The Importance Of Peacekeeping In War

Pearson, now prime minister, drew attention to the critical matter of the terms of a peacekeeping mandate. He criticized the failure to include rules on combat operations and the use of force. Pearson’s high commissioner to Cyprus gave the world an eloquent outline of challenges that would have to be addressed in the future: UNFICYP must know what it is here to do… ‘peacekeeping’ and ‘normalization’ are not concepts that a soldier can be expected to interpret and carry out. The UNFICYP soldier must therefore be given a conception of peacekeeping that is intelligible, clear, and within his power to enforce… to give him more weapons or greater freedom in using them without first telling him to what achievable end the new power is to be used will merely increase the flow of blood, some of it Canadian, without helping the Cyprus situation. In making this plea, Andrew also stated a position on the issue of consent. He asserted that the stronger and clearer mandate he sought should be presented to the warring parties, not negotiated with them.

Like Suez, the Cyprus mission gave the parties 10 years of relative peace to work out their differences. The mission was more difficult because it initially required more than simply interposing a force

Greek national guardsmen had taken over a hotel in Nicosia and came under heavy fire from Turkish Cypriots. The hotel had hundreds of frightened tourists and journalists who sought UN protection. The Canadian commander told both sides to stop firing while the civilians were evacuated. The first attempt failed, and Canadian troops came under fire. Instead of joining the war, the Canadians tried again the next day. They organized a convoy of trucks and buses, and got the hotel guests and their luggage out of danger. The commander then declared the contested hotel a UN position, deployed his troops to secure and patrol it, and raised a UN flag on the