Filtered By: Topstories
News

Pinoy general to head peacekeeping force in Golan Heights


A Filipino general will assume command of the 1,050-strong peacekeeping force in the troubled Golan Heights next month after his appointment as the new force commander and head of mission by the United Nations (UN), the Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday. Major General Natalio Ecarma III, a decorated Marine general, was formally appointed on Monday by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the new Force Commander and Head of Mission for the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the highly-contested region of the Middle East. The Golan Heights is a 1,800-sq km plateau and mountainous region in the Middle East with a population of a little over 100,000 as of 2005. It is internationally recognized as a Syrian territory but about 60 percent of its land area is currently occupied by Israel. “The Philippines is honored to have been given the responsibility of helping oversee the peace in that part of the Middle East," Secretary Romulo said after he was informed by Ambassador Hilario G. Davide, Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, of Ecarma’s appointment. Ecarma will replace Maj. Gen. Wolfgang Jilke of Austria and will head what is considered to be one of the more established UN peacekeeping operations. The peacekeeping force is composed of 1,050 troops from Austria, Canada, Croatia, India, Japan and the Philippines; 75 military observers; 39 international staff; and 105 local civilian staff. A member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1981, Ecarma is presently the Deputy Commandant of the Philippine Marine Corps and the Commander of Marine Forces Southern Philippines. He previously served as commander of the Presidential Guards Battalion; assistant chief of staff for operations of the Presidential Security Group; and commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade. It was almost 10 years when another Filipino general, Army Maj. Gen. Jaime De Los Santos, was named commander of UN peacekeeping forces in East Timor. Ecarma’s appointment also came only three months after the Philippines deployed a 336-member infantry battalion to the Golan Heights to take over the peacekeeping responsibilities of Poland. Established by the UN Security Council at the end of the Arab-Israeli War in 1974, the UNDOF is tasked to maintain the ceasefire and supervise the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces and the so-called Areas of Separation and Limitation between the two parties. Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN Hilario Davide Jr. said last year that Golan Heights poses the biggest challenge to the Philippine peacekeeping mission, with the situation in the region expected to remain tense until a comprehensive settlement is reached by conflicting parties. [See: Golan biggest challenge to RP peacekeeping mission] The Philippines has a long peacekeeping tradition dating back to 1963 when it deployed a squadron from the Philippine Air Force to support UN operations in the Congo. At the end of 2009, the Philippines reached a record number of Filipino peacekeepers deployed abroad, and was 23rd in the UN list of top troop-contributing countries with a total of 1,056 officers and personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. [See: RP peacekeepers in conflict areas at all-time high] – Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT