Now that there is a proposal on the table of the UN Security
Council to approve a DPKO-type follow-on force to take over from the French in
Mali, my suggestion would be very clear: please have a look at the MINURCAT
experience. MINURCAT, the peacekeeping mission in Chad and Central African Republic (2008-2010),
took over in 2009 from a European force, led by the French in circumstances
that were not too different from the current Malian one. There was a successful
transition between the French/European forces and the UN military and civilian contingent,
but there were also a number of lessons that have been learned and should be
taken into account.
It is true that the international community tends to have a
short memory. But 2009 is not that far back. And the sands of Northern Chad are
comparable to the ones in Mali.
Furthermore, with a strong Chadian contingent being deployed
to Mali, there is one more reason to look at the way the UN mission (MINURCAT)
interacted with the Chadian army. As I have already mentioned in a previous
post, of all the African troops being sent to Mali, the Chadians are probably
the most combative and effective.
No comments:
Post a Comment