UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24 (APP):With the United Nations set to close its “successful” peacekeeping mission in Liberia by the end of next month,
the remaining unit of the Pakistani contingent — a well-equipped hospital — is now winding up its operations after
serving the people of the West African country for some 15 years.
The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was deployed in 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in
Liberia following the conclusion of a brutal civil war. At its peak it consisted of up to 15,000 United Nations
military personnel from and 1,115 police officers, along with a civilian component, from at least 10 troop
contributing countries.
Over the years, Pakistan, as UNMIL’s backbone, provided infantry battalions, a signal company,
engineering companies, military observers, police officers as well as the Level-II hospital . From
2005 to 2013, Pakistan contributed more than 2,000 peacekeepers to UNMIL per annum, with a
high of 3,400 in 2007 and 2008. The bulk of the Pakistani troops returned home in 2015, with
the medical unit remaining behind.
“We really have to acknowledge the significant contribution made by Pakistan to the peace
process in Liberia,” Waldemar Vrey, UNMIL’s deputy special representative, said in an interview
during which he commended the professionalism and sense of dedication of the Pakistani personnel
operating in difficult conditions.
“They have been with us from the beginning of the mission, particularly in the first difficult days
of the mission,” he said, noting that more than 20,000 Pakistani peacekeepers, both military and
police, have served in Liberia since 2003.
“Not only that, I also want to acknowledge that several of the Force Commanders who served in
Liberia were from Pakistan, and we have to acknowledge the good leadership that has been displayed
by the Pakistani generals over this period of time,” the mission’s deputy chief said.
For a long period of time at least up to 3,000 Pakistani troops were serving in Liberia per
year. “And we have to acknowledge the service and sacrifice of the Pakistani peacekeepers
and remember that 23 of them lost their lives serving under the UN flag in Liberia.”
The Pakistani peacekeepers, Vrey said, played a “crucial role” in the implementation of the
cease-fire agreement, as also in disarming of more than 100,000 former combatants during the
first years of the mission. “And since the disarmament process, I can tell you that up to this day
we have not had a significant arms-in-circulation challenge in Liberia: a very good factor that
makes peace and security durable and makes it easier for us to depart as having achieved
our Security Council-mandated instructions.”
The deputy chief of the mission said, “We had peacekeepers on the ground from Pakistan from
the beginning and we have them right up to the end in the form of the Pakistani Military Hospital
that is still with us on the ground, and they will be the last military unit, leaving us in Liberia.
“They have been providing a very professional service to us: expert doctors on the ground;
very good equipment that Pakistan has made available to us. They helped us deal with a lot of
tropical diseases, particularly malaria, and spare a thought for their contribution during the
dreadful period of Ebola epidemic as well.
They supported mission staff but they also made a significant contribution to Liberians and
played their part in overcoming this catastrophe that was brought about by Ebola. So, certainly
they have played a critical role in (the) success of the mission in Liberia.”
He said that the Pakistani medical unit reached out to prisons and local communities and
children at schools. “This is way beyond the call of duty. We have to acknowledge that Pakistan
through their medical contingent also reached out as a Member State to Liberia in helping the
Liberian people with the peace that they experienced.”
Lauding the work done by Pakistani military engineers, he said they built and repaired bridges
ensuring the strategic mobility that opened up the whole of the hinterland and helping outreach to
all the communities.
“We also have to acknowledge that Pakistani police also deployed in Liberia and made a
significant contribution with the mentoring and advisory support they provided over the years to
the Liberian national police.”
Vrey added, “All this is in the spirit of the United Nations, where Member States reach out
to each other and support each other during difficult times. And I’m sure this relationship that
was built through the United Nations would also be taken forward on a bilateral basis in the
future.”

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24 (APP):Rohingya children are facing threats either from severe weather approaching Bangladesh where hundreds of thousands are sheltered in overcrowded refugee camps, or by ongoing violence in their Myanmar homeland, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.
“Some 720,000 Rohingya children are essentially trapped“ either hemmed in by violence and forced displacement inside Myanmar or stranded in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh because they can’t return home,” Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes said Friday.
UNICEF’s report, ‘LIVES IN LIMBO: No End in Sight’ to the threats facing Rohingya children, marks six months since the start of the latest exodus of Rohingya refugees into southern Bangladesh.
The agency says that floods caused by the forthcoming cyclone season are likely to engulf the fragile and insanitary camps where most of the refugees are living, raising the likelihood of waterborne disease outbreaks and forcing clinics, learning centres and other facilities for children to close.
The report also estimates that some 185,000 Rohingya children remain in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, fearful of the violence and horror that drove so many of their relatives and neighbours to flee.
In Bangladesh, there are estimated to be around 534,000 Rohingya refugee children from last year’s and previous influxes.
“This is a crisis without a quick fix that could take years to resolve unless there is a concerted effort to address its root causes”, Fontaine said.
The report states that the Rohingya are a people cast adrift “ chased from their homes and communities, trapped in limbo and deprived of their basic rights“ while facing fresh threats to their well-being.
UNICEF calls on the Myanmar Government to end the violence, and to address what it terms a crisis of human rights in Rakhine state, referring to restrictions on Rohingya people’s freedom of movement, extremely limited access to health care, education and livelihoods, and consequent dependence on humanitarian support.
According to the report, recognizing the Rohingya people’s basic rights would create conditions necessary for the refugees to return to their former homes in Myanmar.
“People won’t go home unless they are guaranteed safety and security, unless they have citizenship, unless they can send their children to school and have a chance of a future,” Fontaine explained.
Since August 2017, a lack of access to many parts of the Rakhine state has severely restricted the work of UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies.
Immediate and unimpeded access to all children in the state is imperative along with longer-term efforts to address inter communal tension and promote social cohesion, UNICEF said.
Aid efforts led and overseen by the Bangladesh Government have averted disaster as local communities have accommodated 79,000 Rohingyas, the UN agency said.