RE: [OT]UN operations

--- KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de wrote:

>> Still, they are in a different class from John L's
>> generalized "they are not allowed to have ammo, as
>> they might offend the locals who have genocides to
>> complete."

From: ~ On Behalf Of John Leary
Sent: 23 July 2002 18:19
Subject: Re: [OT]UN operations

> I think that it was bosnia where a UN force (don't
> remember the country) was disarmed by a Serb militia
> unit and the UN armored vech. and helmets were used
> to draw out muslims.

At Srebrenica the Dutch peacekeepers garrisoning
the enclave gave up their position to Bosnian Serbs
who subsequently massacred the male population of
what had become the last muslim refuge in eastern
Bosnia.

This isn't necessarily a poor reflection on the
Dutch soldiers; the Bosnians had been gradually
encroaching on the position, cutting supplies and
refusing to allow replacements in. Even at the
end, massive air support was (theoretically)
available and would have crushed the Serbian
advance. What was lacking was the political will
to accept casualties (one Dutch peacekeeper had
already been killed by irate muslim defenders
after the Serbs had taken a UN OP) defending the
"safe haven".

- from Sunday (London) Times, several weeks ago.

> I believe it was Belgans who were withdrawn
> in Ruwanda, by command of the UN, that allowed 
> the genocide to continue.

Whatever went wrong in Rwanda is a little murkier;
the Belgians were the local colonial power and 
should know that the entire Tutsi / Hutu feud
blows up every few generations. As far as I can
tell, it was overdue this time. At the start of
the unrest, ten Belgian soldiers from the UN 
"Assistance Mission" guarding the Prime Minister
were killed; in response the rest of the 2500-
strong mission were pulled out, giving the
Interhamwe a clear field.

> It is the command structure of the UN forces
> that causes the problems.( I.E. poor rules of 
> engagement, and poor political/adminstrative
> leadership that tries for a short term solutions.)

Very true, though the problem includes contributor
governments who decline to accept unforseen risks
and expenses. In both cases, locals had flocked to
UN positions for protection it couldn't provide.

Now to place this in an [FH] context, imagine a
United Nations that has its own sovereign
territories in the Inner Colonies, can build ships
to equal anything else in human space and has a
"native" population in excess of the Terrestrial
UN member nations (I'm excluding all of the other 
canon powers here). This would be a very different
entity. 

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