UN thanks Zambia over peacekeeping troops

The United Nations (UN) has ranked Zambia as one of the shining troop contributing countries to peacekeeping missions in Africa and other parts of the world ravaged by war and conflicts.

Zambia has as at 31st May, 2018 contributed a combined total number of 1,011 military, police and staff officers to different UN peacekeeping missions which include United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, also called MINUSCA and United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

According to a statement released to the media by Mr Wallen Simwaka, the Zambian First Secretary for Press at the Permanent Mission at the the United Nations, the United Nations has thanked Zambia for her service and sacrifice for providing more than 1000 military and police officers as peace keepers to different UN Peace-keeping missions.

According to the United Nations Peacekeeping latest thank you Zambia message published by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI), Zambia is one of the shining examples of countries that have greatly sacrificed and contributed to peace-keeping operations in Africa and other parts of the world where peace and stability have remained elusive.

Zambia’s Military Advisor to the United Nations General Eric Mwewa has confirmed that Zambia has since January this year contributed 930 peacekeepers to MINUSCA, and about 55 peacekeeping troops to UNAMID while 29 peacekeepers have so far been deployed in UNMISS.

Zambia is among other countries that include Chad, Cameroon, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Tunisia, Uruguay, Senegal, China and Mongolia. Other countries are the Netherlands, Pakistan, Tanzania, Italy, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Ethiopia, France, Rwanda, Morocco, Togo, Brazil and Jordan that are contributing peacekeeping troops to the United Nations peacekeeping missions.

As at 31st December, 2017, Zambia had contributed about 1118 military, police and staff officers as peacekeepers to Missions that included MINUSCA, UNAMID and UNMISS.

On 16 January 2018, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said: “I thank our troop- and police-contributing countries for their generosity, and pay tribute to all personnel who have given their lives in the line of duty.”

And during the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal Ceremony which took place in the framework of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers which fell on May 29th, 2018, Mr Guterres said it had become clear that the UN needs peacekeepers who are well-trained, well-equipped, well-supported and with the right mindset.

The UN says peacekeepers come from all walks of life, with diverse cultural backgrounds and from an ever-growing number of Member States.

The global peace body says that when peacekeepers serve under the United Nations, they are united by a commitment to maintain or restore world peace and security. They share a common purpose to protect the most vulnerable and provide support to countries in transition from conflict to peace.

The UN states that peacekeepers come as civilian, military and police personnel and all work together. It explains that peacekeeping operations have developed from simply monitoring ceasefires to protecting civilians, disarming ex-combatants, protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law, supporting free and fair elections and minimizing the risk of land-mines.

Tragically however, over 3,500 peacekeepers have lost their lives in the cause of peace with 117 peacekeepers having paid their ultimate price in 2016 alone.

They included military, police, international civil servants, UN Volunteers and national staff from 43 countries including Zambia and their sacrifice on behalf of the international community is one of the most concrete expressions of the UN Charter’s determination “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

Mr Guterres, the UN Secretary-General has committed to ensuring that women play a far more active role in peace operations, which has seen women peacekeepers prove themselves that they can perform the same roles to the same standards and under the same difficult conditions as their male counterparts.

The United Nations has set a target of recruiting 15 percent military women peacekeepers and 20 percent women police peacekeepers by 2020 but that Zambia has already attained the target in both military and police women peacekeepers.

Women peacekeepers act as role models in the local environment, inspiring women and girls in often male-dominated societies to push for their own rights and for participation in peace processes. Women are deployed in all areas police, military and civilians.