Arquivos do autor:Paulo Gonçalves

12SEPT2020 will be an important day for Afghanistan, and the word peace in general. In Doha – Qatar – High representatives of Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) will meet with the Taliban leadership (Islamic Eimarat of Afghanistan) to reengage in negotiations with the goal to stop once for all the Afghan internalContinuar lendo “New round of Peace negotiations for Afghanistan”

Back in Sarajevo in October 1995, the expectancy on the good results of the American diplomacy was very high. Richard Holbrooke had managed to construct a Cease-Fire Agreement with the three factions, and he was pushing for the final Peace Agreement. The population wanted Peace and the Americans were getting it for them. On theContinuar lendo “1995 Bosnian Americanism”

When the belligerent factions insist in disagreeing with each other, you have to promote peace with an iron fist dressed with a pellet glove. Quando as fações beligerantes insistem em discordarem entre si, temos de promover a paz com um pulso de ferro e uma luva de pelica.

We – the military & police peacekeepers – are color blind. We are not able to recognize skin colors; only camaraderie. If you save my “skin” I trust you, regardless the pigmentation of your “skin”, and I will save yours. What I am looking for is the competency, not the melanin. Skin colors are justContinuar lendo “Peacekeepers are “color blind””

Up until about 2008, the wars also had a Forward Line of Own Troops (FLOT) in our living rooms, more specifically – in from of the TV set. It was common to hear the buzzwords “if you control the media contents, you have access to the hearts and brains of your audiences”. The military didContinuar lendo “Social networks at the FLOT”

Nas missões de Apoio à Paz por vezes acontecem coisas muito preocupantes, mas que, quando recordadas muitos anos depois, não deixam de ter um toque de pitoresco, com algum humor à mistura. Recordo um camarada brasileiro, Observador Militar da UNPROFOR na Bósnia Herzegovina, tal como eu, que havia sido aprisionado por forças Sérvias e usadoContinuar lendo “Estórias de missão – O heroísmo Bossa Nova”

During the last year of Bosnia’s War, I had to interview several people to understand and report the population’s feeling regarding the ongoing conflict. Regardless of the ethnic group, age, gender or social condition, the population had had enough of the war. They all recognized the disagreements between the different ethnic groups, but that warContinuar lendo “Dayton babies get to power in Bosnia”

25 years ago, on the 25th July 1995, about one week after the fall of Srebrenica’s UN Safe Area, the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) attacked and took yet another UN Safe Area – Zepa. Not many people remember the fall of Zepa, but it was quite a disastrous situation for the Bosnian Muslins and theContinuar lendo “We’ve all remembered Srebrenica, but what about Zepa?”

During the Bosnian War (1992-1995) the World learned about the United Nations blue helmets contingents deployed in the battle fields. Not many people knew about the small branch of United Nations Military Observers (UNMO) that were constantly travelling unarmed, across the confrontation lines, counting and reporting the amount of shells fired, the exchange of corpsesContinuar lendo “UNPROFOR radar monitoring of the Bosnian War”