Blue Beret May 2003 - the Blue Beret 3 NFICYP Has Welcomed the Latest Douglas Campbell Profiles Sectors 1 and 4 Aj
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housands of As we go to Published monthly by the Public Information Giving Peace A Chance Greek Cypriots Chief of Mission with Sector 2 peacekeeper/ press, some 242,000 Office of the United Nations Peacekeeping and Turkish traffic director at the Ledra crossing Force in Cyprus, HQ UNFICYP, PO Box May 29 has been designated the first Interna- T Greek Cypriots have 21642, Nicosia 1590, Cyprus. Cypriots, many visibly made the journey tional Day of United Nations Peacekeepers by moved, began crossing the UN General Assembly in tribute “to all the north while more Tel: 22-864550/22-864416/22-864408 from one side to the than 158,000 Fax: 22-864461 men and women who have served and continue other of the divided to serve in UN peacekeeping operations, as well Turkish Cypriots E-mail: [email protected] island on 23 April, have travelled south. [email protected] as to honour the memory of those who have lost following the their lives in the cause of peace”. To help ensure Web site: www.unficyp.org announced easing of safe passage through Editorial Team The date marks the day in 1948 when the first restrictions by the the various crossing UN peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Brian Kelly Turkish side the day points in the buffer Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) began before. For many, it Maj. Ingrid Tomeková zone, UNFICYP operations with a group of unarmed military was a journey was at full stretch Miriam Taylor observers in Palestine. back to the Eager to cross from day one Photography As the Secretary-General said in a special broad- homes they left working closely with the SSgt. George Cséfalvay cast message to peacekeepers around the world, in 1974. For relevant Greek Cypriot and Contingent Photographers the mission of UN peacekeeping remains vital. all, it was a Turkish Cypriot authorities. While “peacekeeping by itself cannot end a war tentative step Sector 2, with only 24 Unit Press Officers into the future. ERET ... it can prevent a recurrence of fighting. Above hours’ notice at the outset, Sector 1 Maj. German Lozano Acting B all, it gives time and space for conflict resolu- was in the centre of things Sector 2 Capt. Ali Simmons tion. It gives peace a chance”. SRSG and in devising the best UNFICYP Sector 4 Lt. Ladislav Regenda Today, and as the Day itself was being observed strategy to get the people LUE Chief of UNCIVPOL Garda Alice Tierney around the world, peacekeepers fulfil roles as across as quickly and B Mission, Editorial safely as possible. Supt. Marty Plim military observers, trainers and disarmament ex- Zbigniew perts, civilian police, civil administrators, judges Troops from Sector 2 and HE HQ UNFICYP Maj. John Hunt Wlosowicz, and prosecutors, economists, human rights and MFR spent long, T UN Flt Lt. Mauricio Ortiz welcomed the humanitarian workers. Media inspect new crossing point at Ayios hot, dusty hours on MFR Capt. Garrett O’Leary crossings while Others perform the more traditional peacekeep- Dometios/Metehan duty, reassuring the FMPU Capt. Fiona Smith speaking with reporters ing functions of monitoring ceasefires and in the buffer zone waiting crowds, The Blue Beret is the in-house journal of buffer zones in 14 missions on three continents. between the Ledra distributing water, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in UNFICYP, the UN’s third-oldest peacekeeping and even erecting a Cyprus. The views expressed are those of Checkpoints. “This is mission, is among these. a very important day shaded walkway on the authors concerned, and do not neces- the stretch between sarily conform with official policy. In the past 55 years, 1,819 United Nations peace- for Cyprus. For many years, Cypriots were the Ledra check- Articles of general interest are invited from keepers – civilian and military – have died while on mission, 172 of them while serving with not able to move freely points to help the all members of the Force. Photographs, long queues cope together with captions, should accompany UNFICYP. throughout the island. The magazine for UNFICYP’s civilian, military and police personnel civilian, military The magazine for UNFICYP’s We hope that it will be with the unsea- the articles. While most were the victims of accidents or sonably warm illness, 583 were the casualties of hostile followed by more good The copyright of all material in this journal things and that weather. is vested in United Nations Publications. activities. All paid the supreme sacrifice in the Since then, Any article or illustration may be repro- service of peace. it will contri- Preparing the “Ledra Highway” bute to reconci- three new crossing points duced with the written permission of the On this special anniversary, we salute them. Editor. liation”, he said. have been established at Press reports Ayios Dometios/Metehan, indicated that Pergamos and the 2.5 Mile Contents some 2,900 Gate. Back to the Future Back to the Future Turkish Cyp- Like their Sector 2 Editorial/Contents . .2 colleagues, UNFICYP’s Back to the Future . .3 riots and 1,750 Greek Cypriots engineers were quick off Two Sectors – One Aim . .4/5 made the cross- the mark to help ease the Baghdad to Larnaca (and back...)/ ing between traffic congestion as new Playing at the Palace . .6 9:00 am and crossing arrangements UNFICYP Wedding/A Special Day in Varisha . .7 midnight on the meant that vehicles Cultural Heritage of Cyprus: Part XII first day, as crossing in Nicosia The Mountaintop Refuge of Kantara Castle . .8.9 Cypriots went Watching the crowds would switch to The Hard Rock Cafe/ cautiously back to the Ayios Dometios/ UNCIVPOL Medal Parade . .10 future. Metehan while Artists of the World Unite! . .11 The initial trickle official vehicles Air Crash Exercise/ quickly became a flow, continued to use Green Line – Virtual Reality . .12 spurred on by the co- Ledra, making A Tribute to Štefánik . .13 incidence of the Greek use of the newly Three Finns and a Sauna . .14/15 Orthodox Easter holi- laid gravel road day weekend with parallel to the some 18,000 people “pedestrianised” Front Cover: Crossing the Divide passing through the old link road in Ledra Palace crossing the buffer zone Back Cover: ANZAC Day point in one day. there. 2 May 2003 - The Blue Beret May 2003 - The Blue Beret 3 NFICYP has welcomed the latest Douglas Campbell profiles Sectors 1 and 4 aj. Milan Kukuk of Slovakia is an air defence members of the Force from South specialist with 23 years army service. He is UAmerica and Central Europe who Mmarried to Emilia and they have two children arrived in March. The Blue Beret has Veronika, 18, and Martin, 17. He is no stranger to the been meeting some of the new faces and United Nations, having been one of eight Slovakian uncovering stories, including the young observers based in Iraq in 2000-2001 with UNGCI marine who discovered he had become a under the Oil for Food programme. He is now senior father while manning his observation logistics officer for Sector 4. Maj. Kukuk, 41, says: I post 17,000 km from home, and the am getting used to the different procedures and blind dog who runs anti-snake patrols in computer systems here but the main parts of my job are Sector 1. the same back home. The work is more demanding than Capt. Pablo Halaburda, 35, from it was when we were in Iraq. I come from the town of Asunci n, Paraguay, a member of his TrenŁ n in the western part of Slovakia, and I find living country s Special Forces, arrived in on an island very different to my homeland. In his Larnaca after a 16-hour military char- spare time he enjoys studying Egyptian history. His tered flight, which he jokingly described other hobbies of motorcycling and hunting will have to as being better than a C130 . A single wait until the end of his tour. man and keen skydiver and target Capt. Andrea I arikovÆ comes from the industrial shooter, he is one of seven Paraguayan town of Presov in eastern Slovakia. She is single and a officers, NCOs and other ranks. Capt. Men on the line personnel officer in Sector 4, having completed 13 Halaburda says: We re just settling down right now by fax, and if there is a threat to the status quo, we report years army service. In the hot summer months in with the new jobs. We are trained for war but now we are it to HQ in Nicosia. Every soldier is able to solve Cyprus she likes swimming and diving on the coast and peacekeepers and it is a totally different kind of mission. problems and they are real professionals. I am very at other times she climbs the Troodos mountains and We look forward to the challenge of working with both proud to serve my country in this international mission. takes part in social and cultural events. I think it s very sides here in Cyprus. It s a very important mission and I intend to continue the interesting being part of an international team, Capt. Chilean Marines Capt. Mauricio Diaz, 37, is from good relationships with Argentina, with the other South I arikovÆ, 30, says. I enjoy the different accents and Viæa del Mar near Santiago, Chile, where he left behind American countries and with Cyprus too. Capt. learning about other cultures. I recently met some his wife Paula Muller and daughters Catalina, eight, and Claudio, a jungle specialist and instructor, is engaged to Argentinians and I liked their folk music very much. Javiera, five.