The Prime Minister received their dead bodies in Dhaka on February 28 with due honour and solemnity. The country observed a national mourning day on March 1 as a mark of respect for the fallen soldiers.

The UN Secretary General condoled the death of the Bangladeshi troops and called the attack "a criminal act." The US Assistant Secretary for South Asia sent condolences to the Bangladesh Foreign Minister and lauded Bangladesh's role in the UN peacekeeping missions across the world. The government of Congo issued a statement that they were determined to hunt the criminal gangs and punish them for the murders.

The soldiers' deaths in Congo were the second largest loss of life for the Bangladeshi army while on UN peacekeeping duties. In October 2003, 15 officers of Bangladesh army died in a plane crash in Liberia.

Bangladesh contribution to peacekeeping
It is believed that there are more than 44,000 UN peacekeeping troops in many tension-torn zones in the world and they are bravely carrying out duties for a noble cause of peace as directed by the UN Security Council. Bangladesh troops reportedly constitute about 14 per cent of the total UN peacekeeping missions, the second highest among developing countries.

It is reported that Bangladesh has sent 1,300 troops in the Congo at the request of the UN Secretary General. In recent years, Bangladesh is one of the largest contributors to the UN peacekeeping missions across different continents of the world.

Despite the tragedy, Bangladesh government reaffirmed its commitment to continue its contributions to UN peacekeeping operations. The professionalism and competence of Bangladeshi personnel is well regarded and broadly acknowledged. The fact that Bangladesh has been a consistent contributor and its willingness to respond quickly when circumstances demanded has established a good standing for the country.

What is UN peacekeeping mission?
The core functions of the UN, if its Charter is broadly interpreted, lie in maintaining peace, protecting human rights, and promoting development. All the substantive 101 articles of the UN Charter revolve around these three functions.

A close reading of the Charter will show that "peacekeeping" is not mentioned in the Charter. UN experts argue that peacekeeping operations fall between Chapter VI and Chapter VII of the Charter. Peacekeeping operations were once described by a former Secretary General, the late Dag Hammarskjold, as "Chapter VI-and-a-half" initiatives.

Chapter VI of the Charter refers to techniques that the Security Council can adopt in pursuit of the peaceful settlement of disputes, such as fact-finding, negotiation, mediation, arbitration or judicial settlement, while Chapter VII gives the Security Council power to enforce decisions to maintain or restore international peace and security. Peacekeeping operation is thus not explicitly provided for in the Charter.

The official UN account of peacekeeping, titled The Blue Helmets, defines peacekeeping as follows: "A peacekeeping operation has come to be defined as an operation involving military personnel, but without enforcement powers, undertaken by the UN to help maintain or restore international peace and security in areas of conflict."

The first full-fledged peacekeeping mission came in 1956 when the UN Emergency Force 1 was established in response to British and French forces' invasion of Egypt during the Suez Canal crisis. Hammarskjold in consultation with the President of the UN General Assembly Lester Pearson (Canada) defined the principles as follows:

· The principle of consent of the parties to the dispute for the establishment of the mission.

· The principle of nonuse of force except in self- defence.

· The principle of voluntary contributions of contingents from small, neutral countries to participate in the force.

· The principle of impartiality by the mission.

· The principle of control of peacekeeping operations by the UN Secretary General.

Most of the peacekeeping operations are restricted either to observe cease-fire or monitor of peace along the borders and buffer zones after cease-fires have been agreed upon by the parties of the conflicts. This means only once the parties cease armed conflicts, peacekeeping mission may begin.

Statistics show that between 1945 and 1988, there have been 42 UN peacekeeping missions across the world. After 1988 there has been dramatic increase in the number of peacekeeping operations. The increase implies that conflicts either on ethnic or linguistic or religious grounds have occurred and the UN had to intervene.

Contemporary peacekeeping missions of the UN can be appropriately categorized as (i) multilateral, (ii) multidimensional, and (iii) multinational/multicultural.

Multilateralism refers to the several aspects that may be involved in an operation. Parties to the conflict may be two or more than two, for example in Somalia more than a dozen vied for power, whereas in Mozambique, two identifiable parties existed in the conflict.

The operation is often multidimensional, having military, police and the civilian components, and each component is entrusted with specific duties to perform. Increasingly, civilian and police components play an important role in maintenance of public order. Military component serves in a supporting role in which the civilian component can work.

Multinationalism/multiculturalism means that a peacekeeping force is assembled by a multiplicity of troop-contributing nations and the civilian component is derived from a diverse range of nations. For example, in Congo, peacekeeping mission includes troops from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Morocco. Each nation comes to the operation with its own political and cultural background, its varied understanding of the conflict and its own diverse skills, approaches, and techniques.

Categories of peace operations
At present UN peace operations include three kinds: (a) peacekeeping, (b) peacemaking, and (c) peace building. Each operation is different from the other in scope and functions.

Peacekeeping means what the term refers to. To maintain peace among the two or more conflicting parties after they have ceased active armed combat. The UN mission is there with the consent of all parties in the conflict to facilitate or monitor the implementation of peace agreement. They troops in the peacekeeping missions have no enforcement powers to keep peace. It is important to note that peacekeeping requires consent while peace enforcement does not.

Peacemaking is the prevention of conflict and making of peace. It is a process of diplomacy, mediation, negotiation or forms of peaceful settlement that end disputes. Military activities that support peacemaking include military-to-military relations and security assistance operations. These activities contribute to an atmosphere of cooperation and assistance among parties that lead to prevention of conflict.

Peace building consists of post-conflict actions, primarily diplomatic that strengthen and rebuild civil infrastructures and institutions in order to avoid a return a conflict. It also includes mechanisms that advance a sense of confidence and well- being and support economic reconstruction. Military and civilian involvement is normally required. Military support includes assistance in the conduct of elections and demobilisation of former belligerent parties.

The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan argues that peacekeeping missions will need to have greater coercive capacity to be fully effective. Peacekeeping forces need to be able to make available rewards in the mission area. This concept of peacekeeping, which Kofi Annan, sees as absolutely essential for future effectiveness of peacekeeping missions.

Conclusion
It appears that peacekeeping missions are getting riskier day by day, in particular in Africa which has a major share of fierce intra-tribal conflicts. It is noted that in 1993, nineteen US peacekeeping soldiers were killed in Somalia by rival gangs and since then, the US has been very reluctant to participate in UN peacekeeping missions. Last year for a very brief period, the US troops were in Liberia under pressure because it was once administered by the US. The policy of the US, instead, is to help with logistics the UN peacekeeping operations.

Since the functions of peacekeeping and peacemaking/enforcement are different, it is suggested that unless armed conflict has come fully to an end among all parties or belligerent groups, dispatch of peacekeeping missions is unsuitable. The UN Secretariat has the responsibility to clearly and fully advise the Bangladesh government of the situation of the conflict-area in which the UN seeks Bangladeshi troops for peacekeeping, not for peacemaking.

Bangladesh may seriously consider whether in the vague or unclear situation, it would contribute in future its troops to the UN mission. The unnecessary loss of precious lives in Congo has made the consideration more urgent and important, while committing Bangladesh personnel to the UN peace operations.

Barrister Harun ur Rashid is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.