The Middle Power on the Global Stage:

Canada and the United Nations Canada has always been a strong supporter of the United Nations and of peacekeeping, and has participated in almost every mission since its inception. Following is a complete chronology of UN missions since World War II: 1947-48: UNTCOK - United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (they were the ones who were surrounded at Pusan by the North Koreans) 1949-ongoing: UNMOGIP - United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (over the Kashmir region) 1950-1953: UNSK - United Nations Service in Korea. Canada sends the 3rd largest contingent to the UN mission in Korea (the Korean War). 1956: Canadas Minister for External Affairs, Lester B. Pearson, proposes to the UN General Assembly to send a multinational contingent to the Middle East, in response to the Suez Crisis. This culminated in the 1st designated United Nations peacekeeping mission - UNEF I. Post-1956 United Nations Peacekeeping Missions 1956-57: UNEF I - United Nations Emergency Force I. Canada sends a contingent to the UN mission in Egypt to supervise the withdrawal of French, Israeli, and British troops from Egypt. Pearson wins the Nobel Peach Prize. 1960-64: ONUC - United Nations Operation in the Congo 1962-63: UNSF - United Nations Security Force in West New Guinea 1963-64: UNYOM - United Nations Yemen Observer Mission 1964-ongoing: UNIFICYP: United Nations Forces in Cyprus (significant because some Canadian peacekeepers died there) 1965-66: UNIPOM - United Nations India-Pakistan Observer Mission 1973-79: UNEF II - United Nations Emergency Force II. Canada sends a contingent to Egypt to supervise the ceasefire between Egyptian and Israeli forces. The greatest loss of Canadian lives on a peacekeeping mission occurred when 9 Canadian peacekeeping soldiers serving as part of UNEF II were killed when the plane they were travelling in was shot down. 1978-ongoing: UNIFL - United Nations Force in Lebanon 1988-90: UNGOMAP - United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Canada sends contingents to Afghanistan. 1989-91: UNAVEM I - United Nations Angola Verification Missions I. Canada sends a contingent to Angola to monitor the withdrawal of Cuban troops. 1990-91: ONUVEH - United Nations Observer Group for the Verification of the Elections in Haiti 1991-ongoing: MINURSO - United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara 1991-92: UNAMIC - United Nations Advance Mission in Cambodia

1991-99: UNSCOM - United Nations Special Commission on Iraq Rwanda

Rwanda is a small, rural nation in central Africa This densely-populated country has an area of about 26 000 km 2 (making it about half the size of Nova Scotia) and a population of approximately 8 million For centuries, 2 tribes have made up the vast majority of the countrys population: the Hutus and the Tutsis. The Tutsis, despite being in the minority, dominated Rwandas economy and politics for centuries. In 1960, the Hutu majority rose up and forced the Tutsi king and hundreds of thousands of Tutsis to flee the country in the ensuing upheaval. Rwanda achieved independence in 1961 but the unrest continued. Some of the Tutsis who had fled the country formed rebel groups and repeatedly tried to make an armed comeback in Rwanda. This led to decades of renewed ethnic violence. In the 1990s, these tensions flared dramatically. Violence became widespread and the situation of the country moved towards full-scale civil war. In the face of this turmoil, Canada and other UN countries moved to try to end the bloodshed and restore order. The UN undertook peace missions to Rwanda from 1993 to 1996, the largest being the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), in which Canada played a leading role. At different times during the mission, 2 Canadians would serve as the Commander of the United Nations mission. They were Major-General Romeo Dallaire and Major-General Guy Tousignant. Even with the UN mission to Rwanda in place, the bad situation in the country turned into a nightmare in April 1994: the Hutus (secret police: Interhamwe) began to massacre hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The UN soldiers did what they could in this chaotic environment of widespread killing and mayhem, but they were too few in numbers and hamstrung by their limited mandate. In the end, they could not prevent the worst of the horrific violence. The Canadian and other UN forces did remain in the country for a time to try to help the country with some humanitarian efforts, mine clearing, and refugee resettlement before leaving the devastated country in 1996. Today, Rwanda still suffers from instability and outbreaks of violence as it struggles to overcome the legacies of its violent past. The estimated number of people who died in the genocide in Rwanda ranges between 500 000 and 1 000 000 people. Millions more were left homeless and displaced in the upheaval. In the time since the genocide, the world has come to realize the depth of the horrendous events in the country.

Heroes and Bravery Major Brent Beardsley, the Military Assistant to the Force Commander of the UN mission in Rwanda, was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross for facing armed and hostile civilian mobs and rebel soldiers to rescue people who were being threatened by the crowds. He entered violent crowds to save a family from being swarmed, to rescue a doctor and nurse from being assaulted, to get a severly-wounded man to a hospital, and to escort the UN Force Commander to headquarters. Major-General Guy Tousignant earned the Meritorious Service Cross for his actions as Force Commander of the UN mission in Rwanda in 1994-95. He demonstrated leadership, courage and professionalism in delicate negotiations involving rival factions during a period of great unrest. Tousignants work with official Rwandan government representative facilitated the safe return of thousands of refugees. Major-General Romeo Dallaire won the Meritorious Service Cross for his efforts as head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda in 1993-94. He worked bravely and tirelessly in conditions of great danger to negotiate cease-fires and reduce the unrest in the country. He tried to get greater help from the United Nations to try to prevent the genocide he feared was coming. In the torrent of murder that occurred, he was able to evacuate many foreigners from the country and save the lives of thousands of Rwandans through his actions. 1992-95: UNPROFOR Canada sends a contingent to Croatia to monitor demilitarization of designated areas.

The former Yugoslavia consisted of six republics and two autonomous regions.

Today Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Macedonia are independent nations. The move towards this independence was a violent affair. Background to the Bosnian Conflict

1992: Feb 29-Mar 1 - Bosnias Muslims and Croats vote for independence in referendum boycotted by Serbs. April 6 - European Union recognizes Bosnias independence. War breaks out and Serbs, under the leadership of Radovan Karadzic, lay siege to the capital of Sarajevo. They occupy 70 percent of the country, killing and persecuting Muslims and Croats to carve out a Serb Republic. May - UN sanctions imposed on Serbia for backing rebel Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia; this marks the beginning of the UN involvement. 1993: Jan - Bosnia peace efforts fail, war breaks out between Muslims and Croats, previously allied against Serbs. April - Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde in eastern Bosnia are declared 3 of 6 UN safe areas. The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) deploys troops and Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) attacks stop, but the town remains isolated and only a few humanitarian convoys reach it in the following two years. 1994: March - US-brokered agreement ends Muslim-Croat war and creates a Muslim-Croat federation. 1995: March - Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic orders that Srebrenica and Zepa be entirely cut off and aid convoys be stopped from reaching the towns. July 11 - Bosnian Serb troops, under the command of General Ratko Mladic, capture the eastern enclave and UN safe area of Srebrenica, killing about 8 000 Muslim males in the following week. The UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague indicts Karadzic and Mladic for genocide for the siege of Sarajevo. NATO Gets Involved: August - NATO starts air strikes against Bosnian Serb troops. Nov 21 - Following NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Muslim President Alija Izetbegovic, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic agree to a US-brokered peace deal in Dayton, Ohio. The War Escalates

Dec 14 - The three leaders sign the Dayton peace accords in Paris, paving the way for the arrival of a 66 000-strong NATO peacekeeping Implementation Force (IFOR) in Bosnia. The international community establishes a permanent presence in the country through the office of an international peace overseer. Canadian Involvement

1992, Yugoslavia: European Community Monitoring Mission in the Former Yugoslavia (ECMMY) - 48 personnel monitored a ceasefire between January 1992 and August 1995

under the auspices of the European Commmunity and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Somalia 1992, Somalia: Canada contributed to three separate United Nations missions in this country from October 1992 to January 1994. United Nations Operation in Somalia I and II (UNOSOM I and UNOSOM II) and the Unified Task Force (UNITAF). Approximately 1 300 personnel participated, most between December 1992 and March 1993. In late 1992, the 900 soldiers of the Canadian Airborne Regiment were sent to Somalia on a difficult peacekeeping mission. The Airborne was an elite commando unit, most ready to fight a war. It arrived in Somalia at a desperate time. The country had been through a famine and a civil war. It had no government. Roving gangs terrorized the country with weapons and interfered with food deliveries. Even humanitarian workers in the country wanted the army to break up the gangs. The country is on the Horn of Africa. The seas were home to plentiful fish stocks. Most Somalis made their living off of the sea. At first, the Canadian arrival in the town of Belet Huen went smoothly. A town of about 80 000 people, well outside the famine zone, the people welcomed the US and Canadian military. The criminal gangs, at first, made themselves scarce. The first signs of trouble came a few months later. The Airborne Regiment had been standing guard during days of 52 C temperatures. At night soldiers kept watch for intruders who had been breaking into the Canadian compound and stealing supplies. On March 4, two Somalis were shot by soldiers on patrol at the compound. One was wounded, the other was shot dead with two or three bullets. An army surgeon, Dr. Barry Armstrong, revealed that the man had lived for a few minutes, then was shot execution-style in the head. Then, 12 days later, there was another awful incident: A 16-year-old, Shidane Arone, was tortured and murdered on the base. One of the soldiers involved took trophy pictures of the torture. The murder of Shidane was horrific enough. What was to follow would leave a dark spot on the role of the Canadians overseas. The announcement of Arones death was delayed more than two weeks, and the earlier shootings didnt come to light until Armstrong (Dr. Barry Armstrong, Canadian Forces doctor) went public with his suspicions. Over the next few months, there were further revelations of a breakdown of discipline and leadership among Canadian soldiers in Somalia. (Orders were not consistent: at one time, the order was to shoot between the legs between the flip-flops and the hem of the garment; at other times, the order was not to shoot; at still other times, the orders were to fire on the looters to kill, and to abuse them once caught.)