Ukraine’s peacekeeping efforts in Iraq have made our country well known in the Middle East. One year in the stabilization forces has brought Ukrainian servicemen extensive experience in maintaining peace while fighting skirmishes with numerous militant groups, rebuilding the infrastructure of postwar Iraq, and training personnel for the newly created Iraqi armed services.
The situation was still critical when the Ukrainian peacekeeping force entered Iraq on August 11, 2003, after a two-day march from Kuwait. Supporters of Saddam Hussein were still in Iraq, continuing their armed resistance to the US-led coalition forces. The harsh climate of Iraq was another challenge for the Ukrainian troops, who voluntarily set out to assist the Iraqi people, who had been freed from dictatorship. Daytime highs reached 60 to 65 degrees Celsius, so hot that you could fry an omelet on an armored personnel carrier. Washed laundry dried completely in fifteen minutes, while air conditioners failed, unable to cope with the scorching heat. During the first few months, daytime temperatures neared fifty degrees Celsius in the tents housing our servicemen. Perhaps these hardships served to unite this contingent, the biggest one in Ukraine’s peacekeeping history. We can say for certain that the Ukrainians’ heroic and successful efforts to overcome these hardships have earned them and Ukraine respect from the leading coalition partners in Iraq.
The Ukrainian contingent has in fact been transformed into a multipurpose stabilization force, whose work is well coordinated, efficient, and reliable. Our servicemen have set up defense outposts along the 142-kilometer stretch of the Iraqi border with Iran, their original zone of responsibility, de-mined access routes, rebuilt the system of border forts, and trained and equipped the personnel for the Iraqi border guard, all of which was accomplished in record time. The Ukrainians worked almost nonstop, which amazed both the coalition command in Babylon and Baghdad, and ordinary Iraqis. During the commissioning of a border fort, Khlal Abdulhassin Mahmoud, commander of the First Battalion of the Iraqi border police, admitted that Iraqis would not have been able to handle such a volume of work by themselves even in five years.
According to Lt. Col. Ali Kengerli of the Military Training Department, who represents the Ukrainian contingent at the headquarters of the Center-South multinational division, the divisions trained by the Ukrainian peacekeepers at the Iraqi Border Service Department are considered the best. Meanwhile, the technical equipment of the Ukrainian stretch of the Iraqi border with Iran has received the highest rating from international experts. After organizing the border service on the Iranian-Iraqi border, in August 2004 the command of the Ukrainian brigade pulled out its division from the fort. Thus, the Ukrainians successfully completed one of their key missions.
The Ukrainian contingent faced the no less difficult challenge of selecting and training the personnel for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, later renamed and incorporated into the Iraqi National Guard. A total of 896 Iraqis underwent training at the Ukrainian peacekeepers’ base camp before beginning their military duty. Colonel Looei Javad Muhammad, who commands this 403rd Battalion, says that owing to the Ukrainians’ painstaking selection of the battalion’s personnel, they managed to man the division with the most loyal servicemen and prevent unreliable individuals from infiltrating the military ranks.
During their mission in Iraq, Ukrainian peacekeepers faced their first ever challenge of rebuilding the infrastructure in a war-torn country. In only one year Lieutenant Colonels Valery Kuzmin and Oleksandr Bardonov, who head the military and civilian cooperation departments at the 5th and 6th Detached Mechanized Brigades, launched and implemented nearly 250 short- and long-term social and economic projects valued at some eight million US dollars. In their zone of responsibility in Wasit province, Ukrainian peacekeepers have repaired and built dozens of schools, kindergartens, hospitals, and water facilities, and restored dozens of kilometers of irrigation systems, power lines, and roads. Their efforts have given a new lease on life to the once neglected towns of Foral-Badia, Al-Karama, Al-Taf, Al-Tayeena, Al-Shihabi, to name only a few. Residents of some provincial settlements, who had never had electricity in their clay huts and drank contaminated water from artificial canals, have been able to light their dwellings, watch news on television, and drink purified water without the risk of developing dysentery. It is therefore no surprise that Iraqis respect and treat Ukrainians as their best friends, thanks to their selfless work.
However, social and political tensions persist in Iraq, as some extremist forces oppose the rebirth of a new, democratic Iraq. Radical terrorist groups such as Ansar Al-Sunna, Saddam’s Fedayeens, Ansar Al- Islamia, Fiqar, Fiqar Al-Allah, At-Tauheed Val- Jihad, Bint Mahdi, with Al-Qaeda and the Army of Mahdi at the head, keep the local population in fear, pressure the interim government in every way possible, and engage in partisan struggle against the multinational coalition forces. But the process of normalization is underway, and the people, who have experienced the benefits of peaceful development free from dictatorship, do not want to return to the Saddam past. Therefore, it is no surprise that Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Alawi recently sent official letters to the governments of the coalition member states and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan with a request to keep the multinational force in Iraq until the situation is stabilized.
During the September 3 meeting of Ukraine’s Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych with the 6th Detached Mechanized Brigade personnel currently stationed in Iraq, Viktor Yanukovych confirmed that Ukraine has received such a request from his Iraqi counterpart. Then Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk spoke about the reasons behind the structural changes in the next, 7th brigade, whose manpower will be reduced by 200 servicemen, as compared to the two previous brigades.
A new page has been turned in the relationship between Ukraine and Iraq, with mutual respect, observance of common interests, and efforts to ensure regional security at the core of their cooperation. Moreover, with their deeds Ukrainian peacekeepers have proven that Ukraine’s intentions are serious. For this reason it would be highly illogical to withdraw Ukrainian troops immediately from Iraq. Ukraine has repeatedly expressed its willingness to participate in long-term development programs and projects in Iraq. The prospects for such cooperation will be discussed during meetings of the Ukrainian and Iraqi delegations that will soon meet in Kyiv and once again at an international conference in Tokyo in early October. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian peacekeeping force will remain in Iraq and continue to carry out its complex mission. Yet it has already accomplished its main task in its capacity as the first Ukrainian diplomats.
