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Peacekeeping - Troops'll Resist Future Attack - Army Chief


This Day (Lagos)


NEWS
22 November 2007
Posted to the web 23 November 2007

By Eugene Agha
Lagos

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt General Luka Yusuf disclosed yesterday that
Nigerian soldiers abroad will henceforth meet force with force against rebels
and insurgents wherever they are deployed on foreign peacekeeping.

He insisted that the Army was not ready to receive the dead bodies of their
deceased colleagues again.



A detachment of Nigerian soldiers on peacekeeping operations in Darfur, Sudan
recently lost their lives in the hands of the rebels of the troubled region.

According to the Chief of Army Staff, who addressed officers and soldiers of
the 9 Brigade at the Ikeja Cantonment in continuation of his visit to army
formations in the Lagos area, attributed the recent loss of Nigerian troops in
Darfur to the strict adherence to professionalism on the part of the Nigerian
contingent.

He said that henceforth, the Nigerian troops would have to change the rule of
the game if provoked by the rebels. Yusuf said that the Darfur attack where
Nigerian soldiers were killed was as a result of the Nigerian troops keeping to
the rules governing peacekeeping, but which the rebels are capitalising on.

The Army Chief said that the fact that Nigerian soldiers refrain from attacking
the insurgents since they are on a peacekeeping mission should not be
misconstrued as weakness on their part.

"The recent unfortunate incident in Darfur where we lost our soldiers was
because we are keeping strictly to the rules of engagement that guides such
missions.

"However, I am not going to receive the dead bodies of my men from foreign
mission in the manner of the Darfur incident. We shall give force with force
and they will know that we are not weak usuf also urged the soldiers to be
civil in their dealings with civilians, saying that the time is over when
soldiers will beat up people on the streets. He warned any one caught beating
people or carrying our

illegal duties would be summarily dismissed from the service.


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