20100802
Leadership

Abuja — Against the backdrop that Nigeria has lost over two thousand men and expended well over ten billion dollars in peace keeping operations in the last five decades without resultant benefits, President Goodluck Jonathan has hinted that the country may cease to send troops as peace keepers if the United Nations (UN) does not change its rule of engagement.

The president gave the hint yesterday at a 2-day international seminar organised by the ministry of defence on peace support operations.

According to the president, "The United Nations needs to change the rule of engagement if Nigerian soldiers must be involved in peace operations. Militia groups ambush law abiding peace keeping groups that go to their countries to ensure they live in peace and kill them carelessly because they want to exibit unnecessary gallantry or bravery.

"This is totally unacceptable and I would not want to hear that we lost soldiers through such means. I know the job is risky. Nigeria will henceforth take the killing of its soldiers seriously. As the president of Nigeria, I have to clearly inform the Chief of Defence Staff I would not want to lose one soldier carelessly again".

Blaming the industrialised nations for the proliferation of arms and ammunition in the continent which in turn leads to destabilisation of African countries, the president also urged the UN to check this scourge. "We believe that if developed nations can manufacture arms and ammunitions and stop playing politics with the free use and spread of such arms and ammunitions all over the world, most of these conflicts will not be there. Probably the UN needs to engage in peace operations through diplomacy in these countries that manufacture these arms and ammunitions and freely give them out for countries to fight against themselves.

"In Africa, we know that one of our greatest problems is the dumping of small arms and weapons by the industrialised countries. This encourages all kinds of criminal activities and militia groups because most people have access to arms and ammunitions that are dumped in Africa. It is becoming one of the main sources of under-development in Africa", the President stated.

In the same vein, former President Olusegun Obasanjo maintained that the country could no longer afford to sacrifice its soldiers as sitting docks.

Obasanjo in his keynote address at the occasion said, "Let me at this juncture join the President in stating that we must not send our troops as sitting docks for senseless militias to be made sacrificial lambs. As the president observed, the rule of engagement chapters 6 and 7 of the UN charter needs to be re-examined and roles specifically spelt out for troops when they are engaging in peace support operations".