LisarowHigh School Year 10 History

Australian UN Peacemakers

The term "Peacemaker" realistically reflects Active Service or Warlike Service since 1989, when Australia sent the first Engineer Contingent to Namibia in South West Africa.

From 1989 onwards, ADF members have served on warlike service in the following countries:

  • UN Transition Assistance Group in Namibia (UNTAG), April 1989 - March 1990;
  • The Gulf War (incl Kuwait) 1991;
  • The Australian Contingent to the UN Advance Mission in Cambodia (UNAMIC), Oct 1991 - May 1992;
  • The Australian Contingent to the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), May 1992 - Nov 1993;
  • Unified Task Force Somalia (UNITAF), OP SOLACE, The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment Battalion Group, Dec 1992 - May 1993;
  • The Second UN Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II), May 1993 - Mar 1995;
  • The Australian Contingent to the Second UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR II), May 1994 - May 1995;
  • The Australian Contingent to the UN Protection Force in Bosnia/Herzegovina (UNPROFOR) 1994;
  • ADF Members who served on Active Service in the Balkans with Implementation Force (IFOR); Stabilisation Force (SFOR); and Kosovo Force (KFOR);
  • International Force, East Timor (INTERFET), Sep 1999 - Feb 2000;
  • UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Feb 2000 - May 2002;
  • UN Mission In Support of East Timor (UNMISET), May 2002 - Aug 2003;
  • The International Coalition Against Terror (ICAT), 2002 to present;
  • Iraq, 2003 to present; and,
  • Afghanistan, 2005 to present.

Australian Peacemakers serving overseas

UNTAG / Namibia –in south west Africa
Transition Assistance Group (for independence)
1989
1st Gulf War Coalition / Kuwait and Iraq- Middle East
Liberating Kuwait from invasion by Iraqwith US and other allied forces
1991
UNAMIC / Cambodia –in south east Asia
UN Advanced Mission in Cambodia
1991-1992
UNTAC / Cambodia -in south east Asia
UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia 1992-1993
INITAF OP SOLACE / Somalia –in the Horn of Africa
Unified Task Force in Somalia –Operation Solace 1992-1993
UNOSOM II / Somalia –in the Horn of Africa
2nd UN Operation in Somalia
1993-1995
UNAMIRII / Rwanda in central Africa
2nd United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda
1994-1995
UNPROFOR / Former Yugoslavian republics in the Balkans –eastern Europe
UN Protection Force in Bosnia/Herzegovina 1994
IFOR / Former Yugoslavian republics in the Balkans –eastern Europe
Implementation Force 1995-1996
SFOR / Former Yugoslavian republics in the Balkans –eastern Europe
Stabilisation Force
1996-2005
KFOR / Former Yugoslavian republics in the Balkans –eastern Europe
Kosovo Force
1999 –present
INTERFET / Former Portuguese colony ,then Indonesian province north west of Australia
International Force in East Timor 1999-2000
UNTAET / Former Portuguese colony ,then Indonesian province north west of Australia
United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor
2000-2002
UNMISET / Former Portuguese colony ,then Indonesian province north west of Australia
UN Mission In Support of East Timor
2002-2003
ICAT / International Coalition against Terror
2002-present
Iraq / Iraq–Middle east.
2nd Gulf war with US and other allied forces. Keeping peace against Iraqi and al Quaida insurgents
2003-present
Afghanistan / Central Asia
Oruzgan province –central Afghanistan.With US and NATO forces ,keeping peace against Taliban insurgents
2005 –present

Namibia

Namibia has had countless wars of independence, rebellions and civil war from 1966 to 1988. After years of disturbance South Africa passed responsibility for peacekeeping to the United Nations when Nelson Mandela came to power in neighbour South Africa.

Iraq

President Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.Australia was part of a coalition of 34 allies organised by the UN, including the USA, Britainand other Arab nations that ejected Iraq from Kuwait in 1991.

Cambodia

After the years of the Indo-China war between US supported governments in Laos, South Vietnam and Cambodia and the Communist supported North Vietnamese, Vietcong guerrillas, Pathet Lao and the extreme Khmer Rougethe US and its allies withdrew. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodiaand in the ensuing four years "Reign of Terror" under Pol Pot's democratic Kampuchea resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people. The nation became known as the Killing Fields. The Khmer Rouge even went to war with Vietnam.
In 1979, the Khmer Rouge was overthrown and the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea was established. In 1989 the Vietnamese withdrew the last of their troops and the government renamed the country State of Cambodia. The SOC ruled independently until the Paris Peace Agreement of 1991 created the United Nations Transitional Authority (UNTAC). Supported by the presence of some 22000 UN troops, UNTAC in May 1993 supervised general elections in Cambodia. A second general election was held in 1998.

Somalia

Somalia gained independence in 1960 but the central government has never been able to rule effectively. It was in a war with next-door Ethiopia in 1978-9. Civil war from 1979-1992 has meant stability has been threatened by powerful warlords, extremist socialist parties, radical Islamic groups and armed family tribal clans that are constantly at war with each other. The violence led to terrible famine that prompted the US to send forces as part of a UN rescue mission

Rwanda

Rwanda has two major tribes-the Tutsis and Hutu. In 1986 many Rwandan Tutsi were involved in a war in Uganda and in 1990 they invaded Rwanda. This prompted a terrible backlash from the Hutu dominated government and 3 years of genocidal bloodshed. 1.5 million refugees fled Rwandaand the massacres. In Burundi 1993 another civil war broke out between the 2 tribes and fighting resumed in Rwanda till the UN sent peacekeepers. 2 million fled in 1994 as war spread to Zaire in the First Congo war. Over 3.8 million people died in the conflict, as well as the majority of animals in the region. The 2ndCongo war still drags on today.

Former Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was made up of a number of smaller republics. Strongest state Serbia was determined to assert its authority though Slovenia and Croatia wanted to secede. In 1991 Slovenia left after a brief war and Croatia prepared to leave as well. A Serbian minority in Croatiaresisted strongly and the resulting bloody war in 1992 resulted eventually in an independent Croatia.

A UN arms embargo did not stop war spreading to multicultural Bosnia and Herzegovina where the three warring groups, Croats, Serbs and Bosnian Muslims fought a bitter war that devastated much of the countries, withmassacres, rape and “ethnic cleansing” of areas by one group against rivals. Many civilians were killed by artillery and atrocities. Despite this in 1992 a 99% vote for independence was held in Bosnia. Fighting in Croatia ended in 1995 and UN forces were involved. US air strikes led the Serbs to make peace in 1995.

In 1996 in Kosovo the Albanian majority fought the Serbs until 1999 after NATO air raids on Serbs.

East Timor

In 1975 East Timor declared independence from Portugal. In 1976 Indonesia which owned West Timor invaded and took over despite opposition from many East Timorese. East Timorese fled to the jungle or Australia to escape Indonesian persecution. In 1999 after a long struggle a vote was allowed and despite strong opposition and brutal intimidation by pro-Indonesian armed militias a 78% majority chose independence. Strong Australian public feeling supported a force to help as the militias rampaged throughout the city of Dili and the rest of East Timor. Later UN forces were sent to keep the peace.

Iraq

In 2003 The US led a war to remove Saddam Hussein and the Baath party from power in Iraq. Though he was defeated quickly forces loyal to him and rival groups such as Al Quaida, Shiite militias, and other insurgent groups have made Iraq the most dangerous place on earth. Australia sent forces to support the US coalition though new Prime Minister Rudd has promised to remove them.

Afghanistan

The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7, 2001, was launched by the United States and the United Kingdom in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was the beginning of the War on Terror.

The stated purpose of the invasion was to capture Osama bin Laden, destroy al-Qaeda, and remove the Taliban regime which had provided support and safe harbor to al-Qaeda terrorists. Since then remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents have been continuing a campaign of terror to destroy the central government authority and with drug warlords keep Afghanistan in a state of anarchy. With the US and NATO Australians have been a part of the peacekeeping force, concentrating in Oruzgan province, central Afghanistan.

In 1968 a split began with the Australian administration of the territory of Papua New Guinea and the people of Bougainville. In 1973 Papua New Guinea was to be given independence but disputes arose about a huge copper mine in Bougainville. In 1975 the Bougainville Provincial Government voted to secede from the soon-to-be-independent nation of Papua New Guinea. Attacks on the mine brought PNG police riot squads in conflict with locals. As the situation deteriorated into civil war 20,000 of the island's 120,000 people lost their lives. Australian peacekeepers were sent in 1997.