establishing credibility of
the UN Mission by fair and just actions and helping the population by launching
a major Humanitarian campaign wherever possible.
General
As a founder
member of the United Nations (UN), India has been a firm supporter for the
purposes and principles of the United Nations and has made significant
contributions to the furtherance and implementation of these noble aims as well
as to the evolution and functioning of its various specialised programmes.
India is today one of the largest military contributors to UN Peacekeeping
Operations. Known for their professionalism, compassion, equanimity and
forbearance, Indian troops have proved popular and effective everywhere. India
first deployed its troops in UN peacekeeping operations in 1950 with the
deployment of 60 Field Ambulance to Korea as part of the coalition forces.
Since then, India has participated in more than 49 UN missions out of the total
of 71 UN missions1 launched, across the globe, till date with
more than 234,000 troops participating. Till date, 1782 Indian peacekeepers have made the supreme
sacrifice whilst serving in UN peacekeeping operations.India has so far
provided 16 Force Commanders in various UN Missions and 2 Military Advisors in
UN HQ. It started with Lieutenant Gen KS Thimayya being appointed the Chairman
of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC) in Korea and has
continued till date. The dedication, commitment, and devotion to peacekeeping
have made the Indian soldier the most sought after peacekeeper by the UN.
My
Experiences in Angola as a Regional Commander
My
experiences with UN date back to 1995, when I was sent to Angola as Regional
Commander of the UN Peacekeeping Mission of
UN Angola Verification Mission III
(UNAVEM III). For someone who
never had a chance to venture out to Africa, this was a most unique experience.
Despite the fact that there was a ceasefire between the rebels and the
government forces, the level of tension had continued to persist and both
parties, the Government and União Nacional para a Independência Total de
Angola (UNITA) were unwilling to trust the other. The UN appointed me as the
Commander of the central region and I had a challenging task ahead since the
rebel headquarters was based in my region. Though the level of presence of
Indian diaspora in Angola was not much, one thing that struck me was the fact
that Angolans had tremendous amount of good feelings towards India, and almost
everyone knew about Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. When
the Indian troops arrived, the newspapers next day hailed their arrival by
proclaiming that peacekeeping troops have arrived from the ‘Land of Mahatma
Gandhi’. Such an image and goodwill were to be an important factor which
facilitated my task tremendously.
On reaching Angola, I was indeed struck
with awe and admiration of the natural beauty and richness of resources of the
country. Infact,Angola would have been one of the richest countries of the
world given its natural resources like diamonds, minerals oil etc. On arrival,
however, what I saw was a war torn country with massive destruction of
infrastructure, completely brutalised society, and people living in abject
poverty. It was difficult to fathom that a country with such rich resources and
simple, hardy, and intelligent people can reach such a state all due to the greed
of their leaders.
My stay in Angola for next one year was
quite eventful and full of ups and downs as far as managing security situation
is concerned. But despite the problems, we were able to successfully surmount
most of these and were finally able to convince the UNITA rebels, under Jonas
Savimbi, to start giving up arms and join the rehabilitation camps (Quartering
Areas as they were called) to facilitate peace process. This came about after a
lot of cajoling and convincing by international community. US played a major
role and Ms Mandaline Albright the US Ambassador to UN was sent to talk to
Jonas Savimbi as he was refusing to meet the Special Representative of
Secretary General for a long time. Though for some reasons, he had been quite
considerate to me and had infact met me a number of times, a privellege he
accorded to no one else. Accordingly, I was asked by the Force Commander to
accompany Ms Mandaline Albright to meet the UNITA Supremo Jonas Savimbi.
Luckily these talks went well and he did agree, though very reluctantly, to
start the demobilising process. By the time I completed my tenure and returned
to India, the demobilising process had started in right earnest which later led
to stabalising of the situation to a very large degree.
My
Stint as Force Commander in Ethiopia & Eritrea
My
moments of actualisation and understanding of the various contours and
dimensions of the polity and economics of the region came about only during my
tenure as the Force Commander of UN Peacekeeping Mission in Ethiopia and
Eritrea (UNMEE). During this time, I was able to interact not only with the top
echelons of the two governments but also got an insight into the detailed
functioning of the Security Council in New York and also the African Union
which was based in Addis Ababa. With the UN mission spread over a large area in
Eritrea and Ethiopia, one also got an insight into the living conditions of the
civil population there.
Bringing peace between these two
war-torn countries was not a joke and a lot of diplomatic manoeuvring had to be
undertaken to make these two countries to soften their hard line stance. Both
the Special Representatives of the UN Secretary General and I had to work
extremely hard to maintain peace in the environment. In this scenario, being an
Indian certainly did help. In both, Ethiopia as well as Eritrea, there was a
tremendous amount of goodwill for India and most of the political leaders as
also important members of the civil society had good words to say about
Indians. They often remembered their Indian teachers/professors with tremendous
amount of nostalgia. Even Prime Minister of Ethiopia and many ministers and
senior Army Generals in both countries also used to talk similarly of their
teachers in schools and instructors in the military academy which was
established by the Indian Army.
Operational
Challenges
The
two year war had ended with wanton destruction at both ends. It also left
behind a deep hatred, fuelled by extensive mistrust between the two parties.
Peacekeeping operations in such an environment were, therefore, fraught with
operational challenges. By the time I arrived as Force Commander in mid-2004,
the operational situation in the mission’s Area of Responsibility (AOR) had
stabilised to a large extent. Though there were no large scale
military/operational undertakings by either side, the situation could not be
described exactly as peaceful. Years of intense hatred between the parties had
led to breeding of an intense mistrust, which was further exacerbated by a
lingering suspicion of UNMEE’s covert leanings towards the other party.
Ethiopia’s refusal to implement the
Boundry Commission verdict, the ensuing stalemate, and gradual erosion in
Eritrea’s confidence in the international community’s and UNMEE’s abilities to
break the stalemate, led to reignition of punitive hostilities. This, in turn,
resulted in a gradual degeneration of the military situation. The number of
violent incidents increased as both sides undertook regular military forays
into each other’s territories. But we still managed to keep peace and prevent
any major escalation of conflict by effective utilisation of diplomacy and
deterrence through Peacekeeping manoeuvres. I had troops and officers from 43
countries, each with different professional standards and ethos. It is a normal
belief that that the officers and troops belonging to developed countries (US,
Europe, Canada etc) are much more professional vis-à-vis African and West Asian
countries. This is not always true. I found many African and West Asian troops
to be highly effective in conduct of operations. One instance comes to my mind which clearly
highlights the resilience and professionalism of African and other third world
countries.
Badme, a village near the border which
was under Ethiopian control, was the main bone of contention between Ethiopia
and Eritrea, and the two countries were often confronting and threatening each
other on this. In Apr-May 2005, Eritrea not satisfied with the progress of the
Peace Process carried out a major reshuffle in the army hierarchy and posted
one of the most volatile commanders as the local Army Commander in charge of
the Eastern Region. That commander called the senior UN Military Observer (Lt
Col from a western country) and expressed serious concern and told him that
since Ethiopian Army is carrying out offensive manoeuvres and is not listening,
he is going to launch a major strike with two divisions next day. Hearing this,
the senior military observer rushed straight back to Badme and packed his bag
and fled towards Addis Ababa. He took along with him four more members of his
detachment. However four remaining members (two from Africa, one from Malaysia
and one from Bangladesh) refused to flee and conveyed these developments to me
in the Force HQ. Hearing this, I mobalised the nearest post of Jordanian
Battalion to occupy the defensive positions. The Eritrean local Army Commander
was contacted again by the balance of military observer detachment, accompanied
by theUN Western Sector Commander (Jordanian Battalion Commander) who told him
that any offensive action by him will be countered by UN troops and he will be
responsible for any consequences therein. Next day, some of Eritrean troops did
move towards Badme but turned back on seeing the UN deployment, thus, averting
any major incident. But these were most tension filled moments as the UN
strength we were able to muster was only about one Company strength (with 6
Armed Vehicles), facing nearly two Brigades of Eritrean troops. It was only the
determination shown by Observers and the Jordanian troops that carried the day.
Later I had to sack all the military observers who had fled the scene and
repatriated them back to their countries for disciplinary action.
Another incident which highlights the
courage and initiative of young officers, which come to my mind, was of an
Indian Battalion Lieutenant who was heading a platoon post with two armed
vehicles. In a similar threat, a local Brigade Commander of Eritrea was
dissuaded from doing anything adventurous by this Lieutenant who on seeing the
Ethiopian and Eritrean troops confronting each other had rushed in between. His
bold move prevented the situation from turning worst and a major conflict
situation was avoided which could have happened between the two sides.
The biggest challenge to peace,however,
came about around Nov-Dec 2005. One fine day, I got a message from our
Ethiopian Office that the Prime Minister of Ethiopia wanted to meet me. I
along, with Special Representative, rushed to Addis Ababa next day and met Mr
Males Zanavi, the PM of Ethiopia, with his Army Chief in attendance. He told us
that he had got intimation that Eritrea is silently mustering up troops close
to the border and in view of this, he is soon going to order mobalisation of
his Armed Forces. I tried to reason with him that the information that Eritrea
is amassing troops is not correct and he should take no precipitative action.
He refused to believe me and said, General, “You do not know the President of
Eritrea and I know him inside out since he is my cousin and we had fought
together against the Communist regime. His mind works in a different way”. I,
however, requested him to give me 15 days and I will prove to him that there is
no cause for alarm. He said OK, “if you are not able to convince us, we will
mobilise”.
Next 15 days were the busiest we had in
my total tenure. I straight away rushed back to Eritrea and met their Defence
Minister and the Army Chief. I frankly told them of the apprehensions of
Ethiopian PM and requested them neither to issue any provocative statements,
nor to allow any movements of Eritrean Forces. To instil mutual confidence
Border Meetings were organised in all three sectors. I held press conference of
the world press and briefed them about the total harmony and peace in the area.
We also took them to various locations to show that Eritrean Forces were still
located in depth areas. In addition, I took the Ethiopian Chief of Intelligence
to visit with me to all the posts on the border. In fact, I took him in UN
Executive Jet to show him around. He sat with me and heard briefings of all
local UN commanders. He was allowed to ask the questions and see for himself
the situation on the ground. But the biggest Confidence Building Measure (CBM)
was that I was able to organise a Military Coordination Commission meeting in
Nairobi in which military delegations of both countries met and were able to
clarify apprehensions. With these efforts, we were able to convince the
Government of Ethiopia that their apprehensions were not valid. Their Defence
Minister, thereafter, met me and told me that the PM has conveyed that their
plan for mobilisation of forces has been shelved for the time being and they
would continue to keep a strict watch on Eritrean Forces activities and reserve
their right to respond appropriately. I knew that though the Ethiopian
hierarchy are, in fact, now convinced, but they would refuse to admit that they
were wrong in their assessment.
Humanitarian
Challenges
In
the initial stages of establishment of the Mission, the humanitarian situation
was grim. Drought and prolonged war had adversely affected the economics of
both the countries. The problem was even more acute in case of the population
staying within or close to the zones of conflict. In order to effectively
overcome the humanitarian challenges, we launched a well-coordinated and
sustained program called ‘Winning Hearts’. Under this program, the UN Forces
synergised its military operations with developmental projects to win the
hearts of the people. A well-coordinated and sustained effort was worked out at
providing assistance in consultation with the local civil administration of the
two countries. The greatest emphasis was laid on basic needs such as food,
water, medical, and veterinary aid. Assistance was also rendered towards
building of infrastructure like construction of check-dams, bridges, digging of
wells, reconstruction of school buildings etc. This program was spearheaded by
our contingent, in which Indian contingent played a major role, duly supported
by other contingents like Jordan, Bangladesh, Kenya, Italy etc. All contingents
used their own resources and the funds provided by their governments for this
purpose. I employed the engineering efforts of the UN Mission for construction
of check dams, wells, roads etc.
Conclusion
In hindsight, it can now be
observed that the strategy delivered handsome gains as the deliverance of
succour and aid to the war ravaged millions resulted in a firm establishment of
the credibility of UNMEE, this, in turn garnered the confidence and good will
of the common man. This feeling of goodwill stood UNMEE in extremely good stead
during the turbulent phase commencing Oct 2005, when even in spite of large
scale restrictions by the Eritrean Government, the local population stood firm
in support of UNMEE and the peacekeepers and no feeling of antipathy was felt.
The winning hearts policy has, therefore, assisted in large measure in the success
of the Mission. What I felt bad was that I could not fully instil confidence in
the minds of leaders of both countries. However, I can derive satisfaction that
we in UN Mission were able to convince the two sides of futility of armed
conflict. The situation remained peaceful thereafter till last year. A major
breakthrough, however, took place only last year when a new government was
elected and took office in Addis Ababa. Almost the first thing this government
did was to announce acceptance of the Boundary Commission Award, which was the
biggest sticking point. Thereafter, the PM of Ethiopia visited the capital of
Eritrea and was given a rousing welcome. Many agreements were signed and an era
of a lasting peace seems to havefinally descended on the region. I hope it
stays this way!!
The author taking over as Force
Commander
Receiving UN Secretary General on his
visit to Eritrea
Endnotes
1 India And United Nations Peacekeeping and
Peacebuilding, Government of India. https://pminewyork.gov.in/pdf/menu/submenu__1260383365.pdf
2 Total
Fatalities Since 1948, United Nations Peacekeeping.
https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/fatalities
@ Lieutenant General Rajender Singh PVSM, SM,
VSM, (Retd), is a Former Director General of Infantry and Force Commander
of UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He had commanded his battalion in Sri
Lanka as part of IPKF and was also DDG Military Operations at Army HQ.
Post-retirement he headed a major philographic Foundation as its CEO and was
conferred with the Life Time Achievement Award by ABP NEWS in 2015.
Journal of the United Service Institution of India,
Vol. CLIII, No. 631, January-March 2023.