December 2008

As part of my project on technology in UN peacekeeping, the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) sent me to several missions. For the Haiti mission, L.Col. Harald Lixenfeld (Germany) was sent to accompany me.

We visited the Jordanian unit conducting surveillance along the border with the Dominican Republic. In the photo from right to left is: L.Col. Lixenfeld, my assigned officer from UN Heqadquarters (NY); the commanding officer of the Jordanian uni; myself; the Uruguayan officer assigned to accompany us on our travels in Haiti; a Jordianian officer.

With Chilean commanding officers in Cap Haitien on Haiti's northern coast.

With the Argentine contingent in Gonaives.

The famous Blue House, a former rebel redoubt that was seized by UN forces during the 2007 arrest of Evens Jeune gang members. The Blue House was a strategic location in Cite Soleil because the rebels used it to extort "taxes" (bribes) from cars passing on Route No. 1 in front. The Force Commander was quite proud of this forceful and successful UN action. Tragically, the Blue House collapsed in the earthquake of 12 January 2010 killing a dozen Brazilian soldiers inside!

The Force Commander, Maj.Gen. Carlos dos Santos Cruz, of the Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti (MINUSTAH), with some friendly Haitian children. He was taking L.Col. Lixenfeld and myself on a guided tour of Cité Soleil, which had been under gang control until his UN forces forcefully removed them in 2006-07. I describe the MINUSTAH operations as a case study of Intelligence-led Peacekeeping  (html) (pdf).

Other work in field operations: Timor (1999), Cyprus (2009).