Lebanon- Peacekeeping with Hizballah's Help | TIME

TIME has an excellent piece on the challenges facing the relatively successful UNIFIL mission in Lebanon. The peacekeepers are apparently being forced to 'shake hands with the devil'- in order to improve their force protection, and reduce further threats from yet another metaphoric devil. The suggestion is that UNIFIL is obliged to maintain contacts with Hizbollah, in order to protect themselves from further Al-Qaeda attacks:

'The contingents comprising the peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL have good cause for concern. Last month, six Spanish and Colombian UNIFIL soldiers were killed in a bomb ambush, the deadliest attack against the peacekeeping mission in its 29-year history. In a video message released this week, Al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri hailed the attack as "a response against those invading Crusader forces who were occupying a beloved part of the land of Islam". And, UNIFIL officials fear, given the worsening security situation in Lebanon, there could be more attacks on the way. "The major difficulty we are going to face for sure is this kind of terrorist attack because even if we have no idea yet who could be the perpetrators... another attack can come," Major General Claudio Graziano, UNIFIL's commander, told TIME in an interview at his headquarters in the southern coastal village of Naqoura.'


Whatever contacts may exist between UNIFIL and Hizbollah, there was also another roadside bomb that struck a peacekeeping vehicle, the second such incident in a month.

Jobs- Programme Management Advisor (Peacebuilding and Recovery)

UNDP is recruiting for a Programme Management Advisor (Peacebuilding and Recovery) based in Kathmandu.

'Under the overall supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP RR and the direct supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative (Programme), the Senior Programme Manager (SPM) will head the Peacebuilding and Recovery Unit within the Programme Division and lead the development and implementation of UNDP’s post-conflict recovery strategy in Nepal. S/he will act as an advisor to Senior Management on all peacebuilding and recovery aspects of the UNDP Country Office (CO) Programme. The SPM will work in close collaboration with other UN Agencies, United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), Bureau for Crisis Prevention & Recovery (BCPR)/UNDP HQ staff and Government officials, technical advisors and experts, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society to successfully implement the peacebuilding and recovery components of the UNDP programme.'

The Swiss-based organisation 'Initiatives of Change' held six days of 'honest conversations' with 33 leading Burundians

The Swiss-based organisation 'Initiatives of Change' held six days of 'honest conversations' with 33 leading Burundians

"Following last September´s ceasefire agreement between the Burundi government and rebel Palipehutu FNL (National Liberation Forces), 33 leading Burundians, including three former heads of state, held six days of 'honest conversations' as guests of Initatives of Change at its conference centre in Caux, Switzerland. In this bid to consolidate the fragile peace in their country the Burundians felt the need for an informal setting where they could build relationships of trust. Members of parliament, political leaders, representatives of Palipehutu FNL, religious leaders, and representatives of civil society tool part. 'Caux has helped us to open our hearts...to each other.´said one political leader. Another added, 'If we are motivated by our fears and hurts our country will never come out of the vicious circle of violence."

Editorial - Where's the police? | IHT

This was originally posted on civilmilitaryrelations-


'Another excellent article written by a civilian expert, lamenting the lack of security as the Achille's heel of what appeared to be an otherwise successful project. This echoes the mantra of 'no security without development, no development without security':

'In the long-term plan, alternative livelihoods meant helping Afghan farmers export high-value crops like saffron and cumin. It meant restoring the orchards and vineyards that had once made Afghanistan a power in the raisin and almond markets. It meant providing credit to farmers who had relied on traffickers for affordable loans.

In the short run, however, with the first eradication tractors already plowing up poppy fields, we had no time for those approaches. Instead, we created public-works jobs. We handed out shovels to thousands of local Afghans and paid them $4 per day to repair canals and roads. By May 2005, we had paid out millions of dollars and had some 14,000 men on the payroll simultaneously.

Security was our Achilles' heel. There was a new American military base by the graveyard on the edge of town, but the few score Iowa National Guard members there lacked the manpower and the local knowledge to protect us. We could not afford the professional security companies in Kabul.''

DRC: Army, police involved in human rights abuses in the east - report

The February human rights assessment report by the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC) stated that, '...soldiers of the Democratic Republic of Congo's national army and the police have been involved in human rights violations in the eastern Ituri region, and are allegedly responsible for growing insecurity in North Kivu'. It wasn't clear what measures have been taken by MONUC, despite long knowledge of such violations being committed.

Congolese radio show gives war victims a voice | csmonitor.com

CSMonitor ran an interesting story on a radio program initiative in the Ituri region of DRC. The program's objective is to provide the following service to its listeners, in the style of a phone-in show. The show is introduced with the following:

'Your questions can concern the way justice is organized, the way it functions, abuses and violations of human rights.'

A sampling of questions from participants:
Are military elements authorized to carry weapons while in civilian clothes?

Various armed groups of Ituri randomly planted mines, which cause great damage among the population. Can this also constitute one of the crimes to be charged against those responsible among armed groups who will be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court?

There is a custom according to which a woman can be abducted by the friends of the one who wants to marry her. In some cases, the young woman is 13 or 14 years old. Will the law condemn this practice?

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