Waging peace in the line of fire

 

Lt-Col Gobalakrishna (middle) with his army sergeant and driver during their mission in Bosnia.

PETALING JAYA: Peacekeeping is not as peaceful as it sounds. Lt-Col Gobalakrishna Govindasamy should know for he has had to negotiate through mines and illegal checkpoints to ferry civilians fleeing conflicts to safety.

Gobalakrishna, who has served as a Malaysian United Nations peacekeeper, remembers his time in Bosnia when peacekeepers were tasked with escorting civilians fleeing conflict zones.

“Once, when I was with other Malaysian peacekeepers escorting a humanitarian convoy from Tarcin to Visoko, mines were placed on the road in front of the convoy to delay us.

“As the escorting troop, we had to negotiate a path to get the convoy through safely, and we did.”

A humanitarian convoy in Bosnia escorting civilians fleeing conflict zones.

The Malaysian battalion of peacekeepers, also known as MALBATT, was well known in Bosnia and so they generally did not have much trouble. He said it took time, but MALBATT managed to establish good rapport and a level of trust with both Bosnians and Croatians involved in the conflict.

Gobalakrishna described peacekeepers on the frontlines as the “only thing standing between those directly involved in the war and the victims”.

“Civilians are often casualties of war and as a UN peacekeeper, part of our mandate is to get them out of the line of fire,” he told FMT in conjunction with International UN Peacekeepers Day.

UN peacekeeping was established after World War II in 1945 as an instrument to help countries torn by conflict create conditions of lasting peace.

UN peacekeepers are deployed voluntarily to protect civilians, prevent conflict, reduce violence, strengthen security and empower national authorities to assume these responsibilities.

Gobalakrishna, an officer of the Royal Armoured Corps, added that Malaysia had been sending troops to conflict zones since the 1960s, with some missions lasting between five and 10 years depending on the severity of the conflict.

He said there were two types of peacekeepers: those who were part of an armed battalion and “individual peacekeepers” or observers comprising volunteers who were sent for unarmed duty to oversee a truce.

Gobalakrishna, 56, has served with the Malaysian armed forces for 36 years.

Lt-Col Gobalakrishna with the Territorial Administrator of Kamina City in the Congo with three other UN military observers.

He was deployed on two UN peacekeeping missions, in Bosnia from 1994 to 1995 with the 2nd Royal Armoured Regiment, and from 2003 to 2009 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when he served with the Army Field Command before being deployed as a military observer.

In Bosnia, Gobalakrishna said his battalion was armed and given the mandate to get involved if need be. “This was not unnatural to me as I was a trained soldier. Plus, I was a young officer at the time, and we were all gung-ho…ready to face anything,” he quipped.

He added: “I was newly married when I was deployed to Bosnia. My wife was afraid because it was at the height of the Bosnian War which was always on the news. But she was a strong woman and had the support of her family while I was away.”

Lt-Col Gobalakrishna with women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo during his time as a military observer.

He volunteered to be an “individual peacekeeper” in the Congo, and served as a military observer after the Second Congo War where he helped civilians deal with the conflict’s aftermath.

“A certain level of maturity was required in handling their grievances. I also had to assist in investigations involving sexual violence against women and children,” he said.

Gobalakrishna, who has three children, said he found the investigations to be challenging, even though he had been trained before being deployed.

He is now the head of research and development at the Malaysian Peacekeeping Centre in Port Dickson, which was established to train soldiers to be UN peacekeepers.

He said Malaysians were able to adapt well to whichever conflict-torn country they were deployed in.

“One thing I’m sure about is that we adapt fast to any surroundings. I chalk it up to our diversity, so going to a country with different cultures and races is not new to us,” he said.

Despite the challenges he faced, Gobalakrishna said the exposure and experience he received as a UN peacekeeper were priceless.

“Every adversity that we face shapes us and allows us to grow and I am grateful for mine,” he said appreciatively. - FMT