Interview

What is the significance of this day for you?

This
day is the day that the international community dedicates to the Blue
Helmets, during which we feel at the centre of their concern.

It is a day when we feel honour and pride for all that we will do during the remainder of the year.

It
is also a celebration day that we look forward to after a year marked
by positive results, a year without incidents. Therefore, it is an
important day for us.

How have MONUC Blue helmets contributed to the United Nations mission in the DRC?

When
one considers this mission in the DRC, it is in many ways one of the
most specific missions of the United Nations. This is because it is the
largest mission in a country which is a pivotal country in Africa, and
which has known years of violence and war.

Consequently, our
contribution is seen through the today’s situation. There has been
considerable progress made in the west of the country, in Ituri, in
Katanga, and in other provinces like Maniema. And everywhere, MONUC
forces, by their presence, constituted at one time or another the only
force in which the population had total confidence.

I believe
that we contributed, because we represented refuge and security,
because of our actions, some of which were very robust, because of our
availability, as during the elections where we were ready to undertake
many tasks because it was necessary to arrive at a result.

What are the challenges for the future?

The
challenges are initially geographically located. Today they are located
in the Kivus. It is necessary to be fair and say that the first
challenge is that of behaviour.

In the last months we had many
articles in the press on our behaviour; we must accept it with much
humility and use it to be even closer to the image that the population
wants to be associated with a Blue Helmet, that of the exemplary
soldier.

There are still the challenges in terms of using our
resources, increasing our capacity to react. To react, it is necessary
for us to react quickly, and there are always challenges in term of
effectiveness.

All in all, we have a geographical challenge, a
personal challenge in terms of image and a challenge of increased
effectiveness.

What is what the United Nations doing
to raise the personal challenges, in terms of good behaviour, in order
to improve the image of the UN soldier?

Since the
adoption of the code of conduct, we have the duty, at force level, to
translate this code of conduct into clear and precise instructions for
our troops deployed on the ground.

It is the object of a
directive which is updated every year by taking account of experience
and of the incidents which occurred during the previous year.
Therefore, it is a permanent update.

The problem is not as
much in the implementation of rules as in the behaviour of those who
infringe the rules; the rules are well established.

We will
try during 2008 to insist that the military police force is more
preventive, that it tries to do more in the prevention of all these
infringements.

As MONUC Force commander, what is the
best and worst moments for the Blue Helmets in the DRC since the
beginning of the mission in 1999?

When one is the
chief, and one has the privilege to command from this level, one has
responsibilities first of all. One has also very important motivations.
That is to say, on one side, there is success, and one is the first to
profit from it. The elections were for me a great moment of
satisfaction. But when there are also difficulties, it becomes a large
responsibility.

I believe that the loss of our Guatemalan
soldiers in Garamba park was for me a very difficult moment, because it
was a serious loss under very difficult circumstances, and there were
of course other difficult moments, but ones which we must face.

For
the remainder, it is of course all the mission incidents since my
arrival in 2005: the events in Kinshasa in which I personally was on
the ground, to negotiate between the personal soldiers of vice
president Bemba and FARDC elements, and this led to a defusal of the
situation. That was also an important moment, and I was there in person
because I believed it was my duty.

Then, there is all the
daily work we do for the benefit of the population. Each time I go on
the ground, either to inaugurate Quips (Quick Impact Projects), or to
participate in other events, it is for me the smile of a child or the
thanks of the women. These are the things that will stay long in my
memory.

What is your message for the MONUC Blue Helmets?

My
message for the Blue Helmets is related to what I said on the code of
conduct. I think that to be accepted and deserving of the respect and
affection of the population, they must not only do their work, but they
must be exemplary soldiers. This is my appeal for them during 2008.