Mission with unifil : an african soldier's reflections

UNIFIL - hemmed into a small area of
South Lebanon amid fiercely conflicting
forces - is the UN's most difficult peace-
keeping operation since the Congo, and
General Erskine is recognised as having
shown outstanding leadership and resil-
ience as its commander. In this book he
comments on his international service with
great frankness. UNIFIL's day-to-day act-
ivities and hazards are described, together
with his constant contacts with UN head-
quarters, with the Israeli army and govern-
ment, with the late Major Saad Haddad's
Israeli-protected 'De Facto Forces', with the
neighbouring Arab states and the PLO,
and with the various countries from around
the world that have participated in
UNIFIL. He gives special emphasis to the
humanitarian work which he considered an
integral part of his mission. A chapter is
devoted to the Ghanaian army's participa-
tion in UNIFIL ever since the force was
established.

The reader is given a refreshing examina -
tion of the political realities surrounding
UN operations in the Arab world, and of
the possibilities for breaking the impasse.
The author also gives, by description and
implication, a wide-ranging analysis of the
new military science of peacekeeping.
Sir Brian Urquhart, who has written the
Foreword, was Under Secretary-General of
the UN for Political Affairs, 1974-86, with
special responsibility for peacekeeping.