The End of Peacekeeping? - Canadian Armed Forces in the New Millenium (Part 2)

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of the cold war, a new and less secure, world emerged. Former Warsaw Pact countries were left in limbo struggling to come to grips with stagnating economies and crushing debt. Groups formerly supported by the Soviet regime suddenly had no political or strategic guidance. Worse, there was no one to exert control over the numerous guerrilla groups the Soviet Union had once influenced and supplied.

The United Nations which, until this point in its history, had worked well, found itself under attack. Riddled by an inefficient bureaucracy and highly politicized, the UN showed that, while capable of moderate successes, its failures came at a terrible cost. Furthermore, it rapidly became apparent they were not prepared to deal with a New World order in which small groups could create so much havoc. Their sense of self-importance blinded them to the reality that some factions, with their own agendas, neither respected nor feared the UN.

It didn’t take long for the cracks to show up in the facade of the United Nations.

The Cost of Myopia

When the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989, very few people realized how much the world was about to change. Expectations ran high that peace would finally reign. Three events in quick succession would shake the very foundations of peacekeeping.

The first was in a little known African country called Somalia. This country of approximately eight million people would soon be thrust into the limelight.

Embroiled in civil war since 1977, the country was in turmoil. In 1991, insurgent forces ousted the government and took control. The same year the northern part of the country declared independence. The country descended into anarchy with warlords seizing control and the total collapse of all infrastructure. Famine soon followed.

In order to stave off a humanitarian crisis, the United Nations sent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide assistance. This quickly proved to be a futile exercise as warlords, to feed their own soldiers and buy weapons, seized approximately 80% of the aid. It became obvious quite quickly that order would have to be restored in order to help the people.

By December 1992 over 500,000 people had died and 1.5 million were refugees. Obviously, something else had to be done so the United Nations sent in troops. Securing a cease-fire, signed by all 15 warring parties, the UN deployed to restore order and end the suffering.

The mission quickly turned to disaster.

Just over two months after the cease-fire, UN troops experienced what it was like to deal with factions who had little regard for peacekeeping. On 5 June 1993, 24 Pakistani peacekeepers were ambushed and killed in an area near Mogadishu. From that point on the situation rapidly spiralled out of control culminating in the Battle for Mogadishu, on which the book and movie Black Hawk Down is based.

By March of 1995 the UN had withdrawn.

Rwanda, The Face of Hatred

The second, and worst, was the Rwandan genocide. Following a cease-fire agreement between the ruling Hutus and the Tutsi-dominated Rwandese Patriotic Front, the UN sent in a vastly under funded and understaffed contingent commanded by Canadian General Roméo Dallaire. Their job was to monitor the cease-fire.

Even though there was a cease-fire, fighting between the two sides continued while anti-Tutsi propaganda increased. In April 1994, the Rwandan president was assassinated and the country descended into hell. Seeing what was happening, Dallaire requested more troops and money from the UN but his requests went unheeded. In the end, between 500,000 and 1,000, 000 people were slaughtered and the UN contingent had to be quickly evacuated for their own safety.

The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

Probably the greatest example of the failure of traditional peacekeeping came during the Bosnian and Croatian war in the former Yugoslavia.

The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) was formed in 1992 with the mandate of creating the conditions for peace talks and to protect "United Nations Protected Areas", the so-called “safe haven.” These areas were supposed to be demilitarized and safe for civilians.

From the beginning, UNPROFOR was dismissed or ignored by the combatants. The various military and para-military units used the safe areas to build up strength and launch attacks against the Serbs and the Serbs regularly shelled these areas in retaliation. Other areas were subject to sniper fire and mortar fire. In one instance, Serbs dressed in captured UN uniforms to an attempt to abduct more hostages. Due to the restrictive nature of the UN mandate, the UNPROFOR troops were too lightly armed to enforce the UN resolutions. They were further hampered by prohibitive “rules of engagement” that did not allow them to intervene unless specifically threatened.

Throughout the war, the UN appeared to be completely out of touch with the realities in the field. They continued to attempt to keep peace in a war that had none. UN inaction, and a belief in their own power, led to some of the worst atrocities seen in Europe since the Second World War.

In April 1992, Croatian forces attacked the village of Ahmici and systematically killed every Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) they found. Out of a population of 1,178, an estimated 116 people were killed, including a three-month-old baby burned alive in an oven and a 96-year-old woman. Through it all the UN could do nothing.

Srebrenica

The most blatant show of UN irrelevance in the conflict happened at the UN designated safe area of Srebrenica in Bosnia.

The UN declared Srebrenica a safe area in April 1993. The well-armed Bosnian Serb forces surrounded the enclave while the poorly organized and ill-equipped 28th division of the Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina remained inside.

From the outset, both sides violated the “safe area” agreement and access by international aid agencies was limited to the area. Serbs prevented Dutch troops, who had been given the job of protecting the enclave, from returning to the area after leave, and their equipment and ammunition were also prevented from entering.

By early spring of 1995, the strength of the Dutch contingent in Srebrenica had declined from 600 to 400 and they were so low on fuel they were forced to patrol the area on foot. Fewer and fewer supply convoys were making it through to the enclave and an already desperate situation for the civilians there became even worse.

In March, President Radovan Karadžić ordered the Serb forces to “create an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival or life for the inhabitants of Srebrenica." Desperate pleas by the Bosnians for the humanitarian corridor to be opened went unheeded and unknown numbers of civilians trapped in the area died of starvation.

In July 1995, the enclave was overrun by Serb forces while the UN did nothing. Civilians fled to the UN compound at Potočari, located within the enclave, while urgent requests for NATO air support went unanswered for two days. When air strikes finally did happen, they were quickly abandoned due to Serbian threats to kill UN troops that had been captured and to shell the UN compound where approximately 30,000 civilians had gathered.

The Serbs then proceeded on a campaign of terror. They set fire to houses and haystacks and told Bosniaks to leave or be slaughtered. Witnesses reported piles of bodies and one witness reported seeing a Serb soldier kill a child with a knife. Soldiers picked people out of the crowd of refugees and took them away. Many did not return. A Dutch medic came across two Serbian soldiers raping a young girl, and stories of rapes and murder circulated through the crowds. Screams and gunshots were heard all through the night.

Bosniaks were systematically taken away and executed.

Between 1,000 and 1,500 Bosniak men were crammed into a warehouse in the village of Kravica. Serbian soldiers then proceeded to lob grenades and shoot into the crowd inside. In another instance, approximately 1,000 people were taken in small groups to fields and then executed. Earth moving equipment was used to bury them.

In all, it is estimated over 8,100 civilians were massacred.

Through it all, the UN troops could do nothing, either because it would be a violation of the “rules of engagement” or they were too lightly armed. The lack of sufficient response by the UN led NATO to abandon its arrangements with the UN and initiate action on its own in an attempt to stop the Serbs. This led to UN peacekeepers being taken prisoner and being used as human shields against NATO air strikes.

When the Bosnian war finally ended, 320 UNPROFOR personnel had been killed on duty, an estimated 105,000 civilians killed, over 40,000 raped, and 1.8 million displaced.

The legend of the mighty United Nations had been shattered.


The Past Was Once The Future - Canadian Armed Forces in the New Millenium (Part 1)