Multinational Force Research Articles

Battalions to Brigades: The Future of European Defence

Enhancing the employability of Europe’s armies turns on the creation of permanent multinational force packages, with national brigades serving as the building blocks.

Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process: Between Ideology and Political Realism

Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process: Between Ideology and Political Realism

한국군의 국제평화유지 활동과 과제 : 다국적군과 청해부대 임무지역 확대를 중심으로

한국은 1991년 9월 유엔(UN) 가입이후 우리 군을 1994년 소말리아에 공병부대를 처음으로 파견했다. 이후 27년 동안 전 세계 분쟁지역에서 부대파병과 개인 파병, 다국적군, 국방협력, 인도적 지원 활동 등을 통해 정전감시, 재건지원, 재난 구호 활동, 민사작전과 같은 다양한 임무를 수행하면서 국제평화유지와 재 건활동에 적극적으로 참여해왔다. 특히 탈냉전기 지역적ㆍ국지적 분쟁이 증폭되는 상황 하에서 유엔과 동 맹국 미국에 의해 우리 군에 대한 UN PKO와 청해부대와 같은 다국적군 활동에 대한 참여 요구가 증대되 고 있다. 더욱이 최근 중동지역에서의 미국과 이란 갈등 사례에서 보여주듯이 미국의 세계전략 변화에 의 해 국익과 한미동맹 차원에서 분쟁지역에서의 평화프로세스 지원과 안정화(stabilization) 임무에 대한 새로운 과제와 특정지역에 대한 다국적군으로서 파병 요청이나 지원 확대 요청 등 군사협력의 가능성이 더 욱 확대되고 있다. 이러한 맥락 하에서 이 논문은 인도양과 아덴만 해역에서 미국과 영국 등 전 세계 해양 강대국들과 해양연합작전을 수행하면서 해적퇴치 활동과 자국선박과 자국민 안전을 보장하는 등 세계 해 양평화에 기여하고 있는 다국적군 청해부대의 주요 역할과 미국과 이란의 갈등 국면에서 호르무즈 해협으 로의 임무지역 확대에 대해 고찰하였다.

National Interests and Regional Security in the Lake Chad: Assessing the Multinational Joint Task Force

This article assessed security architecture for counter-insurgency against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB). The paper diagnosed the impact of conflicting national interests of contributing nations on the performance of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) as a regional security architecture in the LCB. Some scholars and analysts cite corruption, historical contradictions among LCB members, poor funding, and complex nature of the insurgency, as factors responsible for failure of counter-insurgency operations in the LCB. Others contend that resource geopolitics, linguistic differences, and hegemonic politics have impacted negatively on the capacity of the MNJTF to decimate terrorists in the region. This is a qualitative study that draws from the Fund for Peace, International Crisis Group (ICG), Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), and research literature dealing with national interest and military alliances, while using content analysis to argue that conflicts in national interests, more than any other factor, have hampered the collaborative efforts of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and weakened the capacity of the MNJTF to engage in robust counterinsurgency against Boko Haram in the LCB.

Promesas y realidades: el fracaso del plan de salida de Estados Unidos de Afganistán (2009-2014)

El presente artículo pretende demostrar que el grave deterioro de la seguridad en Afganistán, luego de la retirada de las fuerzas multinacionales comandadas por la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte (OTAN) en diciembre de 2014, ha sido resultado inevitable del fracaso militar de la estrategia de salida de Estados Unidos. A través del análisis de indicadores relacionados con la violencia y la inseguridad en el país durante el periodo 2009-2014, el artículo sostiene que la estrategia militar diseñada por la administración Obama fracasó en el propósito de asegurar las premisas básicas para que el proceso de traspaso de responsabilidades al gobierno afgano se efectuara en un contexto de estabilidad política relativamente consolidado. En consecuencia, los niveles de violencia e inseguridad registrados después de 2014 forman parte de una misma tendencia de continuidad claramente establecida en años anteriores.

Paths towards coalition defection: Democracies and withdrawal from the Iraq War

AbstractDespite widespread public opposition to the Iraq War, numerous democracies joined the US-led multinational force. However, while some stayed until the end of coalition operations, and several increased their deployments over time, others left unilaterally. How to explain this variation? While some studies suggest that democratic defection from security commitments is primarily motivated by electoral incentives or leadership change, scholars have not reached a consensus on this issue. To account for the complex interplay between causal factors, this article develops an integrative theoretical framework, using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) on original data on the Iraq War involvement of 51 leaders from 29 democracies. The findings document the existence of multiple paths towards coalition defection. Among others, the results show that: (1) leadership change led to early withdrawal only when combined with leftist partisanship and the absence of upcoming elections; (2) casualties and coalition commitment played a larger role than previously assumed; and (3) coalition defection often occurred under the same leaders who had made the initial decision to deploy to Iraq, and who did not face elections when they made their withdrawal announcements.

Counter-Insurgency and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria

In the conduct of counterinsurgency campaigns by government forces, human rights of the citizens of the States where insurgents operate are usually violated. For instance in the prosecution of the Boko Haram counterinsurgency in North-east Nigeria, the Nigerian military, Multinational Joint Task Forces and the Civilian Joint Task Force have been accused of committing gross human rights abuses and serious violations of international humanitarian law resulting in on-going casualties and further destruction of property. This paper examines the violations of human rights which take place in the conduct of counter-insurgency campaigns in any State, including Nigeria. The paper argues that in spite of the avalanche of international and domestic laws which regulate the conduct of warfare, particularly the rules of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights (IHR) law, Nigerian security operatives and their international partners engaged in counterinsurgency have continued to commit gross abuses of human rights in the North-east Nigeria. The paper further argues that it is not possible to launch a successful counter-insurgency campaign without committing gross violations of basic human rights such as life, dignity of human person, liberty, private and family life, association and assembly as well as right to freedom of movement, if the rules of engagement and international best practices are observed religiously. In view of these findings, the paper recommends that government forces engaged in counterinsurgency should observe strictly the IHL rules and rules of engagement for military personnel as well as investigation and prosecution of culprits to serve as deterrent to violators. Keywords: Counter-insurgency, Human, Rights, Violations, Nigeria. DOI : 10.7176/JLPG/85-02 Publication date :May 31 st 2019

The Multi-National Joint Task Force and the G5 Sahel Joint Force: The limits of military capacity-building efforts

ABSTRACTThe Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and the G5 Sahel Joint Force are ad hoc counterterrorism task forces in the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel region, respectively. These new task forces enjoy significant international capacity-building support, especially from France and the United States. This article shows that capacity-building actions, while fostering the operationalization of the MNJTF and the G5 Sahel Joint Force, nevertheless have several limitations. Capacity-building counterterrorism initiatives tend to favor security-focused strategies at the expense of efforts that could tackle the structural challenges that fuel terrorism. Such actions are also likely to incentivize dysfunctional practices on the part of security forces and political regimes in recipient countries. It is imperative for major outside players to work with African countries by promoting social and economic development projects, respect for civil rights and freedoms, as well as the community engagement of security forces.

The Eighth Army at the Gothic Line, August–September 1944: A Study in Staff Compatibility and Coalition Command

This article takes a reverse-engineering approach to gain some insight as to how the armies of the British Commonwealth became so compatible – and, therefore, easy for commanders to use. It begins with an examination of operations conducted by the British Eighth Army in the late summer of 1944 to examine how common staff procedures and methods allowed a limited commander like Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese to assemble his multinational forces and break the much-vaunted Gothic Line. It then looks at how staff uniformity had been developed over months, years, and, in some cases, decades.

Interview: Lt. General Daniel Opande, first force commander, UN Mission in Liberia, “How we disarmed Liberian fighters”

From 2003 to 2005, retired Lieutenant General Daniel Opande was the force commander of the peacekeepers of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). Tough but diplomatic, the Kenya Defence Forces officer in 2004 got the commanders of Liberia’s warring factions to agree to the disarming of more than 100,000 former combatants. UNMIL also provided security, technical and logistical support for the electoral process that culminated in peaceful democratic elections in 2005. As the mission finally winds down operations in March 2018, Africa Renewal’s Zipporah Musau and Kingsley Ighobor interviewed Lieutenant General Opande on his experience leading a multinational force during a most challenging period in Liberia. These are excerpts.

Intercultural Communication in Military Multinational Operations

Abstract The dynamics and complexity of the current operational environment requires military forces, in general, and multinational forces, in particular, new adaptation, relational-communication and action capacities to enable them to identify and combat hypothetical adversaries whose elementary features are their ability to use conventional combat actions correlated with unconventional types of combat. In this context, intercultural communication, seen not only from an internal perspective as a standard of achievement at the level of national contingents, but also externally as an instrument of establishing positive relations with the regional partners, the local population and the other actors of the operational environment, becomes a requirement essential for the performance of multinational military forces in deploying the whole spectrum of operations

A Blueprint for Successful Peacekeeping? The Italians in Beirut (Lebanon), 1982–1984

ABSTRACTOn 6 June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to fight the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Between August 1982 and February 1984, the US, France, Britain and Italy deployed a Multinational Force (MNF) to Beirut. Its task was to act as an interposition force to bolster the government and to bring peace to the people. The mission is often forgotten or merely remembered in context with the bombing of US Marines’ barracks. However, an analysis of the Italian contingent shows that the MNF was not doomed to fail and could accomplish its task when operational and diplomatic efforts were coordinated. The Italian commander in Beirut, General Franco Angioni, followed a successful approach that sustained neutrality, respectful behaviour and minimal force, which resulted in a qualified success of the Italian efforts.

ДІАЛЕКТИКА МИРОТВОРЧИХ, ПРАВОВИХ ТА ВОЄННО-ПОЛІТИЧНИХ АСПЕКТІВ ПРОБЛЕМИ ДЕОКУПАЦІЇ ДОНБАСУ

The article provides reflexive analysis of the key factors of the cessation of armed conflict in the East of Ukraine and the return of the temporarily occupied regions of Donetsk to Lugansk oblasts under the authority and jurisdiction of our sovereign state. As the oldest works on war and peace (Sun Tzu) are known, the longer the armed struggle is, the more difficult it ends with a just world, therefore, a wide range of approaches are usually proposed for resolving the armed conflict in the Donbass: from a compromise with the aggressor to victorious plans and strategies for a military solution to the liberation of captured territories. In the pre-election period, Ukrainian political parties, without theoretical justification, propose such populist approaches to solving difficult military-political problems. Our approach is based on the identification of the causes and consequences of the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the ORD and LO, the importance of adhering to the principles of international law, humanism and progress in the conduct of state policy, recognition of the factors of the key - activity factor of the peacemaking of multinational forces whose phenomenon is not explicated, theoretically unclear as to the peculiarities of the socio-political and humanitarian situation in the Donbass. Peacekeeping as a relatively new international legal and humanitarian phenomenon is attributed to the peaceful measures of the world community, which, according to the UN Charter, is taking "other measures" for the restoration of peace and the prevention of humanitarian catastrophes. His controversial nature follows from the fact that, on the one hand, the United Nations does not interpret its Statute, as "the right to intervene in cases that are essentially within the competence of any state, and on the other hand, it must take all measures for the establishment and preservation of peace. He peculiarity of the use of multinational peacekeeping forces in the East of Ukraine is its work on the basis of the UN Charter, the synthesis of humanitarian, political, social missions, military and civilian control over the humanitarian situation, which could lead to disaster.

New Robust Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping, conceptually, was designed to be traditionally defensive in nature with a neutral, unarmed, multinational force maintaining or monitoring peace. The first major example of a United Nations peacekeeping force dates to the initial Arab-Israeli conflict with the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNSTO), established in May 1948. The peacekeepers were there to observe and maintain the ceasefire and assist in any terms of the armistice agreements following the initial fighting with the partition of the British Mandate in Palestine and the later declaration of the State of Israel. The Security Council Resolution “Instruct[ed] the United Nations Mediator in Palestine, in concert with the Truce Commission, to supervise the observance of the above provisions, and decide[d] that they shall be provided with a sufficient number of military observers.” UNTSO was followed by a variation, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, which was to observe and report violations of the ceasefire along the contested border. Both of these original UN peacekeeping operations are still in existence after seventy years. This original concept of peacekeeping was based upon the United Nation's principle that the organization would act to prevent conflict between states following the atrocities committed during World War II through its neutrality. However, the term “peacekeeping” is not found anywhere within the United Nations Charter. It is instead inferred under both Chapter VI and Chapter VII powers to resolve disputes.

Linear and Angular Issues in Perspective Artillery Fire Control System

The Czech Republic, as a member of international organizations (NATO, EU, UNO), with respect to current global security neighborhood, employs the units of the army both at its own state territory and outside the Czech Republic, in multinational forces operations. The article focuses on Linear and Angular issues in perspective Artillery Fire Control System called PVNPG-14M. The issue of automated command, control, and information systems is of high importance in the solving of asymmetrical operations tasks today and in the upcoming future. The authors define appropriate Linear and Angular variables for common use by soldiers of the Army of the Czech Republic. Final assessment of the particular issues is determined by analysis. The The article contains theoretical justification and establishes a practical rule for use.

“Safe areas”: The international legal framework

AbstractIn recent years there have been repeated calls for the establishment of so-called “safe areas” to protect civilians from the effects of hostilities in a number of contexts. The present article presents the international law framework relevant to the establishment and operation of such areas: the provisions of international humanitarian law on protected zones; the rules regulating resort to armed force, Security Council authorization and mandates for the establishment of such areas by multinational forces in the absence of agreement between belligerents; and the refugee and international human rights issues raised by such zones. Using the example of the “protection of civilians sites” in South Sudan, the article then highlights some of the operational challenges raised by safe areas. It concludes with some reflections on how to enhance the likelihood that belligerents will establish such protected zones in the future.

The socialization of military power: security cooperation and doctrine development through multinational military exercises

Multinational Military Exercises (MMEs) are often viewed by states as opportunities to increase interoperability, improve cooperation, and solve common security problems. We argue that in addition to this, MMEs work as tools to shape the shared beliefs of coalition partners surrounding threat. Specifically, MMEs allow multinational forces to identify best practices, consolidate beliefs, and codify behavior through doctrine, typically by means of some institutional process. We examine our argument on MMEs through an analysis of various multinational and coalition partner efforts to identify security threats and cooperate through the development of common doctrine at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of warfare. Our analysis suggests that the use of MMEs for doctrine development does help to socialize states in terms of identifying common threats and subsequently sharing a process by which to address them.

Counter-terrorism, Multinational Joint Task Force and the missing components

The wave of terrorism in the Lake Chad region has generated collective reactions from the affected state actors. It apparently prompted the revivification of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) as a regional counter-terrorism regime with sole emphasis on the use of force. However, while the over-reliance on the power of coercion may be capable of achieving its mandate in the short run, how sustainable is the approach for embedding regional peace and security? It is against this background that this article interrogates the counter-terrorism framework orchestrates through the MNJTF and the missing components. It argues that sole reliance on a concerted military approach in countering terrorism will not address the root causes and may further incubate violent extremism.

Interview with Abdoulaye Kaka

AbstractThe Review has chosen to open this edition with an interview with General Abdoulaye Kaka as a representative of State practice in counterterrorism detention. The journal chose to focus on Niger as a State that is affected by an ongoing armed conflict and which arrests, detains and tries suspected members of a non-State armed group under its domestic legal system.General Abdoulaye Kaka has been working as Head of Niger's Central Counterterrorism Agency (Service Central de Lutte Contre le Terrorisme) since 2014. He previously worked for the judicial police in Niger as head of the anti-gang section before opening the first office of the judicial police in Zinder. General Kaka worked for the United Nations (UN) police forces in Ivory Coast between 2006 and 2012, when he became the Commander-in-Chief of the Niger UN police forces.In his current role as Head of the Central Counterterrorism Agency, General Kaka oversees detention operations throughout the country, many of which involve suspected members of the group that calls itself Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP), also known as Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad or, as it is most widely known under its former name, Boko Haram.Niger has suffered the effects of the ongoing conflict between ISWAP and State forces in the Lake Chad region, resulting in casualties, arrests and repeated displacement among civilians. The government of Niger contributes troops to the Multinational Joint Task Force, which conducts operations against the group. At the same time, the government arrests and detains suspected members of ISWAP as part of its counterterrorism efforts. These detention operations are coordinated by the Central Counterterrorism Agency. Established in 2011, the Central Counterterrorism Agency, successor to the counterterrorism section of the judicial police, is made up of representatives from the three primary law enforcement organizations in the country – the national police, the national guard and the gendarmerie – and is principally responsible for counterterrorism investigations in Niger.In Niger, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) helps people affected by conflict in the south-east or fleeing fighting in north-east Nigeria. With the Niger Red Cross, the ICRC delivers aid, treats the wounded, provides water and supports farmers. The ICRC also monitors compliance with international humanitarian law, visits detainees and helps them to maintain contact with their families.The ICRC visits people held by the authorities in at least five places of detention in Niger. After the visits, the ICRC shares its findings on the treatment and living conditions of the detainees confidentially with the authorities and urges them to take steps to address concerns. The ICRC also helps bolster prison management capacities and health services for detainees through technical and material support, and round-table discussions on these topics. The ICRC helps detainees, particularly minors, maintain contact with their families. At the request of foreign detainees, the ICRC informs their families or consular representatives of their detention. Lastly, the ICRC covers transportation costs for security detainees returning home after their release.

Retelling the past, inspiring the future: Waffen-SS commemorations and the creation of a ‘European’ far-right counter-narrative

ABSTRACTHeinrich Himmler created the Waffen-SS in part as a multinational force, willing to fight for a New Europe based on Germanic blood. After the war, many international Waffen-SS units formed veterans' associations (VAs). Like other VAs, these provided veterans with the chance to engage in ‘memory work’ and to keep alive a sense of comradeship and of valiant sacrifice, as well as an emotional commitment to the fallen. Waffen-SS veterans were, however, alone in celebrating their ‘sacrifices’. Others shunned them for their participation in atrocities. To defend themselves, they developed a counter-hegemonic Second World War narrative that presented the Waffen-SS as uniquely heroic ‘European’ volunteers' against Bolshevism. This counter-narrative, however, only gained resonance with the fall of the Berlin Wall. After 1989, in fact, veterans could seek out and establish sites of public commemoration, not in Western but in Eastern Europe. Hurd and Werther use veterans' journals and books to explore the redeployment of SS ideology in a revisionist version of history. They examine the resurrection of a mass Waffen-SS graveyard in East Ukraine as a telling case history, discussing, not least, the implications of a ‘reconciliation’ of the former German soldiers with both Ukrainian villagers and Red Army veterans. Finally, they explore the significance of the veterans' ‘European’ counter-history for a younger generation of neo-Nazis.