Embassy Information
Embassy Event
ARGENTINA HOSTS HEMISPHERIC PEACEKEEPING EXERCISE
May 12, 2009
By Stuart G.R. Warner, Public Affairs Office, U.S. Army South, Fort Sam Houston, Texas
(U.S. Army photo by Miguel Negrón, U.S. Army South)
Buenos Aires, Argentina – May 12, 2009
The Argentine Ministry of Defense is hosting “Americas 2009,” a hemisphere-wide peacekeeping operations (PKO) conference in Buenos Aires, May 4 -15, 2009.
Argentine Army Colonel Marcelo Rozas Garay, Deputy Co-Director of PKO-Americas 2009, described the vast experience that Argentina has acquired in the peacekeeping realm by saying, “This is the country with the greatest exposure to peacekeeping missions in all of Latin America.”
Having participated in peacekeeping missions around the world for over a half a century, the Argentine Joint Staff is uniquely qualified to host this year’s conference which unites the peacekeeping training exercises of North America and South America for the first time.
More than 200 participants are attending the event from the following 16-countries: Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, the U.S.A. and Uruguay.
The purpose of this year’s exercise is to provide opportunities to increase interoperability and peacekeeping capacities among partner nation PKO leaders and trainers. An additional goal is to improve Peacekeeping procedures and training methodologies in accordance with United Nations (UN) and Conference of American Armies (CAA) standards.
Luciana Micha, Director General of Cooperation for Peacekeeping, from the Argentine Ministry of Defense, plays a key role in the exercise as the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the UN, the person who is the senior civilian political leader of the peacekeeping mission.
“I conduct the civilian cell for the whole exercise, with oversight of the political advisor; civil affairs advisor; advisor for human rights and gender; public affairs officer; and the Non-governmental agency coordinator,” said Micha.
She described PKO-Americas 2009 as a vehicle that provides opportunities for partner nation Militaries to work at the joint level with civilians, police, the UN, and NGOs in scenarios that approximate real-life UN peacekeeping missions.
“The goal of PKO-Americas 2009 is to provide realistic training that is multi-dimensional, complex, and integrated, so that leaders and their staffs are better prepared to function when faced with actual UN peacekeeping missions,” said Micha.
Talking about the real life world of peacekeeping missions, Rozas Garay added that, “For Argentina it is not something new to work with other countries but, perhaps, the novelty is that we are now working more at the joint level, between the Army, Air Force, Navy, and the Police.”
Speaking about the importance of this innovation, he described it as necessary in order to become fully integrated with the other services of the Argentine Armed Forces. He added that, “This is the first time that we have formed a joint command in the PKO exercise and because we are also working with other countries, it is also one that is combined.”
In the UN, the peacekeeping teams are fully integrated and there is no difference between the participants. It is the belief of Rozas Garay that these simulation exercises should help to prepare peacekeepers for the real world and this is why the teams should integrate.
Describing the players in this year’s exercise, Rozas Garay said, “This has been a great step. Today we have a common command, a transition to an integrated group of players, complete with members of all of the nationalities who participate.”
Another challenge is to incorporate everyone into a cohesive unit so that members of different organizations represent real organizational problems that are found in the senior commands of the UN. Rozas Garay said that “PKO-Americas 2009 reflects the reality of a real-world peacekeeping mission.”
