By Jennifer Bakody
On 25 January, 2006, William Swing,
Special Representative of the Secretary General, and Babacar Gaye, Force
Commander of MONUC's 17,000-strong forces traveled to the northeastern
District of Ituri to pay their respects and condolences to five injured
Guatemalan soldiers who have been hospitalized in Bunia for the past two
days.
These bleu helmets were part of an operation that turned violent early Monday morning in Garamba National Park in neighbouring Haut Uele District. Armed elements engaged in a four-hour gun fight with these men and other Guatemalan soldiers in their unit, taking the lives of eight of them.
Each of the five Spanish-speaking bleu helmets present at MONUC's Level II hospital spoke briefly through a translator to SRSG William Lacy Swing and Lieutenant General Babacar Gaye, and listened while both men acknowledged their bravery. One young Guatemalan patient in a wrist cast, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, managed even a smile.
MONUC's Guatemalan special forces unit arrived in the DR Congo in 2005, and has brought to the Mission key skills and expertise that has proved indispensable, certainly in the still volatile East of the country. The unit has 105 members, and is employed by MONUC's Eastern Division based in Kisangani. To this end, SRSG Swing and Lt-Gen Gaye also traveled to Kisangani to applaud the bleu helmets Guatemalan unit and its contribution to the DR Congo's peace process.