UN PEACEKEEPING: The bitter experience of peacekeeping in the Balkans led the UN to reassess its operations, writes Tom Clonan
Kofi Annan's call for highly mobile, rapidly deployable UN 'battlegroups' reflects a growing requirement worldwide for what are termed 'third generation' peace-enforcement operations. First and second generation operations would typically describe the 'classical' UN peacekeeping mission mounted during the Cold War. Such operations were normally deployed with UN Security Council approval and with the prior consent of the belligerent parties involved. The political manoeuvring necessary to secure such consent allied with the large numbers of peacekeepers deployed normally meant it was several months, even years, before peacekeepers arrived in the zone of conflict.
The bitter experience of UN peacekeepers deployed to the Balkans in the 1990's led the UN to reassess the manner in which future operations would be configured. In particular, the mass-murder of thousands of Muslims at Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeepers, forced the UN to conclude that future military interventions would have to be more robustly configured and allowed the adequate mandate and 'operational consistency' necessary to mount sustained, high-tempo combat operations.
This assessment was confirmed in the UN commissioned 2000 Brahimi Report which endorsed rapidly deployed peace-enforcement as a viable mode of military intervention - one that would become increasingly necessary in post Cold War political flux and upheaval. The report provides the blueprint for the UN's multinational battle groups proposed in Dublin yesterday.
It would be a UN aspiration that the new battle groups follow the precedent set by US and French troops in recent years in trouble spots such as Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These forces were deployed at very short notice and in relatively small numbers. At brigade strength, the deployments were remarkably similar to the 1,500 strong groups envisaged by Mr Annan.
Like the UN's proposed battle groups, these forces were equipped with their own self-contained transport, logistics, air and artillery support. These operations were adjudged a success by the French and US Governments.
Such direct and often blunt military interventions are not without risk and would differ from traditional UN operations in that they could be mounted without the consent of all parties involved. Despite these risks, many military commanders with peacekeeping experience believe that rapid intervention is preferable to an international community standing by as genocide is perpetrated - as for example in Rwanda in 1994 and in Darfur today.
Whilst Kofi Annan's appeal for such a rapidly deployable force may be new for the UN, the Irish Defence Forces are already committed to such a set of arrangements under our obligations towards the EU European Rapid Reaction Force (ERRF) and the pre-existing UN Standby Arrangement System (UNSAS). Consistent with these requirements, Ireland is already committed to providing a light infantry battalion along with a number of special forces troops to the ERRF. Such troops, numbering approximately 850, are required to be available for deployment within a short period of time and to be sustained in the field - as part of an EU military operation, either within Europe or up to 2,500 miles beyond its borders - for up to a year. Under the UNSAS system, we are committed to supply a similar number of Irish troops for UN missions.
The Irish Defence Forces are also experienced in the type of high tempo combat operation envisaged by the UN for its battle groups. Irish troops fought a number of conventional battles in the Congo in the 1960's as members of the ONUC UN peace-enforcement mission. Significantly, the Irish - despite being peacekeepers as opposed to peace enforcers - fought a conventional battle in the Lebanese village of At Tiri in 1980, preventing its ethnic cleansing by an Israeli-backed Lebanese militia under the command of Major Saad Haddad. More recently, Irish men and women participated in peace enforcement operations in Somalia in the mid 1990s, in East Timor in 1999 and currently in the Finnish-led Battle Group in Kosovo and in the UN UNMIL peace enforcement mission in Liberia.
Irish Defence Forces are well placed to respond to the challenge posed by Kofi Anan's call for multinational battle groups. The experience gained by Irish troops at home and abroad in peace-keeping and peace-enforcement operations qualify Irish officers to take a leadership role in the manner in which the international community responds to emerging threats and crises.
Dr Tom Clonan is a retired army officer. He is a Fellow of the Inter University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, Loyola University, Chicago.