Freeland to Announce UN Training Mission and Risks of Modern Peacekeeping

By: Murray Brewster, CBC News

A major component of the Liberal government's plan to return Canada to peacekeeping involves using Canadian soldiers to train and mentor other, less experienced United Nations forces, say defence and government sources.

The strategy, which would possibly be employed in some of the most dangerous parts of Africa, is a departure from traditional peacekeeping, which is popular in the public imagination.

And in the opinion of some defence experts, it bears some resemblance to the kind of capacity-building counter-insurgency mission the Canadian Forces carried out in Afghanistan for the better part of a decade.

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"Capacity in training is a strength for Canada," said one official, who was unable to speak on the record because of the sensitivity of the file.

It is likely one of the reasons the Liberal government believes it must prepare the public for the risks of "modern peacekeeping."

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is slated to give a major foreign policy address in a few weeks' time, which will open the door to the delivery of the long-awaited defence policy review on June 7.

But it will also prepare the public for peacekeeping missions that could cost lives.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to start a push to educate Canadians on the risks of modern peacekeeping in a speech coming up in a few weeks. (Todd Korol/Canadian Press)

One of the scenarios envisions Canadian troops helping train African Union peacekeepers in a relatively safe place, such as the West African nation of Burkina Faso, and then transporting the combined force into the country where they would operate.

Canadian soldiers would also accompany their apprentices into field in order to support them, reinforce lessons and ensure they don't get into trouble. UN missions in that part of the world have been marred with allegations of rape and child sexual abuse.
Echoes of Afghanistan

The concept sounds similar to the operational mentoring and liaison teams that Canadian troops used to help build up the Afghan National Police in Kandahar.

The idea of being seen as a leader in training peacekeepers and the development of uniform standards is politically attractive to the Liberals, who are eager to push the "Canada is back" narrative on the world stage.

Sources say the plan has also been given "enthusiastic" buy-in among senior UN officials who are themselves eager to improve the quality of peacekeeping soldiers, many of whom are ill-equipped and from developing countries.

Troops and a tank from the Edmonton-based Lord Strathcona's Horse are shown during Operation Lion II in Khenjakak, Afghanistan in this file photo. (Murray Brewster/Canadian Press)

"The complexities of today's operations require a collective effort to enhance the training of uniformed personnel for United Nations peace operations," said a report prepared in September 2015 by former secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who also requested that contributing countries be certified in peacekeeping practices and that the UN support "the establishment of bilateral and regional training partnerships."

The decision on where to deploy roughly 600 troops and 150 police officers in support of UN operations has been in a holding pattern for months.

Originally announced last summer, it was supposed to be made by the end of 2016. But it remains in limbo, with one senior government official recently suggesting it could remain there until the fall.
Eyes on Africa

Mali is most often mentioned as a possible destination and has been the focus of repeated research trips by senior federal officials, including Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

The list has also included, at various points over the last year, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.

While justifying the absence of a decision in March, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said deploying troops is a not a move to be taken lightly, but also noted Canada has had "a difficult history in Africa as peacekeepers."

He was referring to the disastrous missions to both Somalia and Rwanda in the mid-1990s.

The Canadian who led the Rwanda mission during that country's genocide said he applauds the government's determination to "wean" the public off the notion of classic peacekeeping, which is rooted in ceasefire observation missions.

But retired lieutenant-general Roméo Dallaire says Canada risks being on the wrong side of history if it hesitates or fails to make a significant contribution to peace and stability during a complex and ambiguous time in the world.

"It's not going to blow over. It's going to continue to be complex," Dallaire said. "And we have a lot of capabilities that we're simply holding back."

Canadians are among the best prepared for UN missions, he added, particularly with the introduction of new guidelines to deal with the use of child soldiers.

Roméo Dallaire says Canadians are among the best prepared for taking on UN missions. (Adrian Wyld/CP)

Regardless of the location, it is likely the troops will be deployed in mostly violent, unstable nations.

In the case of Mali, local insurgents are competing, sometimes at cross purposes, with international jihadist groups.

The U.S. Intelligence Community's "Worldwide Threat Assessment," released last week, noted that al-Qaeda is attempting "to promote unity among Mali-based jihadists" in the region, "increase military action, and speed up recruitment of fighters."

While there is a need to underline the peril, it must also be put in context, said Richard Gowan, research director for New York University's Center on International Cooperation.

"Mali is certainly is one of the most dangerous missions, and scores of peacekeepers have been killed in ambushes," Gowan told CBC News. "It should be said that the majority of those who have died were relatively poorly armed, poorly protected African troops.

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Dutch and German forces have operated there under the UN flag and occasionally have been targets. But Gowan notes that "their fatality rates are much, much lower."

"So if Canadian troops do go into Mali, they will face very great risk, but we are not likely to see casualty figures on the level of Afghanistan some years ago," he said.

Meanwhile, Central African Republic was rocked by a series of attacks over the past week that have forced more than 15,000 people to flee their homes.

And in the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Joseph Kabila's resolve to stay in power beyond his constitutional time limit has led to rising tension and the threat of popular violence in that country.

‘National interest’ to guide Future CAF Deployments

By: Steven Chase, The Globe and Mail 

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is being instructed by Justin Trudeau to ensure any future deployment of troops is in Canada’s “national interest” – just as questions swirl over whether Ottawa will still send a big contingent of peacekeepers to Africa in the Donald Trump era.

Master Corporal Maxime Daneau,left, of the 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment, confirms plans to delay an enemy advance with a Polish and two Latvian soldiers during a multinational anti-tank exercise, in Pabrade, Lithuania on May 14, 2016.
(Captain Mark Ruban/Operation Reassurance Land Task Force)

The Prime Minister released new mandate letters Wednesday with fresh marching orders for ministers who received new jobs in his January cabinet shuffle. Ms. Freeland’s letter contains instructions for synchronizing foreign policy and military missions at at time when Canada’s biggest ally is led by President Trump, a populist who wants to rewrite trade relations in the United States’ favour and complains that allies are not contributing enough to collective defence.

In her letter, Ms. Freeland is told she must work with Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan to ensure that any deployment of the Canadian Armed Forces aligns with “Canada’s national interest.” That benchmark comes first in a list of criteria for overseas missions that also includes “multilateral commitments and the government’s policy objectives.”

This instruction about future military deployments was not in the mandate letter given to Ms. Freeland’s predecessor Stephane Dion when he was handed the foreign affairs post in late 2015.

Defence analyst David Perry says the new assignment to focus on Canada’s “national interest” when dispatching troops appears to reduce the emphasis on peacekeeping as a key goal for Canadian military operations and suggests any deployment will be more carefully aligned with this country’s most important ally: the United States.

Sources in Ottawa say that the Canadian government has paused a decision, originally expected in December, on where it will deploy peacekeeping troops until it gets a better sense of what the Trump White House expects of allies. Mr. Trump has yet to roll out his plans for security and defence but the U.S. President has repeatedly accused Western countries of falling short on defence spending and has said he wants the NATO military alliance to focus more on counter-terrorism.

The Canadian government, which has already committed to a 450-troop-strong deployment to Latvia to help deter Russian expansion, wants to ensure it has military assets in reserve until it determines whether Mr. Trump’s military and foreign policies could place more demands on Canada, said Mr. Perry, a senior analyst with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

“The reason we haven’t put the peacekeeping mission out the door is they are trying to wait and see how we best fit in and establish a positive relationship with Washington,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re not going to do things we want to do, like peace support operations, if we can, and if it makes sense, but if you only have so many arrows in your quiver you don’t want to shoot one now and not maybe have it for use later.”

It was during this past August that Ms. Freeland’s predecessor, Mr. Dion, originally announced Ottawa would commit 600 troops and 150 police officers to peacekeeping missions in what the Liberals billed as a return to Canada’s role as a big backer of peace-support operations. Countries such as Mali, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo are among the locations where Canada has been considering a significant deployment. Colombia was another option on the table.

Five months later, Mr. Sajjan says he’s still trying to determine which peacekeeping deployment would be most effective. “We want to make sure that we get this decision right because any time, I’ve always stated, when we send troops, we want to make sure that they can have a meaningful impact on the ground,” the defence minister told reporters in Ottawa earlier this week.

Separately, in Ukraine, where Canada has 200 soldiers deployed on a training mission, Kiev is coping with with a significant uptick in violence that has generated the most casualties in its war with Moscow-backed militants.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia Wednesday to use its “considerable influence” with rebels in eastern Ukraine to end what he described as “the most serious spike in violations” of a shaky truce there in a long time.

Mr. Sajjan on Wednesday was asked whether Canada will extend this Ukraine mission beyond its March, 2017, expiry date and he said Ottawa was still studying how it could best support Kiev. “I want to make sure that Canadians also know that we are committed to the Ukraine because … the action that Russia has taken is completely unacceptable.”

With files from Reuters