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Interview with the

MINURSO Force Commander

Major-General Abdul Hafiz

Bangladesh Army

In any peace-keeping mission there are two "big bosses" -- one is the
Secretary-General's Special Representative who is in charge of
the "civilian" aspect of the mission and another one who is in
charge of the military component. We had the opportunity of
meeting with both. Here is our interview with Major-General
Abdul Hafiz, who was recentely appointed as the force commander
of MINURSO.

Q: What is your background? Q: What is the difference between in 1991 -- the Royal Moroccan Army
being the force commander in and the Front Polisario.
I was appointed the MINURSO force the Côte d'Ivoire and here in
commander in July 2011 and I took Laayoune. We have thirty-two military observers
over responsibility during the first week from twenty different nationalities in the
of August. This is my second mission Essentially, the mandates are different. military component. They are deployed
as force commander. Previously, I was In Côte d'Ivoire the mandate was to or- in nine team sites, on both sides of the
force commander in Côte d'Ivoire for ganize elections, provide security for the sand wall that separates the belligerents.
UNOCI for about a year -- from March elections, and also liaise with the par- From these nine sites we conduct pa-
2010 to July 2011, before the elections. ties, the belligerents. There were other trols, both on the ground and in the air.
During and after the elections I was functions as well, but essentially the fo-
based in Abidjan. Upon completion of cus was on the elections and managing Q: The situation seems to be very
my one-year assignment I went back to the post-election crisis. The focus was quiet?
my country where I commanded an in- largely on the protection of civilians
fantry division. Then, I was nominated Since the establishment of the cease-
by the Secretary-General as the force In Laayoune we are not organizing elec- fire in 1991, we have observed that it
commander of MINURSO. I went to tions; we are not focusing on the protec- is being maintained. However, from
New York for my briefing and from there tion of civilians. In MINURSO our main time to time, there are violations to the
to Laayoune, the mission headquarters, focus is to monitor the cease-fire esta- agreements signed. When we observe a
to take up my functions. blished between the two ex-belligerents violation, we carry out an investigation
and verify it. Then, an evaluation wor-
king group meets regularly and decides
whether to raise a violation or not. Once
the decision is taken to raise a violation,
we inform the parties concerned and
we urge them not to commit such viola-
tions. We also inform the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations in New York,
who take action through diplomatic
channels.

Q: What is it like being in the mili-
tary in this part of the world?

Essentially, you are working under UN
mandate, wearing a blue helmet and re-
presenting the United Nations and the
international community. That gives you
the legitimacy, the force and the moral
strength. You are on the ground monito-
ring the ceasefire; you are contributing
to peace. This gives you a sense of pride.

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