India expresses concern over IED attacks on peacekeepers; urges UN to deploy resources to protect troops

NewsBharati    30-Mar-2018
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New York, March 30: The concrete rise in improvised explosive device (IED) attacks on UN peacekeepers had largely made a negative impact in past. Therefore, in the United Nations, India has expressed concern over the rising IED attacks on UN peacekeepers and called for deploying resources to protect troops against them.

 

Notably, India's Deputy Permanent Representative Tanmaya Lal during a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council on peacekeeping said, “The IED attacks were a very serious concern,” stressing to deploy resources to protect troops against them.

Giving the details of the losses, Tanmaya Lal said, "In the last four years, of the 176 fatal casualties due to acts of violence, 43 were due to lED attacks.” "We believe that missions facing IED threats should have dedicated resources for counter-IED," he added.

India's Deputy Permanent Representative further noted that besides upgrading the security of the camps, better medical facilities and air evacuation with night-time flight capability should be available to help the victims

He said, “In November 2016 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 32 Indian peacekeepers from 16 Punjab Regiment were injured by a suspected IED. Seven Bangladeshi peacekeepers were killed by IEDs in Mali - four last month and three in September.”

“While the nature of the armed conflicts and the environment in which the peacekeepers were being deployed are changing, the political will to implement changes to the peacekeeping operations was missing,” he added.

Tanmaya Lal strongly criticized the Council for "the serious chronic shortcomings of the lack of clarity of mandates" and inadequate consultations with troop-contributing countries. “Not enough was being done to find political solutions for building and sustaining peace,” he added.

"The success of UN peacekeeping should be judged by the capability of missions to sustain peace by enabling political solutions through integrated responses," Indian Ambassador Lal said, adding this would require the shared responsibility of the UN Secretariat, the Security Council and the countries providing personnel to peacekeeping operations.