United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia

UNTAC
operation area	Cambodia
German name	United Nations Interim Administration in Cambodia
English name	United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia
French name	Autorité provisoire des Nations unies au Cambodge
Spanish name	Autoridad Provisional de las Naciones Unidas en Camboya
Based on UN resolution	745 (April 28, 1992)
Type of mission	Peace mission
Beginning	May 23, 1992
The End	17th November 1993
management	Yasushi Akashi ( Japan )
Deaths	82
Location of the operational area

The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia ( UNTAC ; German transitional administration of the United Nations in Cambodia ), a UN peacekeeping mission , was based on UN resolution 745 of February 28, 1992 and took place from May 1992 to November 1993. The main task of UNTAC was the restoration of a civil and democratic order and the preparation of free elections.

Historical framework

prehistory

Since the late 1960s, Cambodia has been the scene of armed, often extremely brutal, confrontations for practically all of the time. The bombing by the USA (1965–1971) in the Vietnam War was accompanied by years of domestic political unrest and violent changes of government. Eventually the Khmer Rouge seized power (1975–1979), destroyed a large part of the infrastructure, public administration and educational facilities and murdered around 1.7 million Cambodians - around a quarter of the country's population. In 1979, Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia, defeated the Khmer Rouge and took control of most of the country. The Khmer Rouge was pushed back to the northwest of Cambodia, but from there waged an underground war against the government in Phnom Penh until the 1990s . The other parties in the country also had armed militias. Cambodia was thus in a more or less permanent state of civil war, from which the civilian population in particular suffered.

First aid from the United Nations

Since the early 1980s, the United Nations had endeavored to settle the armed conflicts and to help the population. In addition to providing assistance in Cambodia itself, with the participation of UNICEF (Children's Fund), the WFP (World Food Program) and the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization), UNHCR (Refugee Aid ) and UNBRO (United Nations Border Relief Operations) were active on the Cambodian- Thai border .

In 1988, not least at the instigation of the United Nations, the first meeting of the four Cambodian political parties took place in Jakarta (the Khmer Rouge did not take part). In 1989 the United Nations organized another conference in Paris . In addition to the Cambodian parties, the participants included the UN Special Representative, General Secretary Javier Pérez de Cuéllar and representatives from 17 nations. Vietnam announced the withdrawal of troops by the end of the same year.

From January 1990, representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council ( China , France , Russia , the USA and the United Kingdom ) met for several talks on the situation in Cambodia. On August 28th, the United Nations Security Council announced measures for a political solution to the conflict. This was made possible, among other things, by the fact that the fall of the Iron Curtain had positively influenced the willingness of the major and regional powers involved in the conflict to talk and negotiate. On September 10, representatives of the Cambodian parties (the Khmer Rouge did not take part in the negotiations) adopted the UN peace plan at a meeting in Jakarta . With the participation of a UN peacekeeping force and a transition phase in which the United Nations would take over the administration of the country, elections should be prepared, refugees should be able to return, a constitution should be drawn up and a permanent ceasefire should be established. The plan was accepted by both the parties in Cambodia and Vietnam and approved in the Security Council in September. A draft for the creation of an interim administration, the UNTAC, followed in November. In early 1991, the first step towards a peaceful solution was the ceasefire.

Use of the UNTAC

The flag of Cambodia during the UN administration was based on the UN flag and showed the white silhouette of the national territory and the country name against a sky-blue background.

In October 1991 the UN sent an advance mission , the United Nations Advance Mission in Cambodia ( UNAMIC ), to help maintain the ceasefire. At the same time, further negotiations took place in Paris and on October 23, 1991 representatives of the Cambodian parties signed the Paris Peace Accords ( Agreements on the Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict ), which was intended to give the United Nations an unprecedented role.

The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) should not only monitor the ceasefire and the end of foreign arms shipments to Cambodia. In addition, the tasks of UNTAC included disarming all armed forces in the country, reducing the armed forces by 70%, controlling the administration (including the police), ensuring that human rights were respected and, last but not least, preparing and monitoring free elections .

In February 1992 the UN Security Council decided to form UNTAC ( UN Resolution 745); with the stated aim of holding the elections in Cambodia in May 1993. Up to 21,000 members of the UNTAC, who arrived from March 15, 1992 and came from more than 100 countries, consisted partly of armed UN peacekeepers, partly of civilian helpers in the field of human rights and administration, and around 3,600 temporarily formed the police . While the political parties largely adhered to the Paris Peace Treaty and cooperated, there were repeated armed clashes with the remaining Khmer Rouge militias, which still controlled part of the north-west of the country.

As agreed, UNTAC took over the administration of the country, in particular foreign relations, the military, the police, the finances and the communications sector. At the same time, the UNHCR was concerned with making it possible for the around 360,000 refugees and displaced persons to return.

On May 23, 1993, elections to a constituent assembly finally took place as planned. Although the Khmer Rouge called for a boycott, the turnout was still just under 90% (4.2 million). 20 parties stood for election. UNTAC staff oversaw the registration of Cambodians on the electoral register, the election campaign and the elections themselves. In September a new constitution was passed and a new government sworn in.

As a result, UNTAC ended its activities and withdrew most of its staff. Staff remaining in the country continued to help build and consolidate the administrative structures, especially the legal system. Special attention was paid to the protection of human rights.

German contingent for UNTAC

armed forces

From November 1991 to March 1992 a group of had medical officers and medical non-commissioned officers of the Armed Forces , first of at the Advance Mission United Nations in Cambodia UNAMIC participated (United Nations Advanced Mission in Cambodia) to the UNAMIC personnel to supervise medical and medical support supply the following UNTAC - Prepare mission.

On April 8, 1992, the German Federal Government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl decided, following a request from the Secretary General of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali , to support this follow-up mission with the operation of a 60-bed hospital. Construction began on May 22, 1992. For this purpose, more than 350 tons of material had to be transported from Germany to Cambodia until the hospital was able to start clinical operations on June 8, 1992 with 130 soldiers under the direction of a medical staff officer. The German Field Hospital in the capital Phnom Penh had two ward wards, an isolation ward, an intensive care unit and seven specialist departments. The German contingent also operated a medical center in Phnom Penh to supply the UN personnel deployed in the capital. Caring for the Cambodian population - initially only intended as an exception - became the focus of the humanitarian operation of the Bundeswehr in Cambodia. After a short time the hospital was called "House of Angels" by the local population.

In total, the Bundeswehr deployed three contingents of 448 soldiers during the mission. From June 8, 1992 to the end of the UNTAC mission on October 30, 1993, 115,883 outpatient and 3,489 inpatient treatments were carried out in the German Field Hospital.

During the UN mission on October 14, 1993, the 26-year-old German medical sergeant Alexander Arndt was shot dead by unknown perpetrators on the street in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh .

Federal Border Police (now Federal Police)

The Federal Police were initially looking for 12 senior and 110 senior civil servants. Of these, 75 officers of today's Federal Police were supposed to support the 3,600-strong police component of the UN peace operation for Cambodia for a planned 12 months. The other officers were provided as reserves. In addition to the repatriation and integration of the people from the time of the Pol Pot regime interned in mostly Thai refugee camps, the tasks of the deployed officers also included disarming the army, registering the eligible population, protecting the electoral process and training the Cambodian police .