THE FUTURE role envisaged for the UN mission in Chad proves the Government’s recent decision to withdraw was correct, said Minister for Defence Tony Killeen.
Speaking at a seminar on peacekeeping in Dublin yesterday, Mr Killeen outlined how the nature of the Minurcat mission will change after May 15th following Chad’s insistence that the force is no longer required.
After the drawdown of a significant part of the force, the remaining troops will be restricted to guarding UN camps. “The force will have no civilian protection remit, and will not undertake escorts or patrols. It will be confined to static protection activities within the UN camps, to protect UN personnel and equipment located there,” Mr Killeen said.
“It is my considered view that the future role envisaged for this mission, with the absence of any civilian protection remit, creates an unsatisfactory situation on the ground and is not the type of mission in which Ireland would wish to participate.
“My absolute preference at the time would have been to continue to fully participate in the mission,” he said. “Events since then, however, have reinforced the decision made by the Irish Government.”
Mr Killeen also discussed the evolution of the EU’s common security and defence policy. “The development of European military capabilities is particularly important, as together we seek to support the union in responding to the challenges of an increasingly more globalised world and in supporting the UN,” he said.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin also addressed the seminar, noting that the increasing complexity of conflicts in fragile states required a different approach. “Our responsibility can no longer be seen as ending with the positioning of troops along a ceasefire line. Rather we need to develop a more ambitious and multifaceted approach,” he said.
The keynote address was given by Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president and veteran UN mediator who also helped oversee IRA decommissioning.
Mr Ahtisaari argued that peacekeeping must be accompanied by a credible political process. “Sometimes, I am afraid that we risk forgetting [that] . . . peacekeeping is not a substitute for an effective political process. That lesson has been on vivid display over the past few years, as the collapse, failure or stasis of political processes in central Africa, Lebanon, Sudan, Chad and Haiti placed peacekeeping operations there under severe strain,” he said.
“Ultimately the utility of peacekeeping operations correlates to the political progress they contribute to.”
The seminar, which was organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Finnish embassy, also heard from Col Tom Doyle, who served as deputy commander of Minurcat’s predecessor, Eufor.
Col Doyle spoke about the need for smaller EU member states like Ireland to develop their military capabilities to meet the challenges of modern peacekeeping.