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Tag: peacekeepers
U.N. Says 43 Peacekeepers Detained Near Israel-Syria Border

U.N. Says 43 Peacekeepers Detained Near Israel-Syria Border

By Christine Mai-Duc, Los Angeles Times

The United Nations says 43 of its peacekeepers were detained Thursday in the Golan Heights near the border of Syria and Israel, a day after Syrian rebels overtook a crossing into Israeli-annexed territory.

The world body said in a statement that peacekeepers with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force were taken after a period of increased conflict that started Wednesday between “armed elements” and the Syrian army.

The troops were detained by “an armed group” on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights near Al Qunaytirah, the statement said. Another 81 peacekeepers were being restricted to their positions in the areas of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah.

“The United Nations is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of movement of the force throughout its area of operation,” the statement said.

U.N. troops have monitored the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights since 1974. As of July 31, 1,223 peacekeepers from six countries are in the region monitoring the situation.

This is not the first time U.N. troops have been detained in the region. In May 2013, four peacekeepers were held by Syrian opposition forces. They were released five days later.

AFP Photo/Jack Guez

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Burundi, Chad Peacekeepers Exchange Fire In Central Africa

Burundi, Chad Peacekeepers Exchange Fire In Central Africa

Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) – Burundian and Chadian troops in the African force deployed in the Central African Republic (CAR) have exchanged fire in Bangui, raising new questions Tuesday about the stance of the Chadian contingent of a UN-mandated force sent to tame a country rocked by sectarian killings.

The Burundian military reported the exchange occurred on Monday as the Chadians, mainly because they are Muslim, face accusations of complicity with the Seleka rebels who overthrew president Francois Bozize in March in the predominantly Christian country now gearing up for Christmas.

Lieutenant-Colonel Pontien Hakizimana, head of the Burundian contingent in the African force MISCA, told AFP in Bujumbura that his men were disarming former rebels when Chadian troops from MISCA threw a grenade and opened fire on them, prompting some Burundian elements to return fire, wounding three Chadians.

“On Monday morning we intercepted six armed ex-Seleka and we disarmed them,” Hakizimana told AFP from Bangui.

A group of Chadian soldiers went by on a truck and threw a grenade at the Burundians, which exploded without causing any casualties, he said.

“Then the Chadians left with the ex-Seleka, firing in all directions,” he said, adding some of his men came under fire and retaliated, wounding three Chadians.

“The Chadians soldiers came back in greater numbers in the afternoon and attacked our positions,” Hakizimana said, adding that Burundian troops repelled them without a problem.

“The soldiers from the Burundian contingent are very disciplined and battle-tested and have nothing to do with yesterday’s incidents,” Hakizimana. “We have no dispute with any part of the Central African population.”

There was no immediate comment from the Chadian contingent.

A military source in Bujumbura said relations between the Burundians and the Chadians had been strained ever since the Chadians in the MISCA had been re-deployed outside the capital and the Burundians tasked with securing Bangui.

The rare incident in which peacekeepers traded fire put fresh pressure on the Chadian contingent, which accounts for 850 of the 3,700-strong MISCA force but is accused by many people in Bangui of backing the Seleka.

It follows an incident on Monday when Chadian soldiers opened fire on hundreds of stone-throwing protesters, mostly Christians, killing one man and wounding around 40 others, three seriously.

Traditionally influential in the Central African Republic, President Idriss Deby Itno’s Chad is France’s main partner in its efforts to re-establish peace in the country.

But the growing defiance of Central Africans toward the Chadian contingent is complicating the task of the 1,600 French troops deployed to the country since the beginning of December.

The deployment came after interim President Michel Djotodia officially disbanded Seleka, but some of its members went rogue, leading to months of killing, rape and pillaging — and prompting Christians to form vigilante groups in response.

Amnesty International says some 1,000 people have been killed since December 5, mostly by Muslim ex-rebels but also in Christian reprisal attacks.

Chadian and Sudanese mercenaries within Seleka are blamed for many of the worst crimes against civilians.

After a brief respite, violence has returned to the capital where communal tensions remain high and the situation volatile.

French soldiers meanwhile are being accused by Muslims of siding with the country’s Christian population as they disarm the Seleka and leave the Muslim population defenseless against many Christians who seek revenge for Seleka excesses.

Overnight Monday, gunfire erupted in the mainly-Muslim PK5 neighborhood where two Muslims had been lynched earlier and their bodies mutilated.

Residents said Tuesday that the attack was carried out by Christian militias while several hundred protesters gathered to denounce what they perceived as the inaction of French troops.

“The French took the side of those who are attacking us,” one of the protesters, Jibril Assil, said. “They give weapons to the anti-balaka (militias).”

In the neighborhood, signs hung from homes saying: “No to France.”

Shouting French President Francois “Hollande is a criminal,” the protesters marched to the doors of the presidency in the center of the city which was guarded by French troops. The group dispersed calmly shortly afterwards.

In the runup to Christmas Eve, activity was relatively normal in the capital as some stores broadcast Christmas songs from loudspeakers and salesmen offered red Santa Claus hats at dusty crossroads under a baking heat.

Because of a night curfew, churches will hold Christmas Eve mass in the afternoon.

AFP Photo/Miguel Medina

Jimmy Carter Calls For Syria Elections, Peacekeepers

Washington (AFP) – Former president Jimmy Carter on Monday proposed three principles as a basis for Syria peace talks in Geneva: free elections, respect for their results and the deployment of peacekeepers.

Syria peace talks are set to begin in Switzerland on January 22, though the full list of participants is still unclear.

The talks have gone nowhere up to now because each belligerent “has been allowed to define the preconditions for negotiations,” Carter, who won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

While President Bashar al-Assad considers his opponents terrorists and will not talk until they lay down their arms, the fractured opposition is demanding a full regime change, giving Assad no incentive to bargain.

“No one can win this war,” argued Carter in an article co-written with American University professor Robert Pastor. “It is clear that the parties think they cannot afford to lose because they fear annihilation and this explains why the war will keep going unless the international community imposes a legitimate alternative.”

UN envoys Kofi Annan and Lakhdar Brahimi “have not been permitted to use their negotiating skills because the principal actors insist on preconditions of victory rather than mutual accommodation essential to bringing the war to an end,” argued the authors.

“These preconditions aim to win an unwinnable war rather than to forge an imperfect peace,” they added.

Carter and Pastor propose basing the Geneva talks on letting the Syrian people decide on their future government in a free election closely monitored by international observers; an assurance that the victors will respect sectarian and minority groups; and the deployment of “a robust peacekeeping force” to make sure those goals are achieved.

Russia and the United States would need to agree to this approach, Iran “and other regional powers” would have to stop supporting their proxies, and the United Nations would have to make peace in Syria “a top priority.”

Unless these “difficult steps” are taken, Carter and Pastor warned, “the war may very well go on for another decade and likely create a wider circle of destruction and death.”

Carter was U.S. president from 1977 to 1981, and his Atlanta-based Carter Center focuses on human rights and democracy around the world. Pastor, who served on the National Security Council under Carter, is the senior Carter Center conflict resolution advisor.