Interview with new UNMEE commander, Maj Gen Robert Gordon

Major General Robert Gordon of the UK has been appointed the new Force Commander of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). Here, just days after arriving in the mission area, he tells IRIN of his first impressions and what he perceives as the difficulties ahead. QUESTION: What are your first impressions and how does this job differ from your previous role? ANSWER: It is a world apart. I have been commanding the [British] army’s second division from Scotland for three years now, a regional commander, and force provider for about 36,000 soldiers. The prospect of going to command a desk, which is what I was going to have to do at the Ministry of Defence, was something that was not terribly appealing and so when the opportunity came up and the United kingdom was asked by the Secretary General Kofi Annan if we could provide a force commander here for UNMEE, this for me came out of the blue. It was a wonderful opportunity to come out to Africa and have a command that was worthwhile and that is something I believe in. Q: Have you been to Africa before? A: When I was a young officer I spent a lot of time in Sudan, in the Red Sea provinces of Sudan, and got as far as Massawa [Eritrea] actually across the border, the Ethiopian border as it was in those days in 1971. I have trained in Kenya and spent some time in South Africa. Q: What problems do you think you will face here, and how do you aim to tackle some of the difficulties we have seen along the border? A: My understanding - and I have been here for a very short time - of the situation, is that both parties are resolved to progress. They want stability. And if you look around you, both countries need a period of peace and retrenchment so they can develop their economies. So I think at the strategic level there are no problems, but at the tactical level there are small issues that need to be resolved. You spoke about the border issues. Well of course, the main effort of UNMEE now is to stabilise and secure the situation along the border to allow the independent Boundary Commission to do its work, the Boundary Commission which both parties have signed up to. That is the process we need to take forward. Q: What is your first priority? A: My first priority is to get around my command to find out how they are doing, what they are doing and what their problems are and at the same time assimilate as quickly and as best I can what are the issues, what the political issues are. Inevitably we are operating in a highly charged political environment and I am conscious of that. And I am very aware of the various positions that the parties are taking in the peace process. And [I] just [want] to get a good understanding of those ... so that we can then thread our way forward through these difficulties. Q: Did you get any advice from the outgoing force commander? A: He gave me an extremely good handover. He is experienced here. He has been here for two years and has a mass of information in his head about it. He has also seen the process from the very beginning and if you look at this mission, which seems to look quite mature and yet is very young. That is striking about it. I have been involved with UN missions in Cyprus and Bosnia in the past. This is very different and that is in part because there have been various agreements like cessation of hostilities that have been declared, peace has been declared, there is a clear focus, there is a way ahead. There are difficulties on that road ahead which are perfectly understandable but you have just got to get by those. And I am pretty optimistic about this whole process, provided both parties do what they say they want to do. Q: How long will you be here? A: My appointment is from the British Government which has sent me here for a year. Q: Do you think demarcation will be in place within a year? A: There is no technical reason why the demarcation cannot be in place within a year – no technical reason at all. The only reason for demarcation not to be in place would be political. I think that is why this coming Boundary Commission meeting in London next week is going to be quite critical to see what actually our position is. Q: Will you be attending the Boundary Commission meeting? A: In fact I don’t attend that. The Boundary Commission has nothing to do with UNMEE. The Special Representative [Legwaila Joseph Legwaila] is consulted by the Boundary Commission, but it is very important that the Boundary Commission keeps its independent credentials and retains the confidence of the two parties. So although I will be in London at that time, and will no doubt have a quick word with the Special Representative, I am not going to attend the Boundary Commission. Q: In the last six months there have been no Military Coordination Commission (MCC) meetings. Any idea when the next one is going to happen? A: Again this is very much up to the two parties. I am clear this sort of process, generally from my past sort of experiences in places like Bosnia, is a very helpful process and I am very prepared and actually keen to offer that process to the parties. It is up to the parties to say whether they want to do it. So I will make every effort to facilitate that process.