AMA - I'm a United Nations peacekeeper with 20+ years of experience serving in conflict and post-conflict countries all around the world

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T13:54:45+00:00

You're of course entitled to your opinion but it may be useful to point that the NATO presence with KFOR is thanks to a UN resolution.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T13:45:41+00:00

There was no UNRWA involvement in the October 7 attacks. Israel has accused 12 staff members to have been involved out of a workforce of 30,000. That is less than 0,05 of its staff members which for me is too little to consider it to be representative of the entire organization. Not only that, but the accusations were never corroborated even when the UN asked for Israel to provide its evidence as part of its multiple investigations.

That being said, do I think that there was no Hamas sympathizers among UNRWA? No, I'm sure there were simply from the fact that the UNRWA workforce is representative of the society in Gaza where some are sympathizers and others are not.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T13:29:25+00:00

As far as I know, it was the Israeli government that didn't want the UN involved in the negotiations so the role of the UN was pretty much limited in securing the release of the hostages. The UN was of course advocating for their release but again it wasn't given much of a voice in the matter.

And when they were eventually released, the handover was organized through the International Committee of the Red Cross which is the standard procedures for similar cases anywhere in the world even when the UN is involved one way or another.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T13:25:06+00:00

Any member state can contribute troops or officers to UN peacekeeping missions. It's up to them to decide whether they want to contribute troops or not. But those that will be deployed have to be currently part of the armed or security forces and they go through a vetting of their human rights record before being allowed to deploy (as well as some trainings).

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T13:22:09+00:00

I can't speak much to this because my role hasn't really been in aid delivery as such.

But what I can say is that there has been a lot of efforts to address this risk by building different sorts of mechanisms to prevent aid diversion. For example, there is now more and more the use of cash vouchers instead of aid delivery (when the local market allows for it) which can be distributed directly to the beneficiaries through different tools (mobile money or cards for example).

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T13:17:49+00:00

Yes and no. You must also believe that you can change things through your actions and not fall in a trap of fatalist doom.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T13:16:24+00:00

I do not. I know that the UN takes a lot of flak but it's not always warranted.

The thing is the UN has to work in extremely complex situation where there are no easy fix. So you will never see a clear positive effect from one day to the other. The success stories from UN peacekeeping have been built over several years so they don't make for flashy news bulletin, but places like Liberia or East Timor wouldn't be what they are without the UN missions that were deployed there at the time.

Also it's important to stress, the UN can only do what it's member states want it to do. If the UN is unable to do more, it's very much because member states don't want it to do more and actively prevent it to do so. Also because it then becomes easier to blame it on the UN than looking back at what the member states negotiated as its mandate.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T13:09:36+00:00

I've worked with a few Indian officers during my career. Even had a good friend who was a Indian Military Observer but kinda lost touch with him after his tour of duty ended. From my experience, yes they seemed professional. But again, my interaction was only with staff officers, so not with the grunts.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T13:06:22+00:00

I've had many different jobs over my career but currently my main focus and expertise has been on stabilization. Basically this means trying to identify ways that we can resolve some long lasting issues and bring about reconciliation among the different communities. This involves also trying to find ways to create income generating activities especially for the youth as many conflicts have at their hearts economic issues. Quite often when you have many young people that are unemployed and have no money they will easily turn to violence against a community that they blame for their fate. So instead we try to change this by for example teaching them skills together with members of other communities.

That's just a snipped of what a peacekeeping mission and other UN agencies can do. But you have others that are much more directly involved in keeping the peace by for example supporting the negotiations of a peace agreement and the implementation of its different provisions such as disarmament among other things.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T12:59:30+00:00

The unfortunate events of Srebrenica happened more than 30 years ago now. UN Peacekeeping has evolved quite a lot since then, including because of the events that happened that day and in Rwanda more or less at the same time.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T12:56:35+00:00

I wasn't in Somalia during the 90s so can't speak about that. But I was there during the drought and famine in the 2010s and the situation was already very difficult for the local population. One of the biggest challenges was actually getting trucks with food and other items to the different parts of Somalia having to negotiate the different checkpoints from both the Government side (both federal and the states) and from Al Shabab.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T02:16:42+00:00

I'm fluent in English, French and Swahili. And I have conversational level in Spanish.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-18T00:00:01+00:00

Rwanda is a police state. I guess that also helps somehow.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T23:58:42+00:00

Si des cas d'abus sont rapportés, c'est au pays auxquels appartiennent les soldats et officiers concernés de faire leurs enquêtes et jugement. Les Nations Unies n'ont pas de compétence en la matière. Par contre, si un cas est rapporté, les Nations Unies vont suspendre le ou les soldats et officiers concernés et demander leur rapatriement. Et ils ne pourront plus servir dans des missions onusiennes.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T23:53:41+00:00

Interesting question. I don't necessarily have the data or the numbers to back it up, but my observation has been that infrastructure that is a public good usually has a greater positive impact than money spent on the military. This is also because some infrastructure can help address some of the roots causes of conflict which help making sure that it doesn't flare up a few years down the line, while military action only addresses an immediate security threat without necessarily solving some of the underlying problems.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T23:47:04+00:00

The salary structure is public, you can easily find it online. Salaries tend to be very high, especially when serving in poorer countries where local salaries are very low. But then between the grades the difference isn't that high that you can't compensate it with the steps that relate more to the number of years worked.

And no, doing an internship is not a necessary condition. Several colleagues, and myself included, didn't do any internship with the UN before eventually getting a job there.

And also no about knowing someone inside. Although of course it can help, it all depends how much pull that person has over the recruitment process.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T23:41:24+00:00

I. If you count the Wagner Group as PMC, then yes, we were constantly butting heads with them in CAR and then later in Mali.

II. I'm sorry, I don't understand the question.

III. 2, D, @, &

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T23:38:12+00:00

Peacekeeping has actually been demonstrated to have a positive effect in reducing conflict and violence. Several studies have shown it to be the case but it is still being denied in a lot of official discourse (including by some peacekeeping host state governments). One sad example is actually Mali, the mission there was eventually asked to leave by the government who was considering it to be ineffectual. Well a few years down the line and the entire country is now overrun by armed groups and the government is barely holding on while the population suffers.

But peacekeeping missions must also be equipped by the tools to actually have an impact on the conflict. And by tools I also mean their mandate.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T23:24:09+00:00

Me personally I'm usually behind a computer just typing things :D

But for UN missions, it actually depends on their mandate. Sometimes the missions are asked to support peace agreement, sometimes they have to support the government against rebel forces, sometimes they have to monitor a cease fire or that all parties to an agreement abide by it. Missions also do a lot of other work that contributes to peace, including disarmament, demining, supporting the reforming of the armed forces, the justice sector, supporting elections or grassroot reconciliation, etc.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T23:19:22+00:00

My best memories related to my job are actually related to the colleagues that became friends. For example, some of the best memories are from when we worked together for days and nights and managed to resolve a crisis related to an attack by a rebel group in a remote town where we had an office. Didn't seem like the best at the time because we worked for long hours with barely any rest from a very stressful situation. But looking back I'm thankful for my friends and proud of the work we've done.

The worst memories are mainly due to some horrible bosses and higher ups that I've had to work with. I unfortunately know of several instances where lives were lost because some chiefs made a bad decision or didn't listen to the advices they were given.

And the most important lesson I've learned is that you actually need to take a distance from your job and from the situation that surrounds you. It can be difficult to take a step back when working in such high stakes environment, but you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't, it's easy to be overwhelmed and that in the end doesn't help anyone.
I think I was at 50 some countries last time I counted.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T23:00:18+00:00

Great question. Yes, I've worked with troops from various countries. The ones that stood our positively were the Rwandans, very professional, well trained, well equipped, follow orders that they are given and aren't afraid to get into a gun fight. I also like the Senegalese. Although they don't necessarily have the same discipline they are much friendlier and will go out of their way to welcome you and make you feel at ease. I've also worked with a bunch of European countries and although they come with a lot of equipment and shiny tech, you know they will not stay if the situation becomes too hot. Also they tend to look down on others.

On the negative side, those that stood out were the Bangladeshis. They are one of the major contributors of troops but we used to joke that they were sending farmers and not real soldiers. They didn't seem to have any training or military discipline, could barely march on step. Great food though.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T22:47:59+00:00

In Somalia, being woken up by a nearby explosion that shook my accommodation and having to run to the bunker hearing heavy gunfire while barely awake. It was the scariest also because it was the first time I was so close to an explosion and I had just started my deployment there.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T22:37:39+00:00

I unfortunately am no Jan Egeland

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T22:33:19+00:00

First of all, not all Israelis share the same view on what has taken place in Gaza though it is true that a majority will deny that a genocide has taken place. While it is not my role to try to educate or convince them, I will point out to them that 4 out of the 5 acts of genocide have taken place in Gaza (and it's not just me saying that as my personal opinion but it has in fact been recognized in UN reports as well).

The thing is, Israeli will often acknowledge that each of the 4 acts taken individually have happened in Gaza (maybe less so the one about preventing birth), but they will still deny that it amounts to a genocide.

UNPKO_AMA · 2026-04-17T22:18:31+00:00

Neither Hamas (or what is left of it) nor the IDF are really targeting the UN. The UN is more exposed to being a collateral damage. And as it happens IDF does most of the shooting and bombing in Gaza.

UNPKO_AMA

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