By BEATRICE WAMUYU
KENYA: When it comes to peace-keeping in the world’s hotspots, Kenya Defence Forces have been in the frontline for almost four decades. According to the United Nations, Kenya is among the top ten countries that contribute peace keepers and observers in trouble spots.
This has been a source of great pride for our country, given that military forces in other African countries have failed to earn global recognition due to indiscipline. Indeed, poor training and indiscipline have seen these armies engage in bloody coups.
However, Kenya’s soldiers have participated in assisting civil authorities maintain order in the Middle East, the Balkans, Africa and Asia. The missions have been carried out on the request of the UN, the Commonwealth and the African Union, formerly the Organisation of African Unity.
Those that have taken part include observers, staff officers, civilian police monitors and infantry troops, according to the United Nations. Also contributing have been chief military observers, chiefs of staff and force commanders.
Earlier this year, the website Global Firepower ranked Kenya’s military as the 46th most powerful in the world. It is number six in Africa after Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria.
After the Arab-Israel war in 1973, the United Nations asked Kenya to contribute peace keepers in the Middle East. This was only ten years after independence. Kenya accepted the request, but this never took off for logistical reasons, according to the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
“The first comprehensive participation of the Kenya Army in Peace Support operations was in 1979, when the Commonwealth requested the Republic of Kenya to contribute troops for a peace mission in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The country was then experiencing a liberation war waged by the indigenous population against the regime of Ian Smith,” says MOD.
The first mission outside Africa was in the former Yugoslavia, where the UN needed to keep law and order after intervening in ethnic fighting. KDF were stationed there for three years, between 1992 and 1995.
Countries where Kenya has sent peace keepers and observers include Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kuwait, East Timor, South Sudan, Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone. Others are former Yugoslavia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Namibia, Liberia, Angola, Chad, Rwanda, Mozambique, Burundi and Uganda.
Kenya has developed a training programme for peace-keeping staff.
“The course curriculum includes basic military skills, computer literacy, human rights, international humanitarian law and international law of armed conflict. Emphasis is also placed on personnel having a thorough knowledge and background of the conflict and the environment to which they are to be deployed,” says the UN.