United Nations Emergency Force

UNEF I - III
operation area	Egypt , Gaza Strip
German name	United Nations Emergency Force
English name	United Nations Emergency Force
French name	Force d'urgence des Nations Unies
Spanish name	Fuerza de Emergencia de las Naciones Unidas
Based on UN resolution	998 (ES-I) (November 4, 1956), 1000 (ES-I), 1001 (ES-I)
Beginning	14./15. November 1956
Operating strength (min.)	3,378
Operating strength (max.)	6,000
Military out	Brazil , Canada , Colombia , Denmark , Finland , India , Indonesia , Norway , Sweden , Austria and Yugoslavia
Location of the operational area

The United Nations Emergency Force ( UNEF ) was an armed task force of the United Nations (UN) that was supposed to secure the peace between Israel and Egypt .

UNEF I

Yugoslav blue helmet soldiers in January 1957

Stationing of UNEF I troops in Sinai (stationing in Gaza Strip not visible on this map)

UNEF I was created as a result of the Suez Crisis and was used until December 22, 1956, during the withdrawal of the last French and British soldiers from Egypt. The maximum troop strength of around 6,000 soldiers was reached in February 1957. The first commander in chief of the units was the Canadian General E.LM Burns with headquarters in Gaza . UNEF I is considered to be the first UN peacekeeping mission in which armed forces took part.

On May 17, 1967, however , the Egyptian President Nasser demanded the withdrawal of the UNEF from the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. The then UN Secretary General Sithu U Thant immediately agreed to this without contradiction and without consulting the Israeli government or consulting the UN Security Council; the withdrawal of UNEF troops began on May 19. Later, U Thant failed to convince Israel to deploy troops on its territory. Israel refused on the grounds that Egypt and not Israel had perpetuated the armed conflict since 1956 by infiltrating guerrillas . In addition, one can hardly describe the soldiers of the UNEF as "Israel-friendly". Furthermore, there were fears in Israel that the UNEF would not so much stop the potential Egyptian attack as it would restrict the Israeli response.

A hearing of the disputed matter to the Security Council under Article 88 of the UN Charter joined U Thant , since, given the extremely contrasting positions of the veto powers USA and Soviet Union to reach agreement here. A meeting between the UN Secretary General and Nasser was planned for May 22, 1967; shortly before U Thant's arrival in Cairo, however, he announced the closure of the Strait of Tiran . In the course of the fighting that followed, 15 UNEF members who were awaiting repatriation were killed. On June 13th, all UN units were out of the country, except for the Indian commander Major General Indar Jit Rikhye and his staff, who left Egypt on June 17, 1967.

See also: Six Day War .

UNEF II

UNEF II operated from October 1973 to June 1979; in February 1974 the maximum troop strength of about 7,000 soldiers was reached. The headquarters were in Cairo until August 1974 and then in Ismailia until the end of the mission .

161 soldiers lost their lives during the UNEF missions, around 110 of them in UNEF I and 51 in UNEF II.

Military leadership of the UNEF missions

• UNEF I
  • Lieutenant General Eedson Louis Millard Burns (Canada) - November 1956 to December 1959
  • Lieutenant General PS Gyani (India) - December 1959 to January 1964
  • Major General Carlos F. Paiva Chaves (Brazil) - January 1964 to August 1964
  • Colonel Lazar Musicki (Yugoslavia) - August 1964 to January 1965
  • Major General Syseno Sarmento (Brazil) - January 1965 to January 1966
  • Major General Indar Jit Rikhye (India) - January 1966 to June 1967

• UNEF II
  • Lieutenant General Ensio PH Siilasvuo (Finland) - October 1973 to August 1975
  • Lieutenant General Bengt Liljestrand (Sweden) - August 1975 to November 1976
  • Maj. General Rais Abin (Indonesia) - December 1976 to September 1979

literature

• Gerhard Buchinger: UNFICYP and UNEF II experiences . In: Christian Segur-Cabanac , Wolfgang Etschmann (ed.): 50 years of foreign missions of the Austrian Armed Forces (= writings on the history of the Austrian Armed Forces ). Published by the General Staff of the Federal Ministry for National Defense and Sport and the Army History Museum , Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-9502653-1-6 , pp. 511 ff.
• Ludwig Göbl: Foreign assignment in Egypt 1973/74 - UNEF II . In: Christian Segur-Cabanac , Wolfgang Etschmann (ed.): 50 years of foreign missions of the Austrian Armed Forces (= writings on the history of the Austrian Armed Forces ). Published by the General Staff of the Federal Ministry for National Defense and Sport and the Army History Museum , Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-9502653-1-6 , p. 533 ff.

Web links

• UNEF I (en.)
• UNEF II (en.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Resolutions Adopted Without References To A Committee ( Memento of August 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (English; PDF; 813 kB)
2. ↑ Middle East - UNEF I - Background , Internet presence of the United Nations, engl.