U.N. Spells Out Its Mission as It Goes

The United Nations assigns a different acronym to each peacekeeping operation. Some have a fairyland sound, like UNMOGIP (U.N. Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan), or a classical sound, like MINURSO (U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara). Others simply sound efficient, like UNTAC (U.N. Temporary Authority in Cambodia).

UNTAC has definitely made its mark on Cambodia. “Some polls show that some Cambodians want to vote for UNTAC in the May elections,” says Yasushi Akashi of Japan, the chief of UNTAC. “That is very confusing. But it is also flattering.”

The United Nations supervises Cambodia like a quasi-protectorate. Akashi says the prime minister asked how his government and the United Nations could delineate the differences between their administrations. “Even if we had the most brilliant political scientist in the world, he wouldn’t know,” Akashi says he replied.

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Ronan Kenneley, a 28-year-old Irish policeman based in the town of Siem Reap, is investigating the first case of murder of returned refugees in Cambodia. The double homicide took place in Khmer Rouge territory.

“It looks like a young brother of their neighbor killed the man and then his wife,” says Kenneley, who was among 2,000 Irish policemen who applied for the chance to serve as one of that country’s 50 police peacekeepers in Cambodia. “It could be a land dispute or a family dispute that has been going on for years.

“That’s the Cambodian way,” he says. “It’s not the Western way. That’s the trouble with UNTAC. We’re trying to teach them the Western way.”

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When the peacekeepers first came to El Salvador, some cynics joked that they belonged to Vacaciones Unidas (United Vacations) rather than the Naciones Unidas (United Nations). The assumption was that they had come to El Salvador for a good time and had little to do. But after more than a year on the job for the human rights workers and almost a year for the military officers and police, the old joke has passed out of fashion.