Golan biggest challenge for RP peacekeeping mission

The upcoming Philippine peacekeeping mission in Golan Heights looms as the biggest and most challenging overseas operation for the country, the Philippine envoy to the United Nations said. Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN Hilario Davide Jr. issued the assessment even as the Armed Forces of the Philippines started preparations for the peacekeeping mission. “The Golan Heights is not only going to be the biggest peacekeeping operation that the Philippines will be taking part in, it would also be the most challenging," Davide said in a report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo. Excerpts of Davide’s report were posted on the Department of Foreign Affairs website (www.dfa.gov.ph). A 336-member Philippine battalion (Philbatt) is taking part in the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights. Davide cited a report by First Secretary Elmer Cato, who led a five-member delegation that visited the area early this month, that the Philbatt is expected to conduct “static, mobile and night operations" out of Camp Ziouani and from the six permanent positions and five observation posts along the Line of Separation that are presently manned by Polish peacekeepers. He said the Golan Heights poses a significant challenge to the Philippines since it is different from the other peacekeeping missions that the country is taking part in such as those in Liberia and Haiti, where Filipino peacekeepers are not in the frontlines but are tasked to secure the UN headquarters in Monrovia and Port-au-Prince. “The Golan Heights brings our peacekeepers to the frontlines," he said, adding that no less than UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had said that the situation remains very tense and that it was likely to remain so until a comprehensive settlement covering all aspects of the Middle East problem was reached. “While no major incident has taken place in the UNDOF area of operation, hostilities could break out any time," he added. Also, he said members of the Philbatt also face risks from landmines and unexploded ordnance along the UN-supervised Area of Separation that have separated Israeli and Syrian forces for the past 35 years. Increased civilian presence along the Syrian side resulting from ongoing construction activities is also a cause for concern, he said. The Philippines is slated to replace Poland in patrolling and monitoring the southern portion of the so-called Area of Separation — a hilly 80-kilometer stretch in the Golan Heights that has been under UN supervision since 1974. It is the biggest peacekeeping contingent to be deployed overseas since the Philippines took part in UN operations in Timor Leste in 2000, Davide noted. “The Philippines places particular importance in its participation in UNDOF not only because it will host the largest number of Filipino peacekeepers abroad but also because of the role it plays in helping the United Nations keep the peace in that part of the Middle East," he said. UNDOF was an offshoot of the 1973 Six Day War or the Arab-Israeli War and was established by Security Council Resolution 350 of May 31, 1974 to maintain the ceasefire and supervise the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces. It was also tasked to supervise and the so-called Areas of Separation and Limitation as provided in the Agreement on Disengagement between the two parties. Other peacekeeping units presently involved in UNDOF are a combined infantry battalion from Austria and Croatia, which oversees the northern half of the Line of Separation, and support elements from India, Japan and Canada. The five-member Philippine Delegation includes Col. Gregorio Catapang; Col. Gregory Cayetano, commanding officer of the Peacekeeping Operations Center of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; Lt. Col. Emmanuel Ramos of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics; and Maj. Ferdinand Ga of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. It met with UNDOF officials and visited the area of operations from August 4 to 9 in preparation for the deployment of the Philbatt in October. The Philippines presently ranks 29th in the UN list of top troop contributing countries with a total of 611 military and police personnel deployed in Afghanistan, Cote d’ Ivoire, Darfur, Haiti, Liberia, Sudan and Timor Leste as of July 2009. It is also the third largest contributor from Southeast Asia next to Indonesia and Malaysia. - GMANews.TV