First Chinese force commander for UN peacekeeping mission

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Wang Xinjuan
Time
2020-09-23 15:41:17

Major General Zhao Jingmin (right) confers orders to peacekeepers of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

By Zhao Jingmin

I have conducted three overseas peacekeeping missions from 1991 to 2011. The most memorable one was my experience as the Force Commander in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

On September 15, 2007, I took a flight from New York to Casablanca, Morocco, to serve as the Force Commander of the MINURSO. This is the first time that the UN has appointed a Chinese military commander to head the peacekeeping force in a mission area. On the plane, the words of the UN Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General, and the Military Adviser to the Secretary-General echoed in my mind--

"MINURSO is facing a complex political environment. Both parties of the local conflict often complain and dissatisfy with MINURSO's performance of peacekeeping duties. There have also been some serious disciplinary violations within the peacekeeping force. I hope you can bring the excellent style of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to the mission area and lead the troops well."

During the flight, I was briefed about the situation in the current mission area: the two parties of the conflict had great doubts about MINURSO's fairness, justice, and neutrality, and did not cooperate on ceasefire monitoring; the previous chief of staff of MINURSO was repatriated for disciplinary violations; military and civilian departments in MINURSO were at loggerheads; military observers were dissatisfied with the food, etc. It can be said that many challenges awaited me.

Upon arrival at the mission area, the first thing I solved was the non-cooperation of the conflicting parties on the ceasefire monitoring. After investigation, I found that both parties of the conflict have a cooperative attitude towards the UN. The reason why UN military observers to conduct verifications were shut out of their military command posts is mainly because of their concern about being misunderstood and unfairly treated. Therefore, I suggested changing the word "verification" into "visit" and asked the observers to pay attention to the methods when entering the command posts and minimize the hostility when conducting substantive verification.

This approach opened the door to the UN observers at all levels of command posts on both sides of the conflict. The number of incidents against UN military observers dropped from hundreds to only a few cases per month, which greatly eased the tension in the mission area. The implementation of the ceasefire agreement of the two sides has also been continuously collected. This case was recognized by UN headquarters and both parties of the conflict in the mission area. They highly appreciated the methods of monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire.

When I took office, MINURSO had more than 230 military observers from 27 countries. They have different cultural, religious, and historical backgrounds, and they have different hobbies and personalities. It is not easy to manage such a team. Therefore, I advocate mutual respect, mutual understanding, and tolerance between each other. Only in this way can observers from various countries get along well. It is with this concept that I have successfully resolved the conflict between military and civilian departments in MINURSO.

Every task in the UN peacekeeping mission area has standard operating procedure (SOP). Upon arrival, I devoted a lot of time and energy to improve and revise the SOPs in MINURSO according to changes of situation, especially strengthened training of driving safety and mine protection. I also summarized experience and lessons from accident cases and signs. In the previous 16 years before I took office, 16 peacekeepers lost their lives in the Western Sahara mission area. During my nearly four-year tenure, the mission area maintained a record of zero casualties, no serious violation of discipline, and no accident due to strict management. "Outstanding performance" were the then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s description for my service.

For me, it is a great honor to be the first Chinese officer to serve as a senior commander of the UN peacekeeping force. For the Chinese military, it is also an affirmation, showing that the UN fully recognizes the capabilities and qualities of Chinese peacekeepers.

(The author Zhao Jingmin is a retired PLA Major General, who was appointed as Force Commander of MINURSO in September 2007, being the first Chinese military officer to assume a senior command position in the UN peacekeeping forces. Born in 1954, he used to be a military attaché abroad and has many years of working experience in the United Nations).

 

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