Memórias e reflexões expostas em poucas palavras – Memories and reflexions in few words
Congratulations to Norway and Ireland, India and Mexico who won the open seats on the Security Council for the 2021-2022 term, in a highly competitive race among the Western European and Others Group (Weog) and the Asia-Pacific and Latin America-Caribbean regions.
The race is still open for the African seat, between Djibouti and Kenya.
The United Nations’ Secretary-General – António Guterres – recently said:
“A peacekeeping operation is not an army, or a counter-terrorist force, or a humanitarian agency. It is a tool to create space for a nationally-owned political solution”.
This is a very straightforward concept of what the blue helmets do in their field missions. Peacekeepers do not win wars, neither do they stop them. They deploy to the “theater of operations” with an invitation from the local representatives, in order to monitor the fulfillment of the agreements until the belligerents reach a stable peaceful solution.
Blue helmets are tailored to endure the risks and restrictions of the conflict, and tolerate these punitive environments. The verb “To Tolerate”, in its original Latin form – “Tolerari” – means “to suffer in silence”. That is just what Peacekeepers do; suffering in silence their own casualties and trying to get some sense into the Former Warring Factions, to stop the killing.
It may not be a perfect system; it may require a serious revision in many areas of activities; but still, I am so damn proud of having served in the United Nations’ Peacekeeping Operations.
Should you wish to learn or remember, how was the life of a Peacekeeper in the Bosnia Herzegovina War, check the following eBook.
Reviews are rating it as a 5 stars document.
Reader’s Reviews – A first-person story, real, raw and free. Because firsthand there I lived intensely some of these episodes at the service of the UN. I am very happy to relive these moments and narrative with familiarity. Thank you. ….
Moi comme ancien casque bleu, je me retrouve dans ce livre, bien écrit, je peux que vous le recommander comme livre de référence….
https://www.kobo.com/pt/en/ebook/bosnia-95
#peacekeepininawarzone
On Saturday 13JUN2020, two more peacekeepers were killed in the line of duty, while serving the United Nations in Mali. The two blue helmets were KIA in the northern part of the country in a Jihadist attack to a UN logistical convoy, on the road between Tessalit and Gao.
Not everybody knows that Afghanistan once had an impressive and proud Air Force. They even had a Cosmonaut (Abdul Ahad Mohmand) and the “Pashto” was the 5th language spoken from space. In Kabul, there’s a (semi-private) air museum (rarely visited) that still exhibit some of Afghan old (Soviet sponsored) Air Power.
It is worth visiting
A cultura de Lições Aprendidas não é compatível com a postura Kamikaze.
Nas operações militares, os corajosos não são os temerários mas sim aqueles que sentem o medo e arranjam uma forma de o contornar para continuar a operar. O ponto do menor receio coincide com o ponto de perigo máximo, a partir do qual se começam a produzir “heróis mortos” … e esses; só servem para serem um nome numa parede ou numa estátua … não ajudam os que cá ficam com a sua experiência vertida para Lições Aprendidas que contribuam para evitar situações.
Em Sarajevo (1995), o “excesso de confiança” era o maior fornecedor de clientes para os cemitérios locais (e havia vários).
My fellow Peacekeepers, I finally present you the link to eBook about my mission in UNPROFOR (Bosnia 95 – Peacekeeping in a War zone).
In Kobo –
https://www.kobo.com/pt/en/ebook/bosnia-95
or in Amazon
I am sure some of you will remember your own experiences in my words. Others will find some of it to be historically incomplete, or even incorrect; but that was the way I felt it and registered it on my mission diary. It’s about 550 pages and 110 images, with many of my cartoons and several of our comrades’ pictures.
I have tried to be impartial and truthful; hence all the situations are nonfictional. However, time hasn’t stopped and it’s been about 25 years since I last closed my mission diary. Therefore, the reconstructing of the dialog between the different characters; and even the participation of each character in each situation, had to be adjusted, in order to fit into a coherent description of the real story I wish to report.
On the “free preview” (bellow the cover image) you can find the Table of Contents, the Prologue, the Author’s Forward, the Dedication, the Acknowledgments, Chapter One and a part of Chapter Two. Where the action starts; the preview stops.
This ebook is also a tribute to the 213 Blue Helmets that have “paid the highest price” to restore peace in the former Yugoslavian territories; they shall not be forgotten.
I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy your comradely.
#peacekeepinginawarzone
According to the news agency Reuters, the Afghan Government had released 900 Taliban Prisoners on the 26th May 2020.
This was accompanied by a plea to the Taliban to extend the ceasefire which is set to expire at midnight on that day. Taliban spokesperson Suahil Shaheen said the prisoner release was “good progress” and the Taliban would release a “remarkable number” of prisoners soon. That day’s prisoner release was the largest number of Taliban prisoners set free by the Afghan government in one day since the Taliban-U.S. peace deal signed in February.
The leader of Al-Qaeda in Maghreb was killed in Mali.
The French Minister of Defense –Florence Parly – announced on 5 June 2020 that Emir Abdelmalek Droukdal and several of his followers, were engaged and killed in combat by the French Army deployed in Mali, on 3 June 2020.
The French Forces deployed in the region of the (three borders) between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger (a 5100 strong contingent) had already previously arrested another important jihadist commander – Mohamed el Mrabat – from the Sahel component of the Islamic State.
The different Islamic radical groups in the region fight against each other and the National and International forces, in a permanent “state of war” situation that brings numerous casualties, misery and chaos to the local civilian population.
The Portuguese Defense Minister meets the Portuguese Air Force personnel about to deploy to the UN mission in Mali. The Portuguese Air Force will be deploying this month of June one C-295M aircraft and 63 air and ground crew military personnel.
MINUSMA – United Nations Multinational Integrated Stabilization Mission – is a peacekeeping mission created in 2013 with the goal to stabilize Mali which had been suffering attacks from insurgent groups. The situation in the country is dangerous and over 3.2 million people are in a dare situation, desperately needing Humanitarian Aid from the UN.
The Portuguese Air Force detachment will have the mission to provide air support to MINUSMA, such as transport of personnel and cargo, tactical airlift using improvised runways and bare bases, Medical Evacuations, parachutist activity, air surveillance,
This will be the fifth detachment of the Portuguese Air Force in MINUSMA (2014 with a C130; 2015 with a C-130 and later with a C295; 2016 with a C295). The C295 will deploy starting 26 June 2020 and ending 31 December 2020.
#peacekeepinginawarzone
OPen samento 