The 2,500–plus men and women now serving with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan are not, technically, on a peacekeeping mission. Peacekeeping, so far as Canadian soldiers have experienced it, means inserting oneself in between two warring factions. In Afghanistan, of course, we are one of the warring factions.
That said, peacekeeping and peacekeepers have a noble history in Canada. Here’s an excerpt from the House of Commons today:
Mr. Rick Norlock (Northumberland—Quinte West, CPC) :
Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to pay tribute to the brave men and women, military and civilian, who have served on behalf of Canada in peacekeeping missions around the world.Today is International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers and Canadians have much to be proud of. Canada has always been strongly committed to international peace and security and has a proud history in the United Nations peacekeeping, from Cyprus to Bosnia to the Golan Heights.
Today is no different. We currently have 129 Canadians serving nine United Nations missions, including 66 personnel with the UN stabilization mission in Haiti and 33 personnel in the UN mission in the Sudan. Canadians owe a great deal of debt to all Canadians who have so proudly represented our country around the world.
Finally, I call upon all members of this House to take a moment to remember Major Hess-von Kruedener, who died on July 25, 2006 while serving at the United Nations observations post in Lebanon.
This government extends its thanks to all those who are currently serving and those who have served in the past.
Bosnia (and Croatia) were an utter failure of UN “peacekeeping” and nothing of which to be proud (Srbrenica)–there was no agreed peace between the parties to keep. The war only came to an end in 1995 with NATO aerial bombardment of the Serbs and a (US-supported) Croatian ground offensive that re-took the Krajina from the Serbs.
The subsequent NATO peacekeeping mission, after the parties reached agreement in the Dayton Accords, did however succeed in preventing further fighting. But Bosnia, almost twelve years later is still a mess. Troops under the EU replaced those under NATO in 2005. Several thousand are still there.
http://www.nato.int/sfor/index.htm
http://www.euforbih.org/organisation/elements.htm
Why cannot Canadians remember basic facts?
Mark
Ottawa