UN Peacekeepers Bring In Fresh Water For Haitians

Peacekeepers in Haiti are nothing short of a fountain of good news, this time brought to us by the Sri Lankan contingent. The communications/PsyOps folks of MINUSTAH really outdid themselves, delivering a story on water to celebrate World Water Day:
'It may be a mere drop in the ocean, but for 160 children in a Haitian orphanage it meant much more when United Nations peacekeepers delivered 9,000 litres of clean, fresh water: it meant that they were not alone in the battle against poverty and the diseases brought by contaminated supplies.'

'Peacekeeping in Africa is not for the faint-hearted'

An excellent piece on the challenges and risks of peacekeeping in Africa:
"The first half of 2006 has not been kind to peacekeepers in Africa. The UN force in Cote d'Ivoire was forced to evacuate bases in the face of rioters; the UN force in the Democratic Republic of Congo suffered casualties and soldiers captured in the Ituri district, major attacks by dissident soldiers in North Kivu province and lacked the troops to deal with a Mayi Mayi rebellion in Katanga; the African Union force in Darfur took casualties in clashes with militias and bandits and the UN had to withdraw aid personnel from two bases in Chad after rebel attacks."

Change sought in U.S. reconstruction programs

The opening paragraph of this IHT article provides a tidy summary of a report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction:

'The failures of the American-financed reconstruction program in Iraq threaten to be repeated elsewhere unless the gulf between the military and civilian efforts in wartime is bridged by structural changes in the U.S. government, a federal oversight agency said in a report Thursday.'

Iraqi insurgents blow up car with children inside | Iraq | Guardian Unlimited

The Guardian reports that US forces in Iraq were investigating a potentially new tactic on the part of insurgent in Iraq. In a recent incident, a car with children was allowed to pass an American checkpoint, before being detonated with the children still inside. It is thought to be the first incident where children have been used as 'decoys' to facilitate passage of a car bomb. Apparently the adults who would have driven the car fled before the detonation.

Haiti: Peacekeepers Restores Provincial Library

In Haiti, UN peacekeepers have restored a provincial library at a cost of $3,500 US.

'QIPs [Quick Impact Projects] are widely viewed as being among the most effective tools used by UN missions around the world to help local communities at ground level and at low cost, from repairing leaking roofs in schools in Georgia to opening a vocational centre in Liberia to refurbishing sanitation facilities in Burundi.'

All-female unit keeps peace in Liberia | csmonitor.com

This article writes about an all female peacekeeping unit in Liberia. The 103 Indian women are said to be having a 'profound impact', in inspiring Liberian women to join the nascent Liberian police force.

A sub-text of the article is that the deployment of more female peacekeepers will somehow better limit instances of rape and sexual abuse that have plagued the UN. In the past three years, 319 peacekeepers have been investigated for abuse, and 179 repatriated or abused. In the least, this deployment is an overdue effort to address a severe gender imbalance in peacekeeping.

Pakistani peacekeepers renovate school in Liberia as part of ongoing UN project

A press release publicizes a project of Pakistani peacekeepers who renovated a school in Liberia as part of ongoing UN project.

The project is only the beginning of an ambitious education, water and nutrition project that the Pakistani peacekeepers intend to provide:

'Pakistani Commander Brig. Gen. Ahmad Nawaz said peacekeeping is not possible without the active backing of the inhabitants of the area. “Support of the people in an area can only be won by being absolutely impartial, fair, highly upright in one’s conduct and doing things beyond the laid-down mandate aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the people."

He announced that the dedication marks the start of an initiative under which all units and sub-units of the UNMIL Pakistani contingent, wherever they are located, will each adopt a school.'

US troops in Philippines defy old stereotype | csmonitor.com

US troops in Philippines defy old stereotype | csmonitor.com

'In southern islands, the US has helped the Philippine Army for more than five years to stem Muslim insurgency.'

Presented as a 'good news' story, this article provides an overview of US support to the Armed Forces of the Philippines in their battle against insurgents. While the initial fears were of the return of permanent American bases in the Philippines, the complexity changed over time.

On the one hand, there has been a certain US success in winning the hearts and minds of local populations with their focus on development projects and humanitarian assistance- while providing counterinsurgency training to the Philippine Army.

Despite being able to publicize their 'benign intentions', some hearts cannot be one over: 'Mr. Muarip says that his brother, a Muslim who favors adoption of sharia Islamic law in Mindanao, is skeptical of US largesse and rejects the deployment in the Philippines. Other critics say that the arrival of US troops, whatever their intentions, stirs anxiety among Muslims.'

Haiti: UN mission helps refurbish high school for 5,000 students

'The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has helped rehabilitate a high school for some 5,000 students in the St. Martin quarter of Port-au-Prince, the capital, after it had been out of commission since 2004 because of insecurity and disrepair.'

An earlier post examined the challenges of maintaining stability in Haiti.

The Fog of Humanitarianism: Collective Action Problems and Learning-Challenged Organizations

The Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding have an timely and insightful article on humanitarian action in their latest issue. The author's conclusions are particularly insightful:

'This essay explores humanitarian action, and by effect post-conflict state-
building, in the so-called new wars of the post-cold war period especially the targeting of civilians, the proliferation of non-state actors, and the perils of war economies. The host of reactions by aid agencies, termed ‘new humanitarianisms’, has called into question traditional operating principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence while the system has experienced dramatic increases in the number of organizations and available funds. Arguing that too little institutional learning has yet occurred, the authors call for changing the culture of aid agencies and investing in information gathering and sharing, policy analysis, and planning. In an era when reflection time is as valuable as reaction time, they stress the need to develop a humanitarian equivalent of military science.'

Nigerian UNMIL peacekeepers donate clinic to local community

A story from Liberia, where the 850 members of the Nigerian contingent donated $10 US each to finance the construction of a clinic for the village of Charlesville, close to Monrovia.

'The gift from the 11th battalion of the Nigerian Contingent - NIBATT 11 - is the latest in the long list humanitarian projects being undertaken by Nigerian peacekeepers in addition to their primary tasks of keeping the peace in war-torn Liberia. "This beautiful building will remind us, long after today, of the generosity, care and concern of all members of NIBAT11," said the Officer in Charge of the UN Mission in Liberia, Mr. Jordan Ryan as he commissioned the clinic.'

The integration of this project into the bigger reconstruction picture is called into question by the battalion commander's appeal for external support at the opening ceremony:
'"Our vision is to see this clinic transform into a full-fledged hospital in the near future, and generally boost the health sector of Liberia." He appealed to other concerned organizations, NGOs, businesses and individuals to help provide the clinic with medical equipment, beddings, drugs, electricity, borehole, and additional structures.'

Shoot-out between UN, Liberian gang

Report on a UN patrol having exchanged fire with a gang of armed men in northern Liberia over the weekend. It was the first such gunfight involving UN peacekeepers in Liberia since the swearing-in of the postwar government of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2006.

Humanitarian-military dialogue- Humanitarian Practice Network

The Humanitarian Practice Network has a forum for online exchange- there is a lively short exchange around the complementarity and limits of the humanitarian-military dialogue and relationship.

The there authors make very good cases from their respective points of view. The editorial is certainly worth a read, as is a later post by Eva von Oelrich, entitled 'Coopted by the UN? Time for NGOs to take up the challenge'

Iraqi Police Commercial

Interesting Iraqi effort to improve the profile of their police.

Sudan- More Darfuris flee, begging for UN troops to help

An article that collects the various perspectives around the deployment of a peacekeeping force in Darfur. Opinions range from the frustration of the conflict's victims, who suggest that the AU force themselves require protection; to the Khartoum government, who downplays the conflict's costs, and accuses western media of having blown the conflict out of proportion.

the Protection Group: Sudan- More Darfuris flee, begging for UN troops to help

Soldiers are no longer the key to winning conflicts

A good article that unpacks the changing nature of the battlefield and the rationale of using force.

The punchline was very much oriented around the importance- and challenge- of creating alliances around legitimate military objectives:

'The Iraq war and Israel's wars with Hamas and Hezbollah show the limits of what military power can achieve, as well as vindicate diplomacy and conflict resolution. When it comes to tackling complex political and cultural conflicts, forging international and regional alliances around a legitimate objective is more important than sheer military capacity.'

Six months since 1706: The international failure to protect Darfur

Comprehensive look at where things stand in Darfur, and compliments the response from Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, refusing to accept an interim U.N. plan to bolster African troops in Darfur, despite an earlier agreement in principle.
Security Management Initiative: Six months since 1706: The international failure to protect Darfur

Human rights group protests IDF battle exercises in West Bank

A unique situation in Israel, where IDF forces used a live assault on a Palestinian village in the West Bank as a training exercise for Reserve forces focusing on routine security operations in the West Bank.

The human rights group Yesh Din intervened with IDF authorities.

Update: AlertNet ran an article on the same subject, with greater detail.

Iraqis Seek Role in Rebuilding Their Nation

'When Rahim al-Daraji looks at the dusty lots just east of Sadr City where scores of bodies have been dumped in the past year, he sees a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, coffee shops and restaurants... “The plan is not only about security,” said Naeem al-Kabbi, Baghdad’s deputy mayor in charge of municipal services. “It’s about security, services and reconstruction.”'

This article brings together the many forces at play in Iraq, as the Iraqis are increasingly using the Coalition's vocabulary of reconstruction. Given that the Iraqi government has pledged $10 billion US for reconstruction in this year's budget, authorities are finding themselves facing crowds of 'volunteers' to help direct their spending...

India's UNIFIL contingent to provide prosthetic limbs

'The Indian contingent of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced a "Jaipur Foot Project" at the headquarters of the contingent in Ibl al-Saki on Monday. The project aims to provide prosthetic limbs to Lebanese soldiers and civilians who have lost a limb to cluster bombs or land mines in the South.'

Afghans caught in war's rising tide

As NATO launches its largest offensive to date in southern Afghanistan, this CSMonitor is a good topography of the stakes in Afghanistan today,and the battle for the hearts-and-minds of the Afghan citizens that both sides are battling for.

Some of the man-on-the-street quotes give a good sense of the enmity towards both Taliban and NATO forces. One illustration towards ISAF troops, obliged to maintain an aggressive posture for their own force protection:

'Indeed, on the streets of Kandahar, some see the local Canadian ISAF contingent as a greater menace than the Taliban.
Among a clutch of rickshaw drivers assembled by a dusty curbside recently, one says that the Canadians shot his nephew; and another claims that they shot two of his cousins, who were only riding their bicycles.'

UN commander says in control of Haiti

An insightful interview with the Brazilian force commander on the successes of the Peacekeeping mission in Haiti:

'U.N. peacekeeping forces have established military control in Haiti and paved the way for reconstruction but have yet to contain the supply of arms to slum gangs, the Brazilian force commander said.'

Thought it might be interesting to underline the humanitarian commitment to Haiti by civilian agencies. To illustrate the scale of spending, UN Agencies alone are undertaking some $98 million US period 2006- 2007.

Resource- Civil-Military Relations

Smartpowerblog has an excellent resource page, with links and references on the subject of civil-military relations, writ large.

US: DynCorp Hired for Somalia Peacekeeping

A number of sources reported on the hiring of US PSCs to provide the logistics support for AU peacekeepers destined for Somalia. This logistics support provided through private security contractors via the State Department support is not new; in 2004, the US also provided logistic support to the deployment of AU peacekeepers in Darfur. Some might ask why such outsourcing hasn't become even more important, given the continual rise of peacekeeping missions worldwide.

The Ugandan vanguard had been attempting to maintain a low profile on their deployment plans; the first officially arriving contingent was met with a mortar barrage at the airport. They also suffered their first casualties on 08 March, also reported by the BBC.

NATO basic civil military cooperation course

This is a great initiative, the first time that NATO has advertised one of its courses via ReliefWeb. Hopefully this will attract greater participation from NGO audiences, the chronic challenge that military trainers face in running CIMIC courses.

Especially for those of you in civilian organizations- this is a great course to get a heavily-subsidized introduction to CIMIC. Getting to spend 9 days in Italy isn't so bad either...

Fixing the collateral damage

This editorial piece in IHL starts off well:

ISAF's chief spokesman, Brigadier Richard Nugee, recently admitted: "The single thing that we have done wrong and that we are striving extremely hard to improve on is killing innocent civilians."

The point of the article is a good one, and doesn't escape the reader: gosh, but NATO really has to win the hearts-and-minds of the population over. Oddly, the subtext to the article is a bit 'off': avoid killing civilians, it suggests, as it's simply bad press, poor marketing for the success of our military effort. What about IHL? 'War crimes'?

Holewinski unpacks the issue competently, going further to understand why key states aren't willing to do more even for those civilians that do become collateral damage. She doesn't find more convincing answers there, either. Her conclusion?

'This is a war you can't win unless you win the people.'

'Aid Workers With Guns'

Another sensational article on the military becoming the 'all-singing, all-dancing' humanitarian machine, in addition to its apparently obsolete role of war-fighting.

Examining CENTCOM's presence in the Horn of Africa, the author Nicholas D. Kristof is an unabashed advocate of the softer side of this military presence- 'It [CENTCOM] aims to help bring stability to northeastern Africa and to address humanitarian needs — knowing that humanitarian involvement will make us safer as well.'

Kristof's commentary on the new Africa Command is a just one: that there is humanitarian potential in a more robust presence. Whether we agree the assertion that, '...in some poor countries the most useful “aid workers” are the ones in camouflage carrying guns'- that's another question.

At some point in this opinion piece, the logic falls flat- the author jumps from applauding camouflaged aid workers to advocating the dispatch of mobile, armed peacekeepers along the models of Sierra Leone. Apparently militarized humanitarian aid won't solve everything in Africa?

LEBANON: UNIFIL wins hearts and minds in south, but questions remain over security

The UN appears to be leading a hearts-and-minds fiesta in Lebanon:

'BEIRUT, 4 March 2007 (IRIN) - Nepalese soldiers are teaching computing skills to the women of Houla, a Shia Muslim village 2km from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.

At barracks across the south-east, Spanish troops meet their Lebanese counterparts to teach them Spanish.

And at 8am in the Christian valley town of Ebl Al Saqi, just south of the Litani River, a class of excited eight and nine-year-olds from Al Fardis School learn the basics of yoga from the Sikhs of the 15th Punjab Division.'

This adds to an earlier posting where the Spanish military contingent announced that they had a budget of some 6.5 million Euros to undertake humanitarian projects. In this example, the UNIFIL is undertaking $500k US in Quick Implementation Projects (QIPs) including the traditional well-digging and street cleaning projects.

While the scale of projects is impressive- 4,000 patients from mobile clinics alone- it does pose a very simple question- What is the point of having humanitarian agencies in Lebanon if peacekeepers are doing so much? More revealing still is the lack of information on what UNIFIL is accomplishing on the security front- presumably their primary task. The same spokesperson recounting their humanitarian successes made at best vague references to the effect that no Hezbollah fighters have been seen moving weapons, though, '...there was, reportedly, evidence that Hezbollah fighters were building a new line of defence just north of the Litani.'

The debate continues. In the meantime, the Lebanese can benefit from the secondary yogic effects of Peacekeeping...

Afghanistan: US Should Investigate Civilian Deaths

Military events in Afghanistan have prompted calls for investigations, following the deaths of civilians caught in crossfire.

On March 4, insurgents in a civilian van carried out a suicide bomb attack on a US military convoy on the Jalalabad highway in eastern Nangarhar province; reports suggest that US forces shot indiscriminately at civilian vehicles and pedestrians as they sped away, with 8-16 killed and 25 wounded.

In the second incident, Afghan officials announced that 9 civilians had been killed after a NATO airstrike linked to skirmishes between US forces and insurgents.


HRW made an interesting IHL-based argument:
"Suicide bombers in Afghanistan regularly pose as civilians, but that doesn't give coalition forces carte blanche to respond with indiscriminate fire," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The fact that the insurgents violate the laws of war doesn't absolve the US and its allies of the need to observe them."

'Human Rights Watch said that the US military should ensure that meaningful investigations take place in both cases. Appropriate action, including disciplinary measures and prosecution, should be undertaken as warranted. Human Rights Watch welcomed the Afghan government's intention to participate in these investigations.'

On 06 March, hundreds of Afghans protested the killings in eastern Afghanistan, while NATO launched a major southern offensive called Operation Achilles, said to target Taliban and narco-traffickers.

DPKO- They Year in Review- 2006

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations has published their 2006 Year in Review, entitled, 'New Challenges, New Horizons'. The theme is very much oriented around more peacekeepers being called into action worldwide.

Also released is an 'Audit of the management structures of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations', published by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). The audit assesses whether the Department’s current structures adhered to sound management practice in providing political, logistical and administrative support to peace missions led by the Department and focuses on governance, accountability, doctrine, organizational structure, delegated authority in key administrative functions, training, mission support and partnering in peace operations.

Pakistan | Hearts and Minds?

The PCR Project has a great article looking at US attempts to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world.

Using the specific example of American aid in Pakistan following the 2005 South Asia Earthquake, the graph they use illustrates a dramatic increase in the favorable opinion of the United States. These gains- rising from 23 to 46%- were as quickly lost as they were gained. Following a January 2006 predator strike in Pakistani territory, ratings dropped back down to 27%

Introducing The 404s: Military's Lamest Websites

Granted, this post is only tangentially related to the subject at hand, but this contest being run by the folks over at Wired magazine's DANGER ROOM have come up with a novel idea: a contest to find the absolutely worst military website.

The rationale:
'The federal government started building websites for its various agencies back in the mid-90s. The idea was to better inform the public -- and to share information across bureaucratic silos. At least, that was the theory.
In practice, those high-minded ambitions have rarely, if ever, been met. That's especially true at the Department of Defense. Many military websites barely have any content at all. And what content they have is years out of date.'

Sarcasm aside, the post does make a good point that is often over-looked: that information sharing actually helps armed forces, the obsession with security classification aside.

One final point- to level the playing field, one has to wonder if the websites of civilian humanitarian and development agencies are in any way more informative than the average military website. While the graphics may be better, is if often incredibly difficult to find concrete information what agencies are doing for whom, where.

Draconian Observations: The Coming JFCOM 'Shaping' JOC: A Revolution In Development Policy?

Draconian Observations: The Coming JFCOM 'Shaping' JOC: A Revolution In Development Policy?

Great commentary on a new Joint Operating Concept that risks having huge impact on the development and humanitarian sector. The following clip from an already very comprehensive commentary on the JOC shows how the military is seeing the next multi-national/agency operating environment:

'Proposed Solution: The Joint Force, as a part of a larger multinational and interagency effort, conducts continuous, anticipatory shaping operations that build partnerships with governmental, nongovernmental, regional and international organizations and reduce the drivers of conflict and instability in order to prevent or mitigate conflict or other crises and set the conditions for success in other operations—all aimed at a secure global environment favorable to US interests.'

The warning the author makes in closing is a direct call to civilian agencies:
'On the civilian side, including the whole of the development universe: You better wake up and follow this development closely. The Pentagon has so much logistical and funding clout that if the Shaping concept does indeed get feet, then there will be some very real opportunities to move the development agenda forward. My guess is, however, that most likely the development crowd will shy away from cooperation with the Pentagon. This is especially the case for the European development agencies.'

Combat Camera: Iraqi, Polish Soldiers Provide Aid

From the blog The Tension, a collection of photos of Polish army soldiers from the Civil Military Cooperation Group, Multi-National Division - Central South, Camp Echo, Iraq, and Iraqi army soldiers from the 8th Iraqi Army Division arrive for a mission at a children's and maternity hospital in Diwaniyah, Iraq, Dec. 7, 2006. The Polish and Iraqi army soldiers delivered 100 boxes of medical supplies to the hospital.

Changes to Civil-Military Relations

Just a few notes on changes I have made to this blog over the weekend:

- yes, adopted a different template. Don't particularly like the white background, but do appreciate the wide-screen format- comments from users?
- added a subscribe by email function, courtesy of feedburner
- subscribed to technorati and added appropriate buttons and functions.

Hope you like the changes!

Resource- Civil-military cooperation Blog

Recently discovered a blog entitled 'Civil-military cooperation- The website for research into the field of civil-military cooperation'. The site includes some excellent links, abstracts and original publications- definitely worth a visit.

The US military is having trouble recruiting local Arabs to help with training by manning 'Iraqi villages.'

Christian Science Monitor has an insightful article on the difficulty in finding civilian role players for US mission preparation exercises for Iraq, being staged at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) in Bavaria.


'The Army has built a dozen mock villages complete with shops, gas stations, mosques, and prisons at the installation. The US army says making simulations more realistic saves both American and Iraqi lives.'

This sort of elaborate exercise is not new, and in general, must be applauded. Such 'live' exercises put equal emphasis on the cultural environment in which armed forces will be deployed, and attempt to break the mold of military exercises which focussed on war-fighting. It is refreshing to see such multi-dimensional simulations and, equally, exercises where the simulation reacts to the behavior of participants- 'At Fort Irwin, each villager belongs to a clan that stretches across village boundaries, so if a soldier roughs up a civilian, GIs in a neighboring town find friendly villagers quickly turning surly.'

One criticism that can be leveled at armed forces running such high-end exercises, is the quality of the role players selected- the white cell actors which include civilians, religious and political leaders, human rights and humanitarian workers. Some colleagues have described such exercises as relying almost exclusively on private security contractors, with there being a certain irony to having former soldiers taking on roles in which they have no expertise. Can a former platoon commander credibly play the role of journalist or aid worker?

In the example of the JMRC, efforts are clearly being made to recruit Iraqis and arabs as role players in the exercise. The challenge is apparently to find willing participants: 'Unlike in the US, where hundreds of Iraqi Americans have eagerly taken part in life-like training exercises, many Arabs here are so angry at the US that the contractor charged with recruiting role players has been struggling to fill its quota... "As soon as they hear it involves working with the US military, many people want nothing to do with it," says one recruiter, who asked that his name be withheld.'

It would appear that the challenge of perception is only compounded by what seem to be relatively poor renumeration- role players are offered only 130 USD a day...

UPDATE
The Guardian ran an article entitled, 'It's only a wargame! Arabs reject US army bit-part', which described the same issue from a different perspective. Apparently, a Berlin-based casting agency was hired to recruit the civilian role-players for a US exercise. They posted a cryptic ad in a Berlin tabloid looking for walk-on extras.

When informed of the true nature of the recruitment, only 4 arabs out of dozens agreed to participate.

Reconstruction, security go hand-in-hand

The title is an oldie, but a goodie: 'Reconstruction, security go hand-in-hand'.

From the official website of Operation Iraqi Freedom, another example that attempts to connect war-fighting and re-building as intrinsically linked acts. Curiously, this link doesn't really work in the text itself, where the military spokespeople admit, 'Although there has been some initial progress, the enemy continues to disrupt the efforts of Coalition forces and improving security in Iraq will take some time.' Despite these disruptions, there are apparently, 'There have also been great strides made in the reconstruction effort in Iraq.'

At the end of such upbeat announcements, the article closes on a note of participatory development: “Ultimately, it is up to the Iraqi people to rebuild and secure their country.”

The following day, the same site publishes a further article entitled: 'Reconstruction projects provide Iraqis with improvements to essential services'. The article gives some dimensions to the reconstruction projects the Department of Defense has planned and implemented as of 28 February, 2007:

• Planned 3,832 projects, at a program cost of $12.05 billion.
• Completed 3,183 projects, at a program cost of $8.67 billion.

So much for the military not managing humanitarian, development and reconstruction projects?

Fleeing gangs set up new bases in rural Haiti

Reuters report on heavily armed gangs who have left Cite Soleil following publicized raids by UN Peacekeepers in the past weeks.

'Reports from other provincial cities, including Les Cayes in the south, also indicate armed gangs hunted by U.N. soldiers in the capital have tried to set up in rural areas where the police or U.N. presence is absent or very weak.'

While this UN military-police action might have solved problems in one area, it clearly created a host of new- and seemingly unanticipated- problems elsewhere. The comment by UN officials illustrated these 'unexpected outcomes': the primary goal of the sweeps was not to capture gang leaders but to take control of areas held by gangs and give residents a sense of security.