Indians, Pakistanis join hands in Congo battle

[A1Kaid]

Indians, Pakistanis join hands in Congo battle

DHARAM SHOURIE Posted: Mar 05, 2005 at 0000 hrs IST

[Yes it is a few years old, but it is a very interesting and worth reading]


UNITED NATIONS, MARCH 4 After nine Bangladeshi soldiers on a peace-keeping mission in restive Congo were surrounded and killed by rebels last week, their colleagues in the United Nations decided to come up with a ‘‘robust response’’.These colleagues happened to be soldiers from India and Pakistan. What followed was a classic operation in which an Indian helicopter supported Pakistani ground troops and ended up killing at least 50 militiamen in Congo’s troubled Ituri region.

The operation has been praised and staunchly defended by UN officials. Margaret Carey, an officer in the Africa division of the UN peacekeeping department, said that the Indians and Pakistanis acted in self-defence and were protecting civilians.

And, in what must now rank as a rare example of South Asian cooperation, the soldiers from the two countries also protected each other after their colleagues from Bangladesh had been killed a few days earlier.

It began when Pakistani soldiers received information that Loga village in the volatile Ituri province was being used as a weapons centre. The peacekeepers decided to conduct a ‘‘cordon and search’’ mission.

This proved harder than planned. The area is a hotbed of militant activity and within no time the Pakistanis found themselves under fire from some hills overlooking the area. They asked for air support.

This came in the form of an Indian attack helicopter, which zeroed in on the Congo militia positions and protected the Pakistani peacekeepers.

Some 50 militiamen died in the battle that followed. There have not been any reports of civilian casualties so far.

Carey said that the peacekeepers did not engage in war and their basic mission was to bring about peace. She also rejected suggestions that the operation was conducted by the Indians and Pakistanis to avenge the killing of nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers by the militia last week.

‘‘When you are confronted with people who are fighting you, you have to exercise self-defence and take them out, basically,” British UN ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said.

Currently, the United Nations has 15,000 peacekeepers from 100 countries in Congo where it is trying to disarm the militia, which belongs to Nationalist and Integration Front, an ethnic Lendu political party.

Carey said that after the lesson learnt from Srebrenica in Bosnia and Rwanda, the nature of peacekeeping operations had changed. The operation in Loga was an example of “robust peacekeeping,” she said.

Source: Indians, Pakistanis join hands in Congo battle


Quite a remarkable story. The article uses names, references, and official statements which does give it accuracy.


This is something you don't hear or read everyday...

 

[A1Kaid]

The NY Times has also reported this story, focusing more on the situation for the Bangladeshi UN Soldiers and militancy in Ituri province, D.R. Congo.


U.N. Forces Using Tougher Tactics to Secure Peace




Published: May 23, 2005

(Page 2 of 2)


In March, after an ambush that killed nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers, the United Nations forces raided a crowded market near Loga to root out fighters preying on the local population. The peacekeepers also conduct what they call "cordon and search" operations, which are essentially hunts for weaponry in remote villages.

Their opponents are tribal fighters who ignored the United Nations deadline of April 1 for disarming. A last opportunity to comply is approaching; after that, the peacekeepers say they will get even tougher. As the United Nations has become more aggressive, many tribal warriors have disarmed. Of the 15,000 fighters that the United Nations estimates once operated in Ituri, nearly 14,000 have turned in their weapons. The holdouts are fierce, and show no signs of surrendering.

In February, militia fighters ambushed a group of Bangladeshi soldiers on a foot patrol around a camp of displaced people. Nine peacekeepers were killed, then mutilated.

On May 12, another Bangladeshi patrol was ambushed. This time, six were wounded and one was killed. At a memorial service, Dominique Aitouyahia-McAdams, the top civilian in the United Nations operation in Bunia, said the death would only embolden the operation in its quest for peace. She called those who killed the peacekeepers "remnant militia bandits still marauding in the district."

General Gaye was in Bunia the other day to attend a lavish ceremony for the first anniversary of a peace deal that the militias signed, agreeing to give up their guns. Since that declaration, one of the half dozen militias in Ituri has disbanded, and others have shrunk to small bands. Various militia leaders have been arrested by the Congolese, with help from peacekeepers.

But the ceremony occurred a day after the memorial service, demonstrating that the job was not done.

United Nations peacekeepers in Congo were not always so gung-ho. For years, they were criticized for huddling in their camps as atrocities recurred in the countryside. Now, some critics condemn them for being too aggressive. And critics also denounce the sexual abuse of girls by some peacekeepers.

Justice Plus, a rights group based in Bunia, lamented that when the peacekeepers raided the market near Loga some civilians "paid with their life while the mandate of the United Nations was to protect them."

The get-tough approach wins praise from those in Bunia who remember when, just two years ago, it was a battlefield between rival Hema and Lendu militias.

As Lendu militias chased Hemas out of Bunia in May 2003, Lea Assamba, 17, was confronted by armed Lendu men and threatened with death. She said she explained to them frantically that she was not a Hema but someone from another tribe, one not involved in Ituri's madness.

The militiamen made her suffer nonetheless. They killed a Hema girl standing by, and her body fell on Lea. They made her balance on her head the decapitated head of a Hema man, she said. The stranger's blood dripped down on her.

Lea escaped but was confronted by more marauding militias down the road. They shot some people standing next to her, and she dropped to the ground as they did. They died. She, covered with blood, was left for dead.

"Things would not be good if Monuc went away," Lea said, using the French acronym for the United Nations mission in Congo.

But not far from Bunia, awful things continue. Villagers are on the run. Men with guns and machetes chase them. In the midst of it, heavily armed United Nations soldiers are trying to extend their reach. They engage in something shy of war but also a long way from peace.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/23/international/africa/23congo.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

 

[alirulesall123]

Imagine If Hindus and Muslims Got together, or that Nehru had allowed Pakistan to be created, but have been a state under the Union of India. Desis Would Rule the World my friends, Desis would rule

 

[ambersjay]

IAF in Congo

 

[R.A.W.]

Imagine If Hindus and Muslims Got together, or that Nehru had allowed Pakistan to be created, but have been a state under the Union of India. Desis Would Rule the World my friends, Desis would rule

I read it some where on this forum

Wests worst nightmare would be daring Pakistan army with Indian brain trained in kunfu

 

[xebex]

stories like these gives me hope that one bright day will come for the whole South Asia. When it comes, trust me on this, that would be one tough force.

It was written that the murderers of our Bangladeshis should be murdered by Indians and Pakistanis, at the end of the day we all are SouthAsians!

 

[A1Kaid]

Here is a Pakistani article from Dawn News that reported the event.



Pakistani & Indian troops come together in solidarity

By Jawed Naqvi


NEW DELHI, March 5: Indian and Pakistani soldiers of the UN contingent in Congo came together in exemplary solidarity earlier this month to hunt militants who had killed their Bangladeshi colleagues, it was reported on Saturday.

There were fears though that the soldiers may have violated regulations linked with human rights norms in such deployments as they are believed to have given a "robust response" to the alleged militants.

"After nine Bangladeshi soldiers on a peace-keeping mission in restive Congo were surrounded and killed by rebels last week, their colleagues in the United Nations decided to come up with a robust response," The Indian Express reported from the United Nations headquarters in New York.

"These colleagues happened to be soldiers from India and Pakistan. What followed was a classic operation in which an Indian helicopter supported Pakistani ground troops and ended up killing at least 50 militiamen in Congo's troubled Ituri region."

According to the report the operation has been praised and defended by UN officials. Margaret Carey, an officer in the Africa division of the UN peacekeeping department, said that the Indians and Pakistanis acted in self-defence and were protecting civilians. "And, in what must now rank as a rare example of South Asian cooperation, the soldiers from the two countries also protected each other after their colleagues from Bangladesh had been killed a few days earlier.

It seems that Pakistani soldiers received information about Loga village in the volatile Ituri province, that it was being used as a weapons centre. The peacekeepers decided to conduct a "cordon and search" mission.

This proved harder than planned. The area is a hotbed of militant activity and within no time the Pakistanis found themselves under fire from some hills overlooking the area. They asked for air support.

This came in the form of an Indian attack helicopter, which zeroed in on the Congo militia positions and protected the Pakistani peacekeepers.

Some 50 militiamen died in the battle that followed. There have not been any reports of civilian casualties so far.

Ms Carey said that the peacekeepers did not engage in war and their basic mission was to bring about peace. She also rejected suggestions that the operation was conducted by the Indians and Pakistanis to avenge the killing of nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers by the militia last week.


Source: Pakistani & Indian troops come together in solidarity -DAWN - Top Stories; 06 March, 2005

 

[A1Kaid]

Good news

"Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, leader of a Hema militia named the Union of Congolese Patriots, was arrested and placed in custody by the DRC authorities following the killing and mutilation in February 2005 of nine Bangladesh soldiers who were serving in the United Nations peacekeeping force in Ituri."

Picture of Hema militia leader

Source: Ituri: Congo's Savage Conflict Defeats Free Elections

 

[A1Kaid]

Indians, Pakistanis Partners in U.N. Peacekeeping Effort in Congo

06 June 2006

Ground forces disarmed rebels, and are helping to prepare for elections

By Jim Fisher-Thompson, Washington File Correspondent
Washington File Staff Writer

Bunia, Ituri District, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Bloodshed and suffering are ending in this war-torn section of eastern Congo due in large part to cooperation between two traditional rivals -- India and Pakistan -- whose troops are now risking their lives to protect Congolese as part of the U.N. peacekeeping force called MONUC.

Being a Pakistani, "I could never image such cooperation between my countrymen and Indians as I've seen here," MONUC public information officer Mohammad Abdul Wahab told the Washington File June 5.

Abdul Wahab discussed the ongoing security situation in Ituri district along with MONUC chief information officer Jennifer Bakody. Bunia, the administrative center for Ituri district, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Orientale Province, also oversees sub-offices in the towns of Aru, Kasenyi and Mahagi.

Ituri, like much of eastern Congo, has been under constant turmoil since 1998, when a regional conflict with the DRC and its neighbors in the Great Lakes region set the stage for roving bands of rebels and militias to rape and pillage the countryside. As many as 3.5 million people may have died in this "Forgotten War," as it is called by some specialists in African affairs.

MONUC came on the stage after various peace accords were signed from 1999 to 2002 that called upon the United Nations to reinstitute security in the east while helping the DRC prepare for elections.

According to a U.N. document, "MONUC's multinational character (representing more than 100 member states) is a visible indication of the international community's interest in resolving the DRC crisis and accompanying the Congolese people on their historic transition to elections with stability."

Since it began active operations in Ituri in September 2003, MONUC ground forces have disarmed 17,000 rebels in the district while helping to build roads and schools and preparing the local populace for national elections scheduled for July 30.

Part of the MONUC force consists of a battalion of Pakistani troops and an aviation unit of the Indian Air Force with two ground attack helicopters -- their own machines but repainted in U.N. white.

On a number of occasions, the Indians have been called in to support Pakistani troops, as well as Nepalese, Moroccan and Bangladesh infantry units in Ituri who have come under fire.

In an operation against rebels that began May 15, a unit of Nepalese soldiers was ambushed on May 28, with one killed, three wounded and seven taken captive who have still not been released. The wounded were evacuated by elements of the air operation in Ituri that includes the Indian aviation unit.

Other soldiers represented in the MONUC/Ituri force come from Morocco, Indonesia, South Africa and Uruguay.

"That's the beauty of the U.N.," said MONUC's Abdul Wahab, "that it brings different peoples together for a common cause. Only the U.N. would provide a platform for 50-60 nationalities [in the MONUC] to interact this way to end suffering and help people build a new future."

For information on U.S. policy in the region, see Africa.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Source: Indians, Pakistanis Partners in U.N. Peacekeeping Effort in Congo


Truly a remarkable story and certainly worth reading. It is quite a interesting to read the words of Pakistani (In MONUC-UN Peace Keeping Force) Public Information Officer Muhammad A. Wahab and his take on the cooperation with Indian soldiers.

 

[R.A.W.]

Is there any possibility that India and Pakistan will get united against China?

I think the recent course of events is leading to that direction. It is highly possible that both Indians and Pakistanis will fight China shoulder by shoulder, in my personal opinion.

What do you think? Just asking.

Never................ no chance......... 0%.... Pakistan has only one friend and that is China. Pakistan will never go against China at any cost. And for chinese also Pakistan is the only favorable nation which supports them in everything.

Thats another thing if some thing comes out on religious grounds between Pakistan and China in upcoming days because of Muslim suppression and China also being idol worshipers as Hindu India.

 

[xebex]

Is there any possibility that India and Pakistan will get united against China?

I think the recent course of events is leading to that direction. It is highly possible that both Indians and Pakistanis will fight China shoulder by shoulder, in my personal opinion.

What do you think? Just asking.

Think about how can we work with China and build a prosperous Asia. we all should be united, no need to be against this country or that country especially in Asia that suffers poverity and conflicts.

PLEASE DO NOT BRING IN CHINA HERE. Lets keep it as a desi unity thread.

 

[R.A.W.]

Just because some Pakistanis and Indians fought against some African rebels you guys are singing bhai bhai.

Go check anywhere on the internet where it mentions Pakistan, check indian forums, watch indian news, see what kind of comments Indians write, Indians hate us. If tomorrow America announces a war against Pakistan, Indians all across the world will jump for joy. They hate Pakistanis and hate the idea of Pakistan.

Check all your posts first.... And yeah check this post also....

 

[Kharian_Beast]

Just because some Pakistanis and Indians fought against some African rebels you guys are singing bhai bhai.

Go check anywhere on the internet where it mentions Pakistan, check indian forums, watch indian news, see what kind of comments Indians write, Indians hate us. If tomorrow America announces a war against Pakistan, Indians all across the world will jump for joy. They hate Pakistanis and hate the idea of Pakistan.

Go check anywhere on the internet where it mentions India, check Pakistani forums, watch Pakistani news, see what kind of comments Pakistanis write, Pakistanis hate them. If tomorrow America announces a war against India, Pakistanis all across the world will jump for joy. They hate Indians and hate the idea of India.

It works both ways...people like you don't belong in this thread.

 

[quriosity]

Never................ no chance......... 0%.... Pakistan has only one friend and that is China. Pakistan will never go against China at any cost. And for chinese also Pakistan is the only favorable nation which supports them in everything.

Thats another thing if some thing comes out on religious grounds between Pakistan and China in upcoming days because of Muslim suppression and China also being idol worshipers as Hindu India.

Please dont drag religion here. China's majority Muslims are of Hui Muslims community and Hui Chinese and Han Chinese belong to the same race, while Uyghur Muslims, though many of them are Mongoloids, are of Caucasoid-Mongoloid mixture. Many Han Chinese have been converted into Islam also. So in China there is no Muslims repression. Actually, Uyghurs dont want to mix with the Hans because of racial problem, there is no religious problem at all. I am surprised that you dont know these facts. Or you know, but are pretending that you dont know?

Anyway, Indians (north Indians, not south Indian Dravidians) and Pakistanis belong to the same race which some called desis. So from that angle I think in future it is highly possible that Indians and Pakistanis will get united against the Chinese who are different in race.

Well, I am saying this from a racial point of view, not from religious point of view as you opined.

 

[A1Kaid]

Just because some Pakistanis and Indians fought against some African rebels you guys are singing bhai bhai.

Go check anywhere on the internet where it mentions Pakistan, check indian forums, watch indian news, see what kind of comments Indians write, Indians hate us. If tomorrow America announces a war against Pakistan, Indians all across the world will jump for joy. They hate Pakistanis and hate the idea of Pakistan.

That is true and I certainly am not suggesting Pakistan let down it's guard against all enemies of Pakistan and certainly there is no and will never be 'brotherhood' between Pakistan and India.

However, the point of this thread is to highlight a very remarkable story of Pakistani and Indian soldiers cooperating and fighting together against militants in the D.R. Congo. That I believe is truly remarkable and worth reading and understanding.