The UN's 'Thin Blue Line'
SAMUELS, GERTRUDE
FIGHTING FOR PEACE The UN's 'Thin Blue Line' by gertrude samuels United Nations As the 33rd General Assembly got under way last September, cease-fires were being broken and violence was mounting...
...Supplies and transportation for the poorer countries volunteering troops are secured either by asking the richer member states to donate them or by outright purchases...
...The new Ghanian contingent was from a different tribe and did not want yams but ga-ri, a roasted root vegetable favored by certain West Africans...
...who has participated in the Sinai, Golan Heights, Cyprus and Kilometer 101 (Suez) operations, seemed to sum up the majority sentiment when he said: "The peace-force experience has been the greatest experience of my life-so many nations working for the common goal of practical, concrete actions for peace...
...Press Officer Stajduhar...
...But Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, in his report to this Assembly, has warned that there is "a serious problem" in continuing to finance the force...
...One of them died at 21:20 hours, after being evacuated to Na-qoura (unifil) headquarters...
...All of which moved British Foreign Secretary David Owen to observe wearily: "We at the UN appear to talk at rather than to each other [and] action is relegated to second place...
...Whether South Africa, which continues to regard the territory as a de facto province, will cooperate "forthwith" as ordered by the Security Council, remains to be seen...
...At present, over 12,000 UN soldiers from 27 nations are serving at six separate locations...
...Nonetheless, Waldheim clearly is hoping to strengthen the UN's thin blue line: He has recommended the extension of the Sinai force for another year...
...FIGHTING FOR PEACE The UN's 'Thin Blue Line' by gertrude samuels United Nations As the 33rd General Assembly got under way last September, cease-fires were being broken and violence was mounting in Lebanon...
...Sometimes, even groups from the same country have different tastes...
...National tastes must be catered to, and what excites a French palate is rather distant from what excites an African palate...
...The observers have been supported by 354,229 soldiers to help prevent the recurrence of fighting...
...and Cuban troops stood at the ready in several African countries...
...The Secretary-General's feelings about peacekeeping forces are not shared by everyone...
...This is the operation somewhat imprecisely called "peace keeping"— involving troops drawn from different countries to serve under the UN banner, who have come to be known as "the thin blue line...
...Namibia was approaching independence under threat of war...
...The cost for the period from March to last September was $60.9 million and another $46.8 million is needed to keep it going to next January...
...While much of the unpaid balance is "considered collectible," some $14 million was apportioned to countries that have flatly refused to contribute...
...Hence the concern that peace-keeping forces tend to be permanent-and some have even gone to the extent of saying that peace-keeping discourages the parties from resolving their disputes...
...Interestingly, nowhere does the UN Charter use the term "peace-keeping," and over the decades it has come to mean whatever opposing factions in a conflict wish it to mean-from total suppression to minimum action in separating hostile armies...
...They arrived, however, just after the outfit that requested them had been rotated back home (tours generally run six months...
...More dramatically, he has outlined a plan before the Security Council that would dispatch 9,000 peace soldiers and civil administrators to Namibia for up to 12 months to safeguard independence and insure free elections there...
...In most instances deliberately lightly armed, and then only for self-defense, the troops have come from national rifle companies (rarely are there tank formations, artillery units, etc...
...the transitional government in Rhodesia was locked in a virtual civil war with the black Patriotic Front...
...2) undof (UN Disengagement Observer Force), separating Syria and Israel on the Golan Heights...
...Yet despite the paralysis caused by swollen rhetoric, there is one area where the United Nations, with strong General Assembly support, has from the beginning demonstrated an ability to act...
...The quartermaster scrounged around desperately and finally managed to acquire 20 kilos...
...The job being done by unifil is considered the most difficult and dangerous of any undertaken by the UN since it entered the Congo in 1960...
...But in the vaulted hall on Turtle Bay, the world body-after welcoming its 150th member state, the Solomon Islands-calmly settled into its customary business: Within the next weeks, it heard no fewer than 140 speeches by three visiting presidents, six prime ministers, 118 foreign ministers and heads of delegations...
...In less than eight months 14 unit l soldiers have been killed...
...Todate, 698 have been Gertrude Samuels' novel about the civil war in Lebanon, Of David and Eva: A Love Story, has just been published...
...Typical of what has to be faced each day is the following excerpt from the May 2 casualty briefing by Press Officer Rudi Stajduhar: "At approximately 18:30 hours, Palestinian elements opened fire on the French UN Force in Lebanon in the Tyre barracks and in the city of Tyre...
...Still, the overriding feeling here is that it is with its thin blue line, not its rhetoric, that the UN is making its greatest impact on the world...
...The UN does not issue any guns or other military hardware...
...For example, a Ghan-ian contingent demanded yams...
...Since its inception, the UN has had a total of 6,025 military observers in the field-unarmed officers assigned to the World Organization by member states to monitor crisis situations, investigate cease-fire violations, and report to the Secretary-General (who in turn reports to the Security Council...
...The French troops returned fire and a general exchange of fire ensued which lasted until 19:00 hours...
...Getting these men into danger areas and interposing them, with or without approval, between the hostile forces is a considerable logistical feat...
...Unifil's mandate-to keep the enemies apart and assist the Lebanese government in restoring its authority-has been renewed until January 19, 1979...
...The participating countries fly in their contingents equipped, sometimes complete with vehicles, radios, field phones...
...The soldiers wear their national uniforms, except for "blue identity gear" -sky-blue helmets, blue berets, blue scarfs, blue shoulder patches...
...A lack of consensus among the warring parties about its proper role has plagued the 6,000-man force-drawn from Australia, France, Finland, Norway, Ghana, Indonesia and Sweden, and under the command of Major General Emmanuel A. Erskine of Ghana...
...Two are observer operations monitoring the peace between India and Pakistan, an ongoing task that began in 1948...
...killed carrying out the UN's various peace-keeping assignments...
...James O. C. Jonah of Sierra Leone, the American-educated UN director of political affairs, who has focused primarily on the Middle East during his 15 years with the organization, explained the reasons for the reservations to me: "Basically, the peace force is there to maintain quiet, and to create the proper atmosphere for active peace-making...
...So far, (hough, the UN has received only $14.5-million in assessed contributions...
...Ideally, though, UN soldiers are intended to intervene peacefully, with the consent of the combatants, to assist in settling disputes...
...Of course, like all armies this one also travels on its stomach, but the feeding problem is far more complex for the UN than it is for an individual country...
...It also provides helicopters for patrol and reconnaissance, and coastal patrol vessels for search and rescue operations...
...Six unifil soldiers, French, were wounded...
...Yet sometimes our task seems impossible...
...The military component would be led by Major General Hannes Philipp, now Commander of undof...
...The other four are military operations: (1) unef (UN Emergency Force), separating Egypt and Israel in the Sinai...
...These are the first steps-small but important-on the long road to peace...
...The Soviet Union, tor example, has declared lhat Israel should assume all costs...
...The UN finances the rental or construction of housing plus such necessities as chemical toilets, generators, water tanks, gasoline, tents, and field hospitals...
...4) unifil (UN Interim Force in Lebanon), the newest contingent, separating Israel and the Syrian-dominated Arab League troops in control of Lebanon, as well as the country's Moslem and Christian militias...
...3) unficyp (UN Force in Cyprus), separating Greek and Turkish Cypriots...
Vol. 61 • November 1978 • No. 23
