Brazil Seeks a Mission in Lebanon or Africa after Leaving Haiti

03/14/2017 - 12h12

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IGOR GIELOW

FROM SÃO PAULO

Brazil wants to take over the command of another UN Peace mission as soon as its troops leave Haiti, a country in which it has been leading a stabilization force since 2004. The location should be Lebanon or an African country.

"We are studying the alternatives, while awaiting the UN schedule", declared Defense Minister Raul Jungmann.

According to Jungmann, the demobilization of the forces in Haiti, the island where 970 of the 1.248 Brazilian troops serving the United Nations are concentrated, should be decided in April or May.

If the demobilization takes place quickly, by October the majority of the contingent should be out of the country, but if things go more slowly, it could only start to take place in the beginning of 2018.

Although security problems still exist, the political instability that initially justified the UN mission to the country is no longer so acute.

A criticism typically levied at the United Nations, in fact, is that the prolonged extensions of its interventions hinder in the development of local institutions.

Today, there are 16 active and on-going UN peace missions throughout the world. Brazil already is the commander of the Unifil naval detachment, an intervention initiated in 1978 after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and the cultural proximity between the two countries makes it additionally attractive.

Another active mission, although a highly complex one, is Monusco, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This is the largest UN mission, with 23 thousand personnel and an annual budget of US$ 1,6 billion, charged with controlling an active conflict - 106 of its members have been killed since 1999.

India today is the largest contributor of forces to the mission, whose members could be gradually substituted by Brazilian troops already trained in Haiti.

Other missions of interest to the government include a couple in the western coast of Africa, like Liberia and the Ivory Coast.

These are contiguous to Brazil across the South Atlantic Ocean, and today are under the commands of the Nigerian and French militaries respectively.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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