Summary:
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Indonesia is the eighth most significant contributor to international peacekeeping efforts, with about 2,700 soldiers serving in seven UN peace missions.
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UNIC Indonesia/Rizky AsharStrong bases for a flimsy peace process20 Indonesian soldiers were trained by military engineers with extensive knowledge of using heavy engineering equipment in peacekeeping missions as part of the UN’s Triangular Partnership Programme (TPP), which brings together nations that provide trainers and resources and countries that contribute troops to peacekeeping missions.
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This training session is the first to be held in Indonesia.
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The TPP’s core goal is to improve the readiness and efficiency of peacekeeping deployments.
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“The UN and Japanese trainers will return to Sentul the following year to conduct a training-of-trainers course, instructing future equipment instructors from forces that support peacekeeping throughout the area.
Chief Private Ryan Herdhika, an enthusiastic motorcyclist and member of the 3rd Combat Engineering Battalion of the Indonesian Army, did not naturally know how to operate an excavator, a bulldozer, or a wheel loader. But as a member of the Indonesian peacekeeping force there, he had just completed his heavy engineering equipment test. Next month, he will be sent to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
Getting on a motor grader to practise levelling the ground in a training area at the enormous Indonesian military peacekeeping centre in Sentul, Chief Private Herdhika stated, “It will be the first time in my life I go abroad, and I am glad that my first trip is as a UN peacekeeper, not a tourist.
Indonesia is the eighth most significant contributor to international peacekeeping efforts, with about 2,700 soldiers serving in seven UN peace missions.
A specific set of abilities
According to Rick Martin, Director of Special Activities at the UN’s Department of Operational Support in New York, the organisation is committed to maintaining uniformed soldiers’ engineering, medical, and technology capabilities.
To close capability gaps and enhance the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping operations, he continues, “high-quality enabling units in engineering and other key capability areas will need to continue to be a priority area as we face new operational challenges within UN peacekeeping operations.”
The UN and Japanese trainers will return to Sentul the following year to conduct a training-of-trainers course, instructing future equipment instructors from forces that support peacekeeping throughout the area. By that time, Chief Private Herdhika will be handling engineering machinery in the Central African Republic. But he adds, “I hope to be able to share my expertise and experience with my future peacekeeping colleagues after I return.”
Analysis by: Advocacy Unified Network
