The UNTAC Military Component

Abstract

I left Cambodia at the end of September 1993. Much of the media attention since then has been on the difficulties faced by the United Nations in places such as Somalia and Bosnia. There is an increasing professional interest in peacekeeping generally, generated by Australia’s involvement in a number of operations; and in Cambodia in particular, in view of Australia’s major contribution to the diplomatic and operational aspects of the successful resolution of that conflict. The UN’s fiftieth anniversary has also stimulated much debate over the organisation’s effectiveness, and speculation about its ongoing relevance. On a broader dimension, the book Cooperating for Peace by Australia’s Foreign Minister, Senator Gareth Evans, has sought to put peacekeeping into the context of multinational conflict resolution and preventive diplomacy generally. The interest this has aroused has been encouraging.